COA fee increase could be coming

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Norm McCoy, with the Grand Traverse County Commission on Aging, mows a lawn Tuesday, June 12, 2012 in Traverse City. Record-Eagle/Keith King/Keith King

June 14, 2012

COA fee increase could be coming

COA trying to overcome $400,000 budget shortfall

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com The Record Eagle Thu Jun 14, 2012, 08:57 AM EDT

TRAVERSE CITY — Local senior services officials want to boost fees — in some cases up to 200 percent — to overcome a budget hole owed to declining property tax revenues.

But Grand Traverse County commissioners will have the final say, and several publicly oppose the Commission on Aging's efforts to offset a $400,000 shortfall by charging seniors extra for a variety of services.

Even Georgia Durga, the Commission on Aging's director, isn't overly optimistic that county board members will give her the go-ahead at a meeting set for Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Governmental Center in Traverse City.

"I hope they approve the recommendation because I think that's the best option for us," Durga said. "But I know some don't support it and I don't know if we are going to be able to change their minds."

The COA provides services that range from house cleaning and lawn mowing to respite and foot care. The agency wants to raise about $340,000 through fee hikes that would range from more than 200 percent for low-income seniors to 22 percent for those with higher incomes.

Diane Bozzi of Traverse City has used COA services for about four years, but doubts she'll be able to afford a fee increase.

"They're very nice people; I just wish they didn't have to raise their prices," Bozzi said. "When you think of how everything else has gone up, I don't know how some people are going to do it."

COA charges seniors on an income-based sliding scale that ranges from $1.15 per hour up to $31.05 per hour. Seniors with less than $908 a month of income now pay $1.15 an hour. They would see the rate jump to $4 per hour in 2013. Those making less than $1,624 a month would see charges go from $2.30 to $6 an hour.

The two lowest income groups comprise 69 percent of COA's client base.

"Some of these people, their monthly income is as low as $450 a month," said county Commissioner Christine Maxbauer, who also serves on the COA board and volunteers in the COA office. "We have calls from clients who are already saying they ... can't pay the increase."

Durga said the agency started a scholarship fund to help people who can't pay their bills.

A survey of clients showed that 69 percent preferred a fee increase rather than service cuts. She noted that several respondents said they thought the proposed increases were too high.

"We cut services in 2011 to trim about $300,000 from our budget and some of our clients didn't like that," Durga said. "We cut in 2012 and will do so again in 2013, but it wasn't enough."

The proposed fees were set to raise just enough money to avoid service reductions, she said.

County Commissioner Ross Richardson questions Durga's numbers. He said county administrators typically overestimate expenditures and underestimates revenue.

"I don't even think they know how much money they have," Richardson said, and added he's irked by a new administrator the agency hired in 2011.

Bozzi, who taught school for 36 years, said when the school district didn't have money she searched for and found grants or donations. The COA should act the same way, she said.

"There's always a place," Bozzi said. "I would hope they are going to think about that ... if the alternative means losing people who really need it."