Seniors fear consequence of funding cuts
Senior citizens voiced their concerns over rumors of eviction and elimination of services to Town Administrator Derek Sullivan last Friday.
Sullivan tried to quell those rumors at a meeting at Riverside Cafe, where Wareham Public Schools Superintendent Kimberly Shaver-Hood also spoke.
Sullivan explained that the Council on Aging and social day care are separate programs with separate funding and social day care could run for another three or four years without any additional funding from the town because of the revenue it brings in.
The funding for the Council on Aging depends on which budget gets passed at the upcoming spring Town Meeting.
Under the balanced budget with no override the Council on Aging would receive no funding from the town, however, the program does receive a $43,000 grant from elder services.
"You would be able to fund some portion of [the Council on Aging], obviously you can't fund what you have now but you can use some of those grants," Sullivan said.
In the proposed override budget, the council on aging would receive $100,000 from the town. Likewise the library would receive and additional $200,000 in funding from the town if the override was passed. That would bring the total library funding to $325,000, however, after speaking with the library director, Sullivan said that still would likely not be enough for the state to recertify the library.
As far as being kicked out of the Multi-Service Center, which was what seniors at the meeting thought was happening on June 30, Sullivan said it simply wasn't true but town officials are exploring other areas for relocation, such as the library and the Hammond School in Onset.
Sullivan said he was trying to create the best possible environment for seniors.
"The town isn't trying to hurt anybody, I think we might have better places that we can utilize the Council on Aging and combine the town's resources," he said. "People want a direct answer right now on budgets we haven't passed. We don't know what's going to happen with them," Sullivan said.