jstevens@observer-reporter.com
Community Action Southwest, reacting to anticipated funding reductions from the state for the upcoming fiscal year, announced some significant changes in senior services in Greene County, including the closing of one senior center.
Darlene Bigler, chief executive officer of Community Action Southwest, said Thursday, "We had to make some difficult decisions, and we considered all possibilities. We took the route that had the least impact on the least number of seniors."
As of July 1, when the state's new fiscal year begins, the changes that will go into effect include:
n Clarksville Senior Center will be closed.
n Carmichaels Activity Center will become the centralized kitchen for Greene County. Meals will no longer be prepared at the main sites, and the cook position at Waynesburg Senior Center will be eliminated. Meals prepared at Carmichaels will be delivered to the other centers.
n Mt. Morris Senior Center will become a satellite center, meaning it will be run by volunteers. The site supervisor at Mt. Morris will be transferred to the Carmichaels center as the site supervisor. The cook at Mt. Morris also will be transferred to Carmichaels as a part-time cook.
"We decided to close Clarksville because there were a lot of expenses and the average daily attendance was just five seniors," Bigler said.
But Elizabeth Kimtantas, site supervisor at Clarksville, disputes that.
"This year, we registered eight new members, and in the last three years we registered 20 new members," she said.
Sandy Silbaugh, secretary at the Clarksville center, said at one time, Clarksville was open five days a week and then it was cut to three days a week. "When we heard about the cutbacks, we thought we might go to just one day a week. Closing us down came as a complete surprise," Silbaugh said.
Bigler said the seniors at Clarksville could travel the five miles to the Jefferson center, or 10 miles to Carmichaels.
"That's too far for the people here to travel," Silbaugh said. "Some are too old to drive that far."
Bigler said the Mt. Morris center, while it will become a satellite center, could remain open five days a week if an adequate number of volunteers can be recruited.
Meanwhile, she said the West Greene center, the Jefferson center and the Bobtown center are unaffected by these cuts since they are already volunteer-operated. Waynesburg and Carmichaels will remain staffed.
Bigler said Community Action gets is funding from Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging, which serves Washington, Greene and Fayette counties.
"AAA gets its funding from the state through the Department of Aging, funding which is part state and part federal," she said.
The state money is derived from the Pennsylvania Lottery, and Bigler said in the last seven years there has been one increase in funding for senior programs at the state level, and that was 2 percent.
In fiscal year 2007-08, $9 million in lottery money was allocated to Greene County.
"Of that, Bigler said, "$5 million went to lottery winners; $500,000 went to retailers for commissions; and just $900,000 went to AAA for senior centers. The balance went to the PACE program (pharmaceutical assistance); shared and free ride program; property tax and rent rebates; and long-term care services."
She said the bottom line is that 30 percent of all lottery proceeds go to benefit programs for seniors.
"I would like to see the budget for senior citizen centers," Silbaugh said. "This whole thing is very depressing."