CASH FLOW SLOWS TO A TRICKLE.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: TIM O'BRIEN Staff writer

TROY -- Tracey Neitzel knows how it feels to work for the city of Troy: Cash-flow problems, budget woes and a need for the legislature to act before finances are put in order.

But Neitzel is not a city employee. She is the executive director of Joseph's House, a homeless shelter usually funded with federal Community Block Development Grant money. The city has not yet decided how to distribute those funds, which ordinarily become part of community agencies' budgets July 1.

``As of today, I am spending money that is not committed,'' Neitzel said. ``We use it for some very, very basic needs here.''

The city …