Printable Verison for this Alert note: acrobat format
Press Release: AARP & Live On: City Budget Fails Aging NYers note: acrobat format
Schedule C note: acrobat format
ADVOCACY WORKS!
$33 MILLION IN FUNDING FOR DEPARTMENT FOR THE AGING SERVICES
LiveOn NY’S FAIR BUDGET CAMPAIGN FOR SENIORS MUST CONTINUE-
SERVICES FOR OLDER NEW YORKERS STILL SHORTCHANGED IN THE CITY BUDGET
| PROGRAM | MAYORAL FUNDS | CITY COUNCIL DISCRETIONARY FUNDS |
|---|---|---|
| Case management | $1.8 million* | 0 |
| Home care | $4.3 million* | 0 |
| 6th congregate meal | $600,000 | 0 |
| Elder Abuse Enhancement | $3.5 million | $335,000 |
| Senior Center space (rent) | $1.1 million | 0 |
| Case management salary parity | $4.8 million | 0 |
| NORCS | 0 | $3.8 million |
| Adult Day Care | 0 | $950,000 |
| Transportation | 0 | $660,000 |
| Borough President funds | 0 | $1.1 million |
| Healthy Aging | 0 | $1.8 million (+$500,000)** |
| NYC Support Our Seniors | 0 | $2.0 million (+$500,000)** |
| Senior Center Enhancements | 0 | $3.5 million |
| Senior Centers – Immigrants | 0 | $1.5 million (+$500,000)** |
| Caregiver Supports (new) | 0*** | 0*** |
| TOTAL | $16.1 million | $15.6 million |
Funding for Waiting Lists: Funding has remained the same with concern about full case management funding:
*Case management - $1.8 million – Funding to eliminate the case management waiting list of 1428 homebound seniors. Case management was funded by City Council at $3 million in FY16. The administration has baselined $1.8 million of this. It is unclear how much of the remaining $1.2 million is continued. The total above, $33 million, includes the $1.2 million. DFTA has released a memo stating, “DFTA will amend FY17 case management contracts to fund current staffing levels as well as improve the salaries of case managers. As always, we will continue to work with you to assess any additional needs that may arise.” LiveOn NY will remain vigilant about this funding.
*Home Care – $4.3 million – Funding to eliminate the home care waiting lists and to maintain current hours of home care seniors receive. The $4.3 million for home care is for one year only, not baselined – this is what happened last year. LiveOn NY will remain vigilant about home care waiting lists. Case managers are the gatekeeper for turning on home care hours. If a senior sits on a case management wait list, they will be caught in a vicious cycle of not being assessed to receive home care.
**City Council funds - These programs got additional funding from last year’s levels. Funding stayed the same in the rest of the programs. The amounts in parenthesis shows the increased amount from last year.
***LiveOn NY advocated for a new funding stream to provide Caregiver Supports. No funding was allocated.
Please see the attached press release that went out right after the budget was passed.
CLICK HERE FOR PRESS RELEASE LiveOn NY and AARP have collaborated to get the full $4.3 million for home care funded for FY17. Additional funding is needed to move case management and home care programs as well as all aging services forward to serve the growing demand and meet increased costs.
New funding:
Salary parity for case managers - $4.8 million – These funds will go towards increasing salaries to $50,000 for case managers and $60,000 for supervisors. The full amount needed, $7.3 million, will be funded as of FY18, July 2017. Currently, one out of three case managers leave every year and one out of two every two years. This level of turnover leads to waiting lists and inconsistent service for homebound seniors. This money is baselined.
Elder abuse – Multi-disciplinary team program (MDTs) – $1.5 million – MDTs are a proven successful model of bringing professionals together from across disciplines and systems to problem solve complex cases of elder abuse. These funds should allow for MDTs to operate in all boroughs. The other
$2 million for elder abuse is to fund contracts won through a 2015 RFP. All this money is baselined.
LiveOn NY THANKS THE AGING NETWORK – TOGETHER WE BROUGHT 600 SENIORS TO CITY HALL AND MADE HUNDREDS OF PHONE CALLS TO COUNCILMEMBERS OVER RECENT MONTHS TO SEND THE MESSAGE – FAIR SHARE BUDGET FOR SENIORS!
There is additional funding for DFTA. To see Schedule C which includes the full City Council allocations for DFTA and community-based organizations, go to:
http://council.nyc.gov/html/budget/2017/skedc.pdf
For further information, you can contact Bobbie Sackman, Director of Public Policy, 212-398-6565 x226, bsackman@liveon-ny.org or Andrea Cianfrani, Deputy Director of Public Policy, x233, acianfrani@liveon-ny.org