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Chamber seeks $385,000 in cuts; fed, foundation losses lead to layoffs
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Tom Humphries, president and CEO of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
Humphries tries to offset $385,000 in lost revenue
By Karl Henkel
YOUNGSTOWN
Facing a $385,000 revenue shortfall, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will eliminate funding for three staffers in the coming months, according to an internal email sent to board members by Tom Humphries, president and CEO.
Chamber Foundation President Chris Litton, REACH Program Director Jim Rowlands and program associate Don Colvin no longer will draw paychecks from the chamber as the organization looks to patch a hole in its $2.7 million budget.
Humphries told The Vindicator on Wednesday that the approximately $280,000 federal earmark for REACH, which came from former U.S. Rep. Charles Wilson, D-St. Clairsville, in late 2008, covered a 30-month period, mostly labor costs for three employees: Rowlands, Colvin and Jack Guo, an associate.
The funding averaged out to about $119,000 over that period.
Wilson has since lost his congressional seat to U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Poland. Johnson’s office said Wednesday they have not been approached by the chamber to try to secure additional funding. Federal earmarks are banned during the current congressional session.
Humphries said the chamber is seeking additional federal funding for REACH.
Rowlands will not be paid through the chamber but will “establish a fee structure for himself” and will continue to offer the REACH service, which assists local businesses. He will maintain his office at the chamber and said all REACH services will remain for a fee, plus he’ll offer ongoing consulting.
An additional $200,000 in lost revenue reflects a drop in chamber foundation funding.
The foundation, headed by Litton, raises money for chamber programs.
Though the chamber’s website boasts the 2011 foundation campaign goal was to raise $1 million, Humphries said Litton may have aspired to reach that total, but the budget did not call for it. Humphries said the actual goal for 2011 was $647,000. The chamber is on pace to bring it about $447,000.
Despite the moves, Humphries said the organization still has to make up a $66,000 shortfall.
“I still must make up this $66,000 with your help,” he said in the memo. “We should not be spending where we do not need to.”
In the memo, Humphries said, “On the positive side, we [the chamber] expect to realize an excess of our projected 2011 total membership budget by $31,000.”
In recent weeks, however, several businesses have withdrawn their memberships after the chamber publicly supported Senate Bill 5, signed into law last month by Gov. John Kasich. SB 5 curtails some collective-bargaining rights for public officials.
Humphries said “a little more than a handful” of businesses have left the chamber as a result of the SB 5 stance, and showed The Vindicator a folder of letters purportedly from businesses supporting the stance.
Humphries said businesses still would be considered members until their membership ends, plus 90 extra days on an aging report. He said the chamber will not release names of current of former members or the number of members lost or gained, but said March was a good month for the organization as it gained between 30 and 50 new members.