The Douglas County AIDS Project, Women’s Transitional Care Services and Douglas County Senior Services all may be facing financial drains for next year, but now they can count on at least one financial fixture to hold steady.

The three agencies are among 20 nonprofit agencies that will avoid rent increases next year at the United Way Service Center, thanks to an arrangement between the United Way of Douglas County and the Douglas County Commission.

Commissioners have agreed to renegotiate the United Way’s lease for the center, which occupies a former county-owned nursing home at 2518 Ridge Court. The United Way intends to use the savings to offset rising utility rates and other operational costs, which otherwise would have prompted rent increases for the first time in five years.

“Right now is not a good time to raise the rent on agencies that had some cuts from their other funders and are struggling to maintain service delivery to our people here locally,” said Jo Bryant, executive director of the county’s United Way chapter. “We’d like to help them by keeping their rent costs stable.”

The United Way has been paying the county $2,200 a month since January 1999. The interest-free payments are reimbursements for the $264,000 the United Way borrowed to remodel the former Valley View Care Center into offices.

The United Way originally arranged to have its payments end in January 2009, or nearly three years before the lease expires. But the United Way is asking that the payment term be extended through the end of the lease.

That would leave the United Way paying $1,320 a month beginning this January, enough to pay off the debt balance in August 2011.

Commissioners welcome the idea, seeing it as a fair and worthwhile investment in programs and agencies that already have suffered enough financial pain.

“It’s not a very big deal — it’s not a lot of money — and yet I think it shows a willingness on the part of the County Commission to be sensitive to the needs of the agencies,” said Bob Johnson, commission chairman. “It allows them to meet their obligations to the county, and they don’t have to increase their rent. This means the funds they have can be better spent another way. I think it’s a good thing to do.”

Jo Bryant, executive director of the Douglas County United Way chapter, is working with the Douglas County Commission to renegotiate a lease for the United Way Service Center. The new deal will help the United Way keep rents steady for agencies at the center, 2518 Ridge Court.

Commissioners intend to approve the arrangement as soon as the formal documents can be compiled. The new lease would take effect in January.