Citing an increased demand for services, the Council on Aging has asked Selectmen to fund an extra five hours of work a week for its receptionist/dispatch position in its fiscal year 2014 budget. With five more hours, Council on Aging director Deborah Thompson told the Board of Selectmen last week, the receptionist/dispatcher would be available to take over some of the programming duties currently performed by the outreach coordinator, allowing the outreach coordinator to spend more time out in the community working with seniors.
“I want Maria [Holland], our outreach coordinator, out the door and making home visits,” Thompson said.
In her budget presentation to the Board of Selectmen last Tuesday night, Thompson said the $3,800 request was necessary to maintain the level-service budget town departments were charged with creating by the Finance Committee last month. A level-service budget allows a department to increase spending by the amount necessary to keep its services at the same level as the previous fiscal year.
“In order to continue level services, because there are more seniors [receiving Council on Aging services], we feel we need more hours,” Thompson said.
Using statistics compiled by the Council on Aging for its most recent annual report, Thompson said 655 people used senior center services last year, up from 498 the previous year. Those 655 people, Thompson said, represent 49.4 percent of the over-60 population in Harvard. While a number of that group may come in only for a flu shot or some other minor service, Thompson said, “It’s the older ones that we may be seeing that really need the services.”
The newly occupied senior affordable rental apartments at Bowers Brook on Ayer Road have contributed 24 new Council on Aging service-users this year, Thompson said. The Foxglove Apartments, also on Ayer Road, have 19 residents who use Council on Aging services, she said.
Selectman Bill Johnson asked how many of the 655 Council on Aging users were from Devens.
“I don’t think Devens is involved in the number,” Thompson said. “There may be a few, but it’s very few.”
The outreach coordinator position at the Council on Aging is currently funded for 19 hours of work per week. While most of those hours are spent visiting seniors at their homes, Thompson said, some of it is necessarily spent at the senior center setting up for programs there.
“We are finding that, sure, we have great programs [at the senior center],” Thompson said, “but all of that takes time. It takes work. It’s a hands-on thing.”
With five extra hours, Thompson said, the receptionist/dispatcher will be able to relieve the outreach coordinator of her senior center duties, allowing her to spend more time helping people in their own homes.
The receptionist/dispatcher’s current 14 hours are reimbursed by the Montachusett Regional Transit Authority (MART), at $11,000 in fiscal 2013 and a requested $12,000 for fiscal 2014. If approved, the additional five hours will be paid for by the town.
Not including funding for the five hours, the Council on Aging is requesting an overall budget of $109,011 for fiscal 2014. Factoring in state grant money, MART reimbursement, and user fee revenue, the net cost of the request is $78,623, a 3.1 percent increase over this year.
