“Again, Senate Republicans put their own interests ahead of the community’s. Rather than stand up against Mayor Bloomberg, Senator Maltese and his colleagues folded. We had a chance to stop the cuts. There was a bill which would’ve saved services and kept our seniors strong. Instead, Senate Republicans chose to get themselves re-elected with the Mayor’s billions rather than by their constituents. Our seniors are not being served by the “go along to get along” culture in Albany,” said Councilman Addabbo.
As a result of the Mayor’s cuts to DFTA, ROAC lost two contracts this past year - one for case management for the homebound and the elderly, and one for Meals on Wheels. The cuts have taken a toll not only on services, but on infrastructure, slashing staff salaries, and eliminating jobs. Since the cuts were implemented, 98 centers have lost their Meals on Wheels contracts, with just 20 remaining programs. ROAC services hundreds of seniors in the Ridgewood area, and used to deliver 196 meals a day via Meals on Wheels. In addition, Peter Cardella Senior Center, Queens Community House, Glenridge Senior Center, Queens Community House, Middle Village Senior Center, Young Israel, and United Hindu Community Center, will all loose their Meals on Wheels contracts for 2009. Currently, there are only six Meals on Wheels contracts in the entire borough.
"We're tired of filling out RFPs to maintain the status quo. It’s expensive to retain a grant writer to secure monies merely to sustain ourselves, rather than to improve services. Our budgets have been slashed and seniors and staff alike are barely scraping by,” said Jaqueline Eradiri, Executive Director of the Ridgewood Older Adult Center.
In June, Senate Republicans refused to stand up to the Mayor’s proposed restructuring of the Department For the Aging (DFTA). Senator Maltese in particular played partisan politics by rejecting an amendment to his bill (S8454), which would’ve preserved hundreds of programs and helped thousands of seniors.
Jacqueline Eradiri - Executive Director - Ridgewood Older Adult Center & Svcs and Barbara Toscano - Director - Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Ctr
Senator Smith offered an amendment to Maltese’s bill (S. 8153-A) that would have remedied current problems due to the consolidation of services through the NYC Department for the Aging (DFTA). It would have kept all senior center contracts in place until there was a full review of the Bronx pilot program and a complete impact statement regarding the modernization plan. It would have stopped the City from reducing senior services and given time to review and consider alternatives. In addition, it would have protected all current services and kept contracts and senior centers in place. However, Senate Republicans claimed that there was no Home Rule message, and thus the amendment was not in order, and summarily rejected.
Had the amendment been accepted, the bill would have been referred back to committee, and would have had to get reported out again before "final passage" could take place.
However, according to the Senate Rules a home rule message is not necessary in order to be referred back to committee prior to a vote. Both Maltese and Smith’s bills amend the identical section of law, yet the Republican Majority did not require the Maltese bill to carry a home rule message, and instead selectively invoked the rules to usurp Senator Smith’s legislation and hurt NYC seniors.
Barbara Toscano - Director - Peter Cardella Senior Citizen Center
Thus, the attempt by the Republicans to defeat this measure was clearly not based on the merits, and was done in violation of their own rules.
“Agencies that have been anchors in the community for decades, trusted by seniors, are being dismembered as they lose contracts and funding for these critical services for the homebound. Now, senior centers are on the line as many will be closed. There is a severe and ripple effect of seniors losing access to services they depend upon to remain independent and stave off isolation,” said Bobbie Sackman.
Addabbo and Sackman proceeded to provide a summary of cuts:
3% across-the-board cut to all programs. Meals-on-wheels programs cut, but DFTA refuses to allow agencies to reduce the number of meals in their contracts.
The 35 cents extra per meal allocated by City Council in 2006 cut by $500,000 as food costs increase.
$1.2 million cut to funding allocated for rent/equipment at senior centers.
- Mayor Bloomberg has asked for an additional 2.5% cut, or $4 million to DFTA, to be implemented through a November budget modification.
(l-r) Jacqueline Eradiri, Exec Director - ROAC, Joe Addabbo, BarbaraToscano, Director Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Center and Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy Council of Senior Centers and Svcs of NYC DFTA is rescinding Borough President discretionary funds for senior services, $7.5 million citywide. This will result in a reduction in services including everything from a senior center closing, to loss of operational costs of vans and meals funds, to cuts to Alzheimer services, and other critical services. While uncertain at this time, it appears these funds will be put into the senior center rfp due out in mid-October.
(l-r) Jacqueline Eradiri, Exec Director - ROAC, Joe Addabbo, BarbaraToscano, Director Peter Cardella Senior Citizens Center and Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy Council of Senior Centers and Svcs of NYC
- CSCS documented at least 3,500 undercounted homebound elderly, ie – seniors already receiving case management services that had been dropped out of the data during the transition from 32 case management contracts to 23 large service delivery regions. For example, an agency could bid for an rfp that listed 1000 clients for $1 million and find out after signing the contract there are really 200, 300, and in one case, 500+ more clients in actuality.
Into only the first six months of the new contracts, April 1- October 1, 2008, there are already over 750 homebound elderly clients on waiting lists just for the initial intake. Because of this, no new clients can be referred for MOW creating gridlock. In the former system, some senior centers could turn on the MOW, but now they are not allowed since only case management agencies can. We’re seeing MOW counts go down while about 250 seniors are on waiting lists for MOW indicating the need is there.
