Summary of 2006
Public Hearings 

Western Illinois Area Agency on Aging (WIAAA) conducted two Public Hearings from 9 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on May 4, 2006 in McDonough County and May 5, 2006 in Henry County. These hearings are intended to give the public an opportunity to comment on our proposed amendment to the FY 2005-2007 Area Plan. There were a total of 31 attendees at the two hearings and WIAAA has maintained a list of the persons in attendance and which organization they represented.

This public hearing was opened by Kathryn Wyatt, the WIAAA Advisory Council Chairperson, at approximately 9:10 a.m. Kathy explained the purpose of the hearing and what the procedure is for testifying. WIAAA staff, Board of Directors members, Advisory Council members, funded provider staff and all other participants introduced themselves. Kathy noted that there was no formal request to testify and asked if anyone had questions or comments to make.

One participant asked for clarification regarding a statement on page one of the Public Information Document (PID). "The proposed area plan includes a waiver request to exceed 15% (up to 30%) transfer of WIAAA’s allotment for Title III-CI to Title III-B services. It also contains two additional direct service waivers; one under III-E I&A for $3,000 and another under III-B I&A for $11,000."

Jan Stille, Executive Director, explained that the Older American Act funds, in some cases, are allocated to a specific service. Our Agency believes some of the funding for congregate meals can be better used providing other services. Some of these services are Information and Assistance, Outreach and Transportation. Our Agency determines the need for these services through our needs assessments, our Community Input meetings and by talking with seniors themselves. We have learned through this process that the needs for these services (I&A, OR and Transportation) are often greater than the need for Congregate Meals.

The Older American Act states that we can have a flexibility of 15% between these "titles". If we want to transfer out more than 15% we have to ask the State for a waiver and we can ask them for up to 30%.

The Administratively related III-B Direct Service Waiver in the amount of $11,000 was requested by our Agency because we provide Information and Assistance at our office. A Direct Service Waiver in the amount of $3,000 for our III-E or Caregiver Services is used to purchase materials for our gerontology resource center, the Greta J. Brooks Elderly Living and Learning Facility (ELLF). These materials are used by trainers, counselors, students, seniors and caregivers.

A question was raised regarding next year’s funding and John Poole, WIAAA Controller explained that we expect the to be "flat" this year in comparison to last year. He added that while staff costs are down, utilities and dues to organizations have risen. WIAAA works hard to keep administrative costs low and put as much money is services as possible.

Julie Seline from Alternatives for the Older Adult (AFOA) inquired whether or not funding for Medication Management (a program which assists seniors in setting up their meds) was going to be cut next year. Jan stated that it had been slated to be cut in the President’s proposed budget but that the Senate had argued strongly to put it back in again. At this point, she stated, she could not conjecture.

Several members of the Macomb chapter of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) were present and asked a number of questions regarding programs we fund. Lynne Ruben, president of the chapter, asked if our Agency had additional funding and could write an area plan based on that increase, what would we feel the greatest need is? Jan Stille spoke up to say that she is very concerned about those services which we fund that are being hit particularly hard by the increased cost of heating fuel and gasoline. She stated that these increases spanned across several services and created quite a financial hardship for providers. She also stated that it would take a great deal of planning and quite a bit of additional funding to resolve this issue.

There was some discussion regarding the changes taking place in the way McDonough County provides transportation, now that they are incorporating Central Dispatching. Jan assured the participants that WIAAA is trying to ensure that transportation for seniors improves not worsens. She informed everyone that the director of our American Red Cross Transportation provider in Macomb is participating in the transportation restructuring process in order to see that the needs and concerns of seniors are being addressed.

Kathy called for more comments and questions or a last minute testimony but there were none. The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.

This public hearing was opened by Frances Leimkuehler, a member of the WIAAA Advisory Council; at approximately 9:00 a.m. Frances explained the purpose of the hearing and what the procedure is for testifying. WIAAA staff, Board of Director members, Advisory Council members, funded provider staff and all other participants introduced themselves. Frances noted that there was one request for formal testimony and asked that individual to begin.

• Virginia Nelson, Director of Henry County Senior Citizens’ Center, Kewanee, IL. testified on the following issues:

1. The Henry County Senior Center believes that WIAAA is not really meeting the funding needs of the senior centers. It was stated that WIAAA’s decision to move some of the C-I funds to the III-B services is not helpful when she is already struggling to pay her C-I incurred costs.
   
