NEWPORT — A $47.8 million government agency that serves thousands of poverty-stricken people across a sprawling three-county area is facing imminent financial collapse, warned the new head of the cash-strapped Community Services Consortium on Wednesday.

“The organization is in perilous fiscal straights,” concluded Ryan Vogt, who found and followed a trail of financial blunders after taking over CSC about a year ago.

The Albany-based agency is a key pillar in the welfare structure of Linn, Benton and Lincoln Counties, which depend on CSC to run nearly 100 grant-funded programs including food banks, homeless services, Head Start preschools, utility, weatherization and housing assistance, GED and job training.

Vogt drew a picture of mistakes, mismanagement and missed opportunities to Lincoln County commissioners during their Nov. 5 board meeting. The litany of self-inflicted fiscal problems included failure to file required audits, investing in “problematic” financial software and “untimely” invoicing that led to the loss of grants and recovery of costs. The slip-ups resulted in the collapse of cash on hand, which fell from $8.5 million a month four years ago to $2.7, currently.

“Any speed bumps and we could find there’s not enough cash on hand to function,” he warned, saying that about 200 grants managed by the agency are threatened. “The thought we could move into more dire circumstances keeps me awake at night.”

Vought said he has taken steps to salvage the agency, including dropping grants that don’t pay for themselves, installing new business software and building a “rock star” accounting team after the agency saw five different financial directors in as many years. The CSC is also developing “a new body of work” addressing health-related needs of the homeless, of whom there are about 500 in Lincoln County. He meets with his finance staff three times weekly.

Vogt recalled how the CSC was founded in 1980 as “a model born out of the civil rights movement,” relying for most of its income on state and federal grant monies that are now slashing administrative costs, increasing match requirements or drying up altogether. Lincoln County’s contribution to the CSC budget in FY25 was a mere $10,000.

“I’m not asking for money today, but if we have further disruptions it could lead to an emergency request for cash infusion,” he said, hoping Wednesday’s revelations “would make that conversation a little easier.”

Commissioner Walter Chuck treated the news as a cautionary tale but promised nothing.

“We’re all facing budgetary issues, especially in the form of these reimbursement programs,” he advised Vogt. “We’re going to have to look at them closely and how we’ll pay for things in the future, and if we can even keep relying on them.”

According to CSC figures, the agency supported 75,000 households last year, affecting 200,000 residents of the tri-county area. Vogt, who is paid $165,000 a year, is the former executive director of the Oregon Cascades West Council of Governments.