By Matt Hampton
The letter read: “250 children and 30 high school and college-age counselors who would have received services and employment in this year’s program will not due to these cuts.” It was signed by Patrick Boyle, the executive director of Gateway Youth Outreach.
The culprit, according to Boyle, is County Executive Tom Suozzi. Suozzi followed through on a promise to cut jobs or funding in February, noting a $130 million deficit in the county budget. The target of the cut was the county Youth Board, a group that parcels out funding to local groups — like Boyle’s Gateway Youth Outreach.
Boyle said that it “breaks my heart,” to have had to send the letter home to parents and guardians, but he was left with little choice after the Youth Board cut, which totaled $4.5 million. Though many local groups hoped the funding would be restored by state aid or revenue enhancers, the cut has had a devastating impact on groups across Nassau County, and Boyle’s is among the hardest hit. The Youth Board funds accounted for between 35 and 40 percent of Gateway Youth Outreach’s budget, he said, making summer programs this year impossible.
Suozzi has said that if the state manages to pass a handful of “revenue enhancers,” the $130 million that had to be cut from the county spending plan could be restored. The enhancers include a traffic ticket surcharge, red-light cameras and an increase in the cigarette tax, which could be funneled into youth spending.
Red-light cameras have already been approved by the state, and four will be coming to neighborhoods in Elmont and Franklin Square, along with dozens more around the county, but the other two enhancers — which were originally intended to be packaged with the state budget, which passed in April — have not moved forward since they were jettisoned from the budget bills.
Now, with just days remaining before the state Legislature adjourns for the summer, groups like Gateway have had to close their doors the same way the local schools do, a reality that is troubling to Boyle and the many local families he serves. “There’s no place here in town to send [children],” said Gateway bookkeeper Angela DiMarco. “We have no place to send them. I know a few parents have really been upset, because they have to work and their kids are off the street, and the kids really like it.”
Al Harper, superintendent of the Elmont School District, said he anticipated that the loss of Gateway’s programs for the summer would impact many local families. Elmont has alternatives, but nothing that lasts the full day, as Gateway does.
“We do try to accept as many children as we possibly can district-wide,” Harper said. “And with no Gateway, I suspect we may get quite a few more applicants. But students in our program would go to Gateway when they were finished at noon.”
Comments about this story? MHampton@liherald.com or (516) 569-800 ext. 214.
