NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. (D-Queens), a member of the Senate’s Committee on the Aging, today released the following statement on the proposed transfer of Title XX funds from senior centers to children’s programs:
Our growing senior population has enough to worry about these days, and I believe it was wrong for the mayor to release the list of possible senior center closures and use our seniors as tools of the budget negotiations with the state.
Our senior centers do not have to close, regardless of the amount of money the City receives from the state budget. If the City collects the outstanding liens and judgments owed to it and alters its outside contracting practices, it would have more than enough money to keep the senior centers open. By simply utilizing our city workers more efficiently, the realized savings would more than pay for the centers. For example, if the City used its sheriffs more than the outside marshalls, it would witness significant savings.
I also intend to continue my efforts to ensure that the Title XX funding in our state budget is used for the purposes of retaining our senior centers.
We have a growing senior population that should be respected, not used as victims by the City or State during budget negotiations.
