"The families need the services because they can’t do it on their own," Mr. Gray said while sitting in his third-floor executive office at 924 N. Country Club in Mesa. "Every 10 years we have had an economic downturn, but the impact has not made us immune to cuts."
Coupled with a 10 percent decrease in state funding — about $1.3 million — and a struggling economy, Mr. Gray says the organization is looking for alternative sources of revenue.
That pursuit of alternative sources of income hopefully, Mr. Gray says, will come by the end of July in the form of $9 million in Community Service Facilities Revenue Bonds from Maricopa County’s Industrial Development Authority.
According to Mr. Gray, the tax-exempt bond will pay for existing debt, improvements to existing facilities and the purchase of several properties in Mesa and Queen Creek that will serve as group homes.
Bond money is also allowing the organization to save $10,000 a month by paying for existing debt borrowed at a high interest rate — approaching 15 percent in some cases — Mr. Gray said.
The pending tax-exempt bond only carries an interest rate of 5 percent, which equates to $10,000 a month in savings the Marc Center will realize in future debt payments.
Six of the $9 million will pay for existing debt on current facilities, while the remaining $3 million will subsidize services and purchase group homes in the East Valley, according to Mr. Gray.
Mr. Gray says creative funding mechanisms such as tax-exempt bond packages of public dollars — made possible because of the company’s equity — is how the organization is trying to shield its clients from state funding cuts.
"How can you throw 4,000 families under the bus and forget about them?" Mr. Gray said of pending state funding cuts to the Marc Center. "They expect us to serve the same people and just cut costs."
Mr. Gray contends community providers such as the Marc Center are faced with a challenge next fiscal year.
"How am I to make up these cuts?" he asked, adding that certain ratio levels between staff and client must be maintained, "We get sanctioned if we don’t maintain those levels."
Mr. Gray says services offered by the Marc Center are an "obligation."
"It doesn’t mean we can quit on our basic principles," he said of pending reductions to monies derived from state funding. "You can’t put your focus on the who you are going to serve. You have to put your focus on the services you offer."
Mr. Gray says the numbers of Americans with disabilities is on the rise, which he contends is a direct result of poor level of pre-natal care in this country.
According to Mr. Gray, the United States is first in medical technologies, but 14th in the world when it comes to the quality of pre-natal care.
As the need grows so will the need for more facilities.
"We want to make sure these properties are first class," he said of properties that are planned to be acquired with bond dollars in Mesa and Queen Creek.
"Obviously, our mission is to provide opportunities for people with disabilities to be actively involved in determining where and how they live, learn work and play."
The Marc Center annually serves about 1,120 people vocationally in Mesa, Apache Junction and Queen Creek, Mr. Gray said.
"Our long-term vision is to have a full-time day program in Queen Creek," he said of the what the future for the Marc Center in the East Valley may behold. "We have done a lot of our growth in economic downturns."
Mr. Gray says the expansion with a full-blown vocational center in Queen Creek is at least two years down the road.
"I see people coming out of Johnson Ranch to go to the facility in Queen Creek," he said. "The biggest barrier for us right now is the economic downturn."
