Kathy Brown McHale Speaks about SPIN's Fiscal Status 2015

January 7, 2016

Dear Fellow SPIN Employees,

There are so many positive and wonderful things happening for people throughout SPIN because of the dedication and performance excellence of our employees.  I thank you for all you do for people and for SPIN.  However, today, I have unfortunate information to share about SPIN’s finances and their impact on our organization.

SPIN’s financial statements reveal that we have lost $624,121 this fiscal year.  Some, but certainly not all, of this shortfall is due to the Pennsylvania budget impasse.  Sadly, the emergency partial budget Governor Wolf approved on 12/29/15 does little to help the financial situation we are in.

These losses are significant and we cannot continue spending money that we don’t have.  The situation required the Executive team and I to develop the following plan for immediate actions to restore SPIN’s solvency.

• Postpone the move of the Autism Center into a larger, more expensive space.
• Reduce staff intensity, where possible, in Residential Services by redeployment of staff. (This was already underway and represents no need for layoffs among Residential DSPs)
• Reduce the pay of SPIN’s Executive Team (CEO, Executive Director and Corporate Officers).
• Discontinue the services of two Contractors in Real Property and Finance.
• Reassign four staff, three of whom are intended for the Parkwood PreK which is unable to open. (Parkwood cannot open until the Philadelphia School District receives PreK expansion dollars and then contracts new PreK services with SPIN)
• Freeze six administrative and management positions that were recently vacated.
• Finally and most unfortunately, layoff eight people from administrative, support and management positions effective 1/7/16. (One of these employees is a temporary layoff who will be called back to work once we are able to open Parkwood PreK)

These cuts and reductions will reduce spending by about $530,000 in the last half of this fiscal year. While the cuts do not erase the entire deficit, we also expect that revenue will increase in the last half of the year and SPIN will return to solvency and a position of fiscal strength.

I am confident in our ability to achieve our great mission and live by our Pillars during these challenging times.  I recognize that reductions in staff means extra work for many people and I am grateful to all of you for being an important part of this incredible, high performing team.

Sincerely,

Please feel free to submit any question you may have about this message.  All questions will be answered and posted. (Names will not be posted with submitted questions)
1/21/16
Question from Adult Services Department:
Was the weekend supervisor position one of those being held up? I applied before the closing date of 1/11/2016 and have not heard from anyone.

Answer:
Dear Fellow Employee,
Yes, this position is one that has been frozen. Someone from our HR department was supposed to contact you. You can expect a call from HR very soon. I apologize that you did not hear about this previously.
Thank you for your question.

Kathy

1/11/16
Question:
Will this lay off affect day services program along with residential services.

Answer:
Dear Fellow Employee,
No one from Day Services was laid off on January 7th. As you may recall, Day Services had a management reorganization earlier this year. As I indicated in my letter, we do not believe any further layoffs will be necessary.
Kathy

1/8/16
Question:
Once we return to solvency will those contractors and other employee who were layoff be offer their positions back? Thank You

Answer:
Dear Fellow Employee,
At this time our recovery is dependent upon reducing costs associated with reducing staff and contractors. Our plan does not include hiring back people laid off, other than one employee who was laid off temporarily pending the opening of the SPIN Parkwood PreK Program.
Kathy

Question:
Will the names of those laid off be made public?

Answer:
Through this process, we have endeavored to maintain people’s confidentiality while being open and clear about SPIN’s financial situation and the actions we are taking to restore fiscal strength. We see no benefit in making the names of the employees who were laid off public and therefore that will not be happening.