Shelters Threatened by Budget Cuts : Glendale: An interim home for battered women is one of two facilities that might be closed if the county eliminates funding.

A Glendale home for battered women is one of two shelters in the county that might be forced to close if the Board of Supervisors approves a budget cut recommended by a county advisory panel, shelter administrators say.

The county’s Domestic Violence Council recommended earlier this week that the county discontinue $60,000 in yearly payments to shelters in Glendale and the South Bay. To protect residents, addresses of the homes were not revealed.

The social workers and law enforcement officials who make up the council said the cuts are needed in order to ensure that there is enough money to operate the county’s 16 other domestic violence shelters. The council recommended that the other shelters continue to receive $80,000 per year.

Although 16 other homes for battered women operate in the county, the Glendale and South Bay shelters provide unique services. Known as “transitional” shelters, they are the only two where women can stay for more than 45 days.

The Board of Supervisors is expected to consider the proposed cuts on Tuesday or the following week. The reductions would take effect July 1.

Officials for the two shelters said they are lobbying the Board of Supervisors to prevent the funding cut, which would make them dependent on private donations and other government grants.

The proposed cuts were triggered by a slowdown in the collection of marriage license fees, which pay for the county’s contribution to women’s shelters, and overly optimistic budgeting by the county Department of Community and Senior Citizen Services, department officials said.

The Glendale and South Bay shelters were singled out for reductions because of their designation as transitional shelters, while the 16 other county homes are emergency shelters.

Women can stay in the emergency shelters for a maximum of 45 days after escaping an abusive mate, then they must move out on their own or into one of the transitional shelters.

The county collects $35 for every marriage license it issues, with $19 going to domestic violence shelters. State law recommends that the marriage license money be used to pay for emergency shelters and not longer-term housing that the Glendale and South Bay shelters provide, said Larry Johnson, assistant director of the county Department of Community and Senior Citizen Services.

Directors of the two transitional shelters said private donations and other government grants might not be enough to make up for the lost money.

“That is $60,000 of a total budget of $150,000,” said Glendale YWCA Director Pax Adair. The YWCA operates the shelter, formerly called the Phoenix House but now simply called the Glendale YWCA shelter.

Adair said: “This was all sprung on us rather suddenly. If it is approved, there is a good possibility we will have to shut down.”

Other programs at the Glendale YWCA would not be harmed by the funding cut, Adair said.

Adair, who first came to the shelter eight years ago as a resident, said the transitional facilities are just as important as the others.

“We give women more time to build their resources and their skills,” Adair said. Without such shelters, she said, “a high percentage of women go back on the street or go back to the batterer, because they are not ready emotionally, financially or in any other way.”

The Glendale shelter has beds for 18 women and children, and the South Bay shelter houses 12 women and children.

County officials called each of the 18 shelters last week to inform them that funding for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would drop from $1.4 million to $1 million. The county has allowed the marriage license fund to be overdrawn by $225,000 in the past two years, but now reductions must be made to make up the deficit, Johnson said.