The House Appropriations Committee restored about $4.3 million in programs for seniors when it unanimously passed the budget bill yesterday.
The Douglas administration proposed reductions and program eliminations of $3.7 million, which would result in a loss of $2.16 in federal matching funds.
Rep. Sue Minter, D-Waterbury, said the Committee tried to salvage programs that enable seniors and disabled Vermonters to stay at home. She said the budget doesn’t use one-time funds to pay for programs.
“We aren’t balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable,” Minter said. “(The cuts) would have cost us more money in the long run and would have had severe effects on seniors and people with disabilities.”
Not everything slated for cuts to programs for seniors in the Vermont Department of Aging and Independent Living and the Office of Vermont Health Access budgets survived; the Committee trimmed about $650,000 in services.
Here is a list of the programs that were restored in the General Fund budget:
- Senior Companion Program, $74,500
- Neighbor to Neighbor/Americorps, $120,000
- Foster Grandparent Program, $41,064
- Area Agencies on Aging, $146,698
- Long-term care ombudsman, $29,042
- Adult day grants, $109,995
- Housing and Supportive Services, $351,390
- Choices for Care case management, $108,380
- Case management variances, $208,217
- Enhanced residential care case management, $8,806
- Flexible choices, $90,325
- Change rate for personal care attendants, $692,522
- Other case management, $151,941
Here is a list of the programs that were cut:
- Adult day emergency funds, 23,655
- Kidney Association grant, $30,000 (Minter has asked VTrans to provide grant funding for public transportation for patients who need dialysis this year.)
- Cathedral Square grant, $100,000
- South Burlington Community Housing grant, $10,229
- Other housing grants, $29,700
- Extraordinary financial relief for nursing homes, $178,368
- Additional nursing home cuts, $285,333
