A California non-profit serving people with developmental disabilities is taking heat for awarding $500,000 in employee bonuses, even as the state’s budget crisis is forcing it to hand out IOUs instead of checks.

The Central Valley Regional Center in Fresno, Calif. which provides programing for people with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental disabilities is largely state-funded. So many residents — including the state’s Senate majority leader — were shocked to learn that the center would be handing out bonuses to its 350 employees in the middle of a state budget crisis.

Meanwhile, the state’s Department of Developmental Services, which funds the center, is slated to lose more than $100 million in state budget cuts. Other services for people with developmental disabilities — like an early intervention program for children with autism — are also being cut to fill the state’s budget deficit.

As a result, the center announced that it would take back the bonuses. It’s unclear how the money will be recovered, however, since it has already been dispersed, reports The San Francisco Chronicle. To read more click here.

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