2. There are two major issues which have created financial hardship for running a senior center: heating fuel and gasoline cost increases. The Henry County Senior Center January heat bill was $4,199, twice the cost of the previous year’s bill. Requests for transportation were increased as seniors themselves cannot afford the rise in the cost of gasoline. The transportation options in Kewanee are very limited and since there is no public transportation system, seniors often relied on cab rides, which had just increased to an $8.00 fare one-way. The gasoline bill for the Senior Center continues to run over $1,000 per month. These additional costs had not been factored into the budget and made it difficult for the senior center to continue to meet such costs.
   
3. The Henry County Senior Center is concerned that WIAAA expects senior centers to continue with all of the services they provide yet the Agency doesn’t want the cost of service to go up more than 5%.
   
4. The Henry County Senior Center is still suffering from the increase in minimum wage to $6.50 per hour. Fourteen people at the center received a raise last year in order to meet that increase. In order to make this work, it would be necessary to cut staff hours and have everybody work for the same wage. The Medicare D program requirements had greatly increased the work load of the I&A and Outreach workers.

There was no additional formal testimony.

Carol Kern from Mendota Area Senior Services (MASS) spoke up regarding the Area Agency receiving a Direct Service Waiver to provide Information and Assistance. She stated that there is not enough funding now for the services the senior centers provide and that it did not seem reasonable to her that the Agency received this funding.

Michele Jech from AFOA spoke of their increased costs for providing services and stated that she has written more grants this year than ever before in ordering to seek funding to keep the programs going.

Frances called for any last minute testimony or comments but there were none and the meeting was adjourned at approximately 10:15 a.m.

The Area Agency staff has reviewed the testimony presented at the public hearings and makes the following recommendations for actions with regard to the FY 2005-2007 Area Plan.

1. The Henry County Senior Center feels the Area Agency is not meeting the needs of the senior centers when it transfers C-I funds to III-B services.

• Recommendation: WIAAA will support the transfer of funds from C-I to III-B services.
  
• Rationale: The transfer of funds from C-I to III-B services is based on past experience, community input and public hearing testimony which has indicated that this funding is more critical to the Community Based Services.

1. The Henry County Senior Center is concerned about the increased cost of heating fuel for their facility and gasoline for providing transportation. These additional costs were not anticipated in the budget and with the bills doubling, the Director is uncertain how she will keep her doors open. More funding is needed to meet the needs of the senior centers.

• Recommendation: WIAAA is aware of the increased costs of running an organization and has made in-house adjustments at the Agency in order to cut costs. Senior Centers may have to give thought to what adjustments can be made at their centers to alleviate some of the overwhelming cost increases when providing services. WIAAA also recommends that the senior centers connect with their local County Boards to see what funding might be available for rural transportation funds. It may also be possible to contract to transport Medicaid clients or tap into some of the "5311 Grant" funds to help subsidize their transportation expenses.
  
• Rationale: The bottom line is that Older American Act Services are not getting any additional funding because the Area Agency is not getting any additional funding. Everything that is concerning the directors of the senior centers is affecting the Area Agency as well. All of our in-house costs have been increasing including the heating fuel and gasoline bills. WIAAA has made some adjustments such as eliminating one staff position and combining other roles.

1. The Henry County Senior Center feels that WIAAA expects the center to continue with all of the services they provide yet the Agency doesn’t want the cost of service go up more than 5%.

• Recommendation: The director of Henry County Senior Center could increase the amount by more than 5% if she wanted to go to the Board of Directors with that request.
  
• Rationale: The 5% is in place to help insure that there will not be a large increase in Federal unit cost without the provider having to tell the Board why they want that increase.

1. The Henry County Senior Center is still feeling the effect of the raise in minimum wage which had caused an additional strain on their budget.

• Recommendation: WIAAA has no control over the minimum wage and encourages the senior center to consider all possible options that might be open to them. WIAAA will certainly continue to advocate for additional funding for senior centers.
  
• Rationale: WIAAA realizes that the raise in minimum wage has adversely affected small businesses and will continue to advocate for additional resources to assist senior services in meeting the needs of increased costs for staff.

A comment was raised regarding WIAAA requesting a Direct Service Waiver which is used to provide I&A through our office but was not presented as formal testimony. WIAAA staff responded by saying that our Agency has provided I&A for a great many years and had reached a point where we needed to cover some of the costs of providing that service.

No changes were made to the Area Plan as a result of the Public Hearings.

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