Senator Krueger & Fellow Democrats Restore Money to Senior Centers, Avoiding Devestating Cuts

For Immediate Release | June 14, 2010

Katie Kincaid | kincaid.nysenate@gmail.com | 646-784-0485

(Albany, NY) – State Senator Liz Krueger joined her Democratic Colleagues in voting to pass a budget extender which included a restoration of nearly $37 million in Title XX funds to be given to Senior Centers throughout New York City.

“Every year the City’s Senior Centers count on Title XX funding to keep their doors open and the Governor’s original proposal would have had dire consequences for organizations our Seniors count on every day,” said Senator Krueger. “I have been fighting these cuts from the beginning and organized a petition drive to convince the Governor to restore this funding. I am very happy that the Governor has finally realized that funding to our Senior Centers is vital to the continued health and happiness of our local senior citizens.”

The extender bill will include $150 million in Title XX money, $108 million of which comes from Federal funds. Of that, $66 million is designated for adult protective domestic violence services and $5 million goes toward State and local training for social services districts.

Another $37 million, most of which usually goes to New York City, is discretionary and is distributed by the Governor. In previous years a bulk of this $37 million was used for Senior Center funding, a practice that City senior centers have grown to rely on and factor into their budgets. This year, however, the Governor originally opted to use these funds elsewhere, leading to widespread concern over how Senior Centers would cope with such a large blow to their budgets.

“This year’s budget process has not been easy and one particularly difficult aspect has been the possibility that so many of our City’s Senior Centers would be forced to close,” said Senator Krueger. “Over the past several months I have gathered hundreds of signatures for a petition to fight cuts to our Senior Centers and I am very proud that our voices have finally been heard.”