San Antonio hit
with 15% Ryan White funding cut

Problems with the San Antonio region's application for federal Ryan White CARE Act funding has resulted in a loss of $568,000 in anticipated AIDS funds for the region, reports the San Antonio Express-News. The funding reduction is a 15% cut from last year's grant for AIDS programs in Bexar County, Texas.

The federal Health Resources and Services Administration says problems with the county's grant proposal, submitted by county HIV services coordinator Don Sharitz, caused the funding reduction. HRSA officials say the funding cut could have been even greater if safeguards hadn't been in place to limit the amount of money that could be withheld.

Sharitz told the Express-News he decided to write the grant proposal himself, rather than hire an outside firm that had been used in the past, because he wanted to learn all the details of the county's AIDS work.

The San Antonio region's Ryan White grant for the upcoming fiscal year is just $3.3 million, the lowest of the nation's 51 cities that receive federal money. The funding reduction already has been felt by local AIDS service groups; San Antonio's AIDS Foundation's SAAF House has already laid off two nurses, a receptionist, a maintenance worker, and an HIV educator in anticipation of a drastically scaled-back Ryan White allocation from the county. (The Advocate)