Fast by religious groups credited with stopping cuts in services

Published: 2004-11-18

SEATTLE (CNS) -- A four-month public fast sponsored by a consortium of religious organizations, including Catholic Community Services of Western Washington, is being credited with staving off budget cuts in human services in Seattle. The Seattle City Council's budget committee voted Nov. 12 to maintain funding for health and human services that was in danger of being cut because of a budget shortfall. Last summer, as Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels was crafting his proposed city operating budget for 2005, there was talk of approximately $3 million in cuts to services affecting the homeless and the vulnerable, said Bill Hallerman, director of special ministries for Catholic Community Services. The city's human services department not only escaped cuts, it gained approximately $1 million over last year's budget for cost-of-living increases and expenses in other areas, Hallerman told The Catholic Northwest Progress, newspaper of the Seattle Archdiocese.

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