Boulder’s Human Services Department recommended on Tuesday that the department increase to 30 percent the amount of money it uses toward combating poverty in the city, because the director of the department says that poverty spirals out into other social problems.
“We know poverty is a core driver of a lot of other social issues — mental health, homelessness, not graduating,” Human Services Director Karen Rahn told the Daily Camera ahead of a City Council study session.
The human services department recommended to the City Council — which took no official action on Tuesday night — that the department increase the funding to “economic mobility and resilience, one of six goal areas the department has developed, from 9 percent to 30 percent.”
The recommendation was not based upon an increase in overall funding for the department, as the plan calls for cutting the amount of funding that goes into another area — health and well being — from its current funding rate of 48 percent to 28 percent over five years.
Three other areas — child-, senior- and homeless-related services — would not see much of a shift in the amount of funding they receive. The sixth area, welcoming and inclusive, receives its funding from another source outside of the human services department.
“I don’t want to make this as a zero-sum game,” said council member Sam Weaver, adding that he felt the areas that would face cuts are also “critically important.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s good to sacrifice in other areas,” he said.
Rahn said that poverty is increasing among Boulder residents — the percentage increases dramatically among the Hispanic population in the city — and the income gulf between the city’s richest and poorest residents is “pretty big.”
She said that the recommended changes are based on the department’s budget remaining the same, but she would like to see increases to the budget, although she was not ready to give concrete financial numbers on Tuesday night.
“We have dedicated a paltry amount of funding into (economic mobility),” Rahn said. “If the pie is going to remain the same size, we are going to have to make some critical choices.”
Although council members were not all on board with the large shift of funds toward economic mobility and resilience, they seemed warm to the idea of increasing funding to the department through money from the recently passed sugary drink tax and tax proceeds from recreational marijuana sales.
“I want to see a bigger pie,” said council member Aaron Brockett, who said he was in favor of increased funds toward economic mobility.
“I would support more money going toward (economic mobility),” he told Rahn. “You’ve made a compelling case there.”
John Bear: 303-473-1355, bearj@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/johnbearwithme
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