P-J File Photo by Gregory Bacon County Executive PJ Wendel is pictured presenting his 2025 budget to the Chautauqua County Legislature recently. The local share of safety net spending in the budget is increasing $508,750 from 2024 to 2025.

One would think County Executive PJ Wendel’s decision to increase safety net spending another $1.5 million in his 2025 budget proposal was driven by the ongoing homelessness crisis in Jamestown.

That’s not exactly the case.

Wendel’s recently released 2025 budget includes a $508,750 local share increase in safety net spending. Spending for the program is budgeted to increase from $6,750,000 in the 2024 budget to $8 million in the 2025 budget, but the county is also projecting a 28.7% increase in safety net revenues from $2,578,750 in 2024 to $3,320,000 in 2025.

It’s more than the 2024 budget but less than the 2023 budgeted amount.

The fluctuations are frustrating for Wendel, who said safety net spending is a moving target. The 2023 budget ran short for safety net spending, with county lawmakers asked recently to transfer $1.5 million from the county’s unassigned fund balance to pay for safety net costs. The resolution also includes another $1 million coming from other areas,including the state and federal government.

Dianna Songer, deputy director of finance for Human Services, said these increases are needed due to economic trends, adding it’s uncertain if the additional funding will be enough.

“It’s trending last year and this year to be high,” Wendel said. “We’re actually looking at a deficit around $3.5 million. We can’t control that. It fluctuates. This is a frustration of mine. These are people that have been on public assistance for, maybe, five years sometimes. They can’t find a job. The federal government cuts their payment. The remainder, in perpetuity until they find a job or until they want to get work, we fund them. That’s how the local share works. So why is it high? We don’t know.”

Safety net programs include a shelter allowance, heating allowances and a basic needs allowance. Carmelo Hernandez, county mental hygiene and social services commissioner, said recently 74% of safety net costs are spent on temporary housing.

Wendel said the county’s efforts to help get Jamestown’s homeless off the streets aren’t affecting the county budget much.

“We don’t really see a real increase (from that),” Wendel said. “In the sweeps we’ve added maybe 15 more people to services. I don’t know if that’s temporary housing, though I’d assume that’s part of that, and housing assistance. We have a pretty good grasp of it right now. The underlying piece of that is these people may be out there, but to the contrary some of them don’t want services. There are services everywhere. There’s a plethora of services. They don’t want them. So you can’t force somebody to accept services if they don’t want to. Could we see an increase? Yeah. Right now we’re just not seeing it.”

The announcement last week that new shelter space for women and children at Jamestown Business College, a women’s and children’s shelter on Lafayette Street under the auspices of Chautauqua Opportunities, the UCAN City Mission and a Code Blue shelter that Jamestown officials expect to be announced soon add to the number of temporary housing options available that may help decrease the reliance on the county to put temporarily homeless people in hotels throughout the county.

And, while targeted sweeps in Jamestown have included outreach efforts to get homeless into programs that can help. Wendel said he is excited to announce a new effort Hernandez pitched recently.

“We’re looking at a new initiative (Carmelo) brought up at a meeting in my office,” Wendel said. “Moving forward you should see a rollout soon to start to address our outreach needs. We’re really excited. It’s funded through state proceeds. Carmelo and I have already talked and we’re fine tuning and polishing. You should see something in the next two to four weeks. The goal is intensive outreach, getting into communities and finding out what they need. Who are the neediest individuals and how do we reach them.”