There is a change happening at the Dept. of Aging and Disability Services (ADS), and Rep. Jay Case (R-Winsted) is concerned about it.
Case, who is on Connecticut’s Aging Committee, raised alarms about the elimination of the State Senior Coordinator role, also known as the Senior Center Liaison, at the ADS in a press release on Sept. 3. Funding for this position was cut in the state’s most recent budget.
“The elimination of the Senior Center Liaison position is just the latest example of how shortsighted budgeting decisions are eroding the safety net for our most vulnerable residents,” said Case in the news release. “Last session, meaningful proposals to increase support for seniors were dismissed without serious consideration by the majority. Now we’re seeing the consequences: key roles cut, coordination lost, and senior centers left without the guidance they rely on.”
However, a Director of Communications for ADS, Kathleen Sullivan, told Inside Investigator that the position is not being cut and they are instead pulling funds from other areas to ensure services continue.
Case wrote this press release after the Directors from the Torrington Senior Center, Joel Sekorski, and the Winsted Senior Center, Jennifer Kelley, reached out to him about the position being removed, he told Inside Investigator.
The State Senior Coordinator is the point of contact between the ADS and senior center directors.
For years now, senior services in the state have reported understaffing and underfunding.
“We have so much red tape and so many different things out there; they need a coordinator to help them go through the system,” Case told Inside Investigator. “The senior centers are staffed the best they can, and the state coordinator helps them find out what’s available to better their facilities.”
Connecticut has one of the highest populations of senior citizens in the country. In the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford area, there are over one million more adults 65 or older than there are children.
“The priority (in cutting the State Senior Coordinator funding) was clearly not to protect Connecticut’s safety net,” Case said in the press release. “Defunding this position will only create greater issues down the road, opening the door to inequitable access to critical services and higher costs to fill in the gaps later.”
Although Connecticut taxpayers contribute more to the federal government than the state receives through social services and other subsidies, many programs in the state rely heavily on federal funding. This year, in anticipation of budget cuts to social services on the federal level, there was a decrease in support for some social services.
But at the same time, several new programs were created. Additionally, a handful of senior centers were allocated more money in this upcoming budget, according to the press release.
In the statement, Case argues that the funding did not need to be removed. The Connecticut taxpayers spend $4 billion on salaries for state employees, according to the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller’s Open Payroll portal. The State Senior Coordinator only makes $73,000 a year.
“This change was not an administration proposal, and we have not received information regarding the rationale,” Sullivan wrote in an email.
In Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed budget this year, ADS would have retained its previous level of funding and full staffing, Sullivan said. The Department’s budget has largely remained the same.
“We share concerns about the potential impact, as many senior centers have minimal staff,” Sullivan wrote. “The statewide coordinator has played a critical role in ensuring consistent support for these vital community hubs. ADS is committed to sustaining this support within existing resources.”
The role of the Senior Center Coordinator was first created during budget adjustments for the fiscal year 2023, according to Sullivan. In his press release, Case argues that funding for the State Senior Coordinator should be reinstated when budget adjustments are made for the new budget.
Editor’s Note: This article was updated to clarify that funding for the position was cut, and money was pulled from elsewhere to cover the gap.
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