The Richmond Hill Block Association (RHBA) will run out of money to pay member salaries, bills, and other costs within the next couple of weeks, said program director Joan Bachert.

Anthony Seminerio and Serf Maltese, former assemblyman and state senator, respectively, provided the RHBA with funding for years. With both Maltese and Seminerio out of office, the organization has struggled to come up with the money to remain viable.

Simcha Weisman, president of sister organization Richmond Hill One Stop, said that the organization does valuable work in the community.

“We have mommy and me classes for parents and babies,” he said. “We have a program where we talk to astronauts in space.”

With Seminerio forced from office because of scandal, there has been no representation in the 38th Assembly District. The election of Mike Miller will solve this on the surface, but will not be a miracle cure because Seminerio’s discretionary funds were taken away for the whole year. To make matters worse, “A freshman won’t get anywhere near the piece of the pie Seminerio did,” said Michael Simanowitz, chief of staff for Nettie Mayersohn.

Additionally, Joe Addabbo, Jr. is a new state senator and isn’t getting the same amount of discretionary funding Maltese used to bring to the area.

“It’s the harsh reality,” Addabbo said.

Mayersohn, who represents the neighboring 27th Assembly District, has worked to help the RHBA but has been continually promised action by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver to no avail. Bachert said that Mayersohn was given the runaround for six months from Silver.

Regardless of the issues with funds, an organization seen by many as a valuable one is in danger of running out of mone.y

“They have some pretty amazing programs,” said Simanowitz, highlighting the video conferencing children can do with NASA and the live video link with astronauts.

A $50,000 voucher to keep the programs funded is coming in the next week or two, but Bachert says the money isn’t allocated for salaries and operational costs like heat, electric, maintenance, and taxes.

“Seminerio’s money would have covered my salary, the salary for an outreach worker, and the maintenance worker’s salary, as well as the ‘mommy and me’ money for the spring,” she said.

Miller, elected in last Tuesday’s special election, said he will get to the business of helping the RHBA.

“I’m going to get a list of who knows what about the funding because I know they do good work and who they help and we have to take care of them,” Miller said

If the issues in Albany get straightened out before the end of the year, and Miller and Addabbo are able to provide some of the funding Seminerio and Maltese once did, Bachert says the RHBA would need $30,000 to survive the next three months.

Addabbo said that he would make the effort to allocate the money, but that he isn’t optimistic. “Time’s not on our side,” he said. “The current budget has a $2 to $3 billion deficit. The new budget is in April, fiscal year 2011. That budget is going to have a deficit of $4 billion.”

Weisman isn’t holding out hope.

“We will close eventually,” he said. ”We can’t function without paying salaries.”