Funding Sources and Budget

The Commission's FY 92 total amount of funding was $1,444,946, with the dollars coming from the Iowa General Fund, as appropriated by the Legislature, and from contracts and grants from federal agencies.

From the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Commission received $292,002 under its contract for the investigation of cross-filed employment complaints.

The Commission received a total of $182,934 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for three diff erent programs. The contributions, incentive and training program consisted of $37,465 for the investigation of cross-filed housing complaints and for staff training. Type 11 grant funds of $108,892 were expended for completion of the housing discrimination computer expert system. Fair Housing Initiative Program (FHIP) funds of $36,587 were expended for the development and distribution of fair housing educational materials.

The Civil Rights Commission was authorized a total of 37 FTE's in the FY 1992 Appropriations Bill. However, the funding level was sufficient at the beginning of the year to support only 36 FTE'S. The series of state funding cuts during the fiscal year amounted to $84,019 or 8.15% of the initial general funds appropriation. A salary adjustment increase of $3,968 was received during the fiscal year, but it was offset by the salary increase.

In order to cope with the decrease in state funding, the Commission conducted a layoff of six positions on August 26, 1991. One result of the layoff was a reduction in the number of complaints processed by Commission staff. This had an impact on the number of complaints submitted to the federal EEOC for reimbursement under the Commission contract at the rate of $450 per complaint. The Commission failed to earn $75,600 available under the contract with a major portion of the shortfall in earnings being attributable to the reduction in staffing.

The Commission had a total of $159,619 in state and federal funding reductions during the year.