Mash Trust calls for more funding
A provider of mental health services in Manawatu is calling for more financial help from the Government after running up a $300,000 deficit.
It has been a tough financial year for the Mash Trust as the service continued to grow throughout the lower North Island, and chief executive Carol Searle said they were taking on more complex services.
The trust is in talks about getting more money.
‘‘It’s the day-to-day things,’’ Searle said.
‘‘The cost of food has gone up, petrol has gone up, rent might have gone up, clothes – we provide clothes to some people who turn up with nothing,’’ she said.
Searle said it was the first time Mash had been in deficit at the end of a financial year.
A combination of increasing day-to-day costs, additional contracts and a lack of government funding was behind the deficit, Searle said.
The Mash Trust offers support services for people with mental health, intellectual or physical disability or illness, as well as youth respite care and programmes targeting addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
It has services across the lower North Island, including Palmerston North, Horowhenua, Wellington, Kapiti and the Hawke’s Bay region.
Searle said the organisation had recently taken on an additional contract for Ribbonwood.
The issue of funding was not dire but it was a ‘‘growing concern’’ for the organisation, Searle said.
Ultimately, the problem came down to a lack of money in the social welfare sector, which resulted from a ‘‘flawed’’ funding model, she said.
Searle said she had been with the organisation for about 12 years and had seen it expand, with staff numbers growing from 175 people to 540. But because of the funding challenges, five roles were recently cut, she said.
Searle was confident community services provided by the organisation would continue as normal.
The organisation was run well and for now they needed to be ‘‘entrepreneurs’’ about how they saved money and made sure they were sustainable. As operational costs increased, Government funding also needed to, she said.
The trust’s annual report showed Government contract revenue increased slightly from $21,054,000 in 2015 to $22,704,000 in 2016.
In the report, general manager of corporate services Girish Meher said the funding environment was constrained. While there was a $1.7 million increase primarily via new services, the absence of price increases to offset the operating cost increases resulted in an excess of expenditure over income of $300,000, he said.
There had been indications of funding increases proposed for 2016-17 and talks were taking place with the Ministry of Health and district health boards to address the funding gap, he said.