Lawmakers Blast Budget Cuts, Service Cutbacks For Seniors

Elected city and state officials, joined by senior citizen advocates, have called upon the city Department for the Aging (DFTA) to delay a plan to change the way senior services are delivered and which may involve the closing of some senior centers.

According to City Councilmember Leroy Comrie, the DFTA proposal is a plan for the long run to deal with a 44 percent increase in the city's senior population by the year 2030.

But in the short range, Comrie said, the DFTA budget may be cut by $3.3 million in Fiscal Year 2008 and $6.5 million in Fiscal Year 2009 because of a decrease in the number of senior center case managers (from 32 to 23) and the possible closing of some of the 323 senior centers in the city.

Comrie (D- Jamaica) said that DFTA also proposes to restructure senior centers and make them "market oriented" because a recent survey by the agency indicated that 44 percent of the centers are reportedly under utilized.

Comrie said that under a new regionalization plan, local senior center vendors would compete against citywide competitors, which would dramatically impact the quality of services provided for senior citizens in New York City, including the delivery of hot meals for home-bound seniors.

Comrie made his comments at a City Hall press conference last Friday, where he was joined by Councilmember Oliver Koppell (D- The Bronx) Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer (D- Rockaways) and several senior advocates, including Bobbi Sackman of the Council of Senior Centers and Services.

Comrie stated: "We are here today to call attention to what we believe is a poorly conceived idea that has been put forth by the Department for the Aging to restructure how senior services and centers are managed and operated throughout the City of New York.

"We want to prevent our seniors from being left in the cold without a center to attend, the services they require and the meals they depend on."

Comrie said the DFTA had set a March 14 deadline to consider public comments on the proposed plan and intends to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) in June.

He added that many public officials and senior advocates believe the DFTA is moving too fast with the process and that the plan needs to be slowed down, if not altogether revamped.

"This could cause a homebound senior to lose their case manager, home delivered meals deliverer and their connection to a senior center," Comrie warned. "We are asking that the Department for the Aging extend the RFP process by at least six months to allow the providers to transition in a smooth and fluid manner, further ensuring that our seniors are not lost in the shuffle."

Pheffer stated: "Regionalization of senior centers will have a devastating effect on the many senior centers and the vital services they provide in our neighborhoods.

"This proposal fails to recognize the uniqueness of our neighborhoods and the diversity of our senior citizens. I implore DFTA to rethink this illconceived plan and continue service to our golden agers."

In his comments, Koppell said part of the plan had been tried in The Bronx in his district. He said that contrary to a recent KPMG study commissioned by DFTA, "My constituents have consistently described the pilot program as an unmitigated disaster."

He said he was vehemently opposed to expanding The Bronx model for home-delivered meals on a citywide basis or as a conceptual basis for regionalized senior centers.

Sackman stated, "We don't feel listened to."

She declared, "A surge in senior population requires more centers and the mayor [Bloomberg] seems to be moving in the opposite direction. An exemption should be made for DFTA in the budget cuts and we need to slow this process down. Senior centers provide a myriad of services and the city needs to invest in a system that has been neglected."

STATE LAWMAKERS CALL FOR MORE ATTENTION TO ELDER ABUSE PROBLEMS

State lawmakers from Queens have called for greater attention to the problem of elder abuse, including enactment by the Assembly of a law which would impose stiff penalties for attacks on older New Yorkers.

State Senator Serphin Maltese (R- C, Middle Village) called on the Assembly to pass the bill, known as "Granny's Law", which was passed by the senate almost a year ago following two vicious assaults against seniors in Jamaica Estates and in the Highlands area not far from there.

Maltese, co-sponsor of Granny's Law, pointed out that any assault is a serious crime. "But when a senior citizen is mugged and assaulted, it's an outrageous and potentially life-threatening crime that clearly calls out for more severe penalties," Maltese maintained.

Maltese introduced the bill after the two seniors were mugged by the same person last March and one of his victims was hospitalized. The thug was ultimately arrested.

The Maltese bill would make assault on a senior a Class D or E "violent" felony, punishable by a four- to seven-year sentence with the perpetrator not eligible for parole, the lawmaker pointed out.

However, the Assembly did not follow suit and the Maltese bill was never passed by the Assembly.

At a recent Assembly Aging Committee hearing on elder abuse where the Maltese bill came up for discussion, Assemblymember Ellen Young (D- Flushing) testified, "There is still much to be done on the front lines of the fight against elder abuse."

Following testimony from a member of Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown's staff, Young called for increased oversight on powers of attorney for District Attorneys in New York City "so that we may tighten the watch on unscrupulous individuals who would seek to exploit the finances of the elderly".

BUSH BILL TIES Rx PREMIUM TO INCOME: Medicare members with higher incomes would have to pay higher premiums for the federal drug prescription coverage program under a bill introduced on behalf of President George W. Bush.

According to reports, the president estimates the move could raise $3.2 billion over five years to help defray other costs of the federal healthcare program.

The higher premiums for the drug prescription program would hit individual members with annual incomes $82,000 or greater or couples with income above $164,000. For people with incomes over $205,000, present premiums would triple, as would premiums for couples earning over $410,000 a year.

Premiums in the program already vary from plan to plan, but the standard premium is about $28 this year.

According to Washington sources, the bill doesn't have much chance of winning approval from the Democratic majority in Congress.

The president's proposal is part of a broader plan that is designed to reduce Medicare costs while pushing his plan for a larger private role in the program.