Officials question spending for seniors

Levy promoters say no promises were made.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Local officials are concerned that promises made to gain support for passage of the Trumbull County seniors levy last year will not be fulfilled.
"I think this whole thing is a mess. This is horrible," said Darlene St. George, Howland Township administrator.
The continuing levy will generate an estimated $2.5 million annually. St. George is not alone in questioning how the money will be allocated.
Supporters before last November's general election and since, St. George said, told her and others that they were seeking passage for, among other things, expanding senior transportation. Also, they would pay SCOPE of Trumbull County Inc., a nonprofit agency, to pick up the cost of operating senior facilities in Howland and Niles.
St. George said she specifically recalls Jack O'Connell of Girard, a levy promoter, and Janet Schweitzer, director of SCOPE, making these commitments.
St. George is a member of the Niles-Trumbull Transit System's transportation board, which comprises representatives of the system's member communities of Niles, Liberty, Cortland, Howland, Vienna and McDonald, and Trumbull County commissioners.
St. George said O'Connell told the board that $450,000 would be allocated to expand the Niles-Trumbull system, whose customers are mostly seniors, and to reduce fares to make it more affordable.
According to Citizens for Trumbull County Seniors literature that urged levy passage, $460,000 of the annual levy proceeds would be set aside for senior transportation.
Niles Mayor Ralph A. Infante said the reduction in the cost to member cities would have been an incentive for other communities to join the transit system.
St. George maintains that O'Connell said at meetings that senior fares would be reduced and the fees paid by the transit system's member communities would be cut in half -- from $1 per resident to 50 cents.
Patrick J. Ungaro, Liberty Township administrator, said he recalls being told that levy money would be used to reduce transit costs paid by member cities and to decrease senior fares.
In addition, St. George explained that Schweitzer told her that the costs charged by SCOPE to operate senior centers in Niles and Howland would be eliminated with the cost being picked up by levy money. For example, Howland pays SCOPE $30,000 annually to run activities at the Howland senior center.
Assertions to the contrary
O'Connell and Schweitzer said no such commitments were made.
The Trumbull County Senior Services Advisory Council was named by the county commissioners to provide input about how the levy money should be spent. In the first six months of this year, it has not agreed that $151,000 should be given to the transit system -- the county's share of the annual operating cost.
Also, the council has not addressed the question of the $450,000 in additional funds to expand the transit system, nor the county paying SCOPE to operate the senior centers.
Are those who promoted the levy on the same page as the advisory council, St. George asks. She believes they're not.
"That's a good question," Infante said.
Infante said the 11 advisory council members need to know what the transit system was told, regardless of who said it.
Christy Boone of Newton Falls, a council member, said she is unaware of any promises made during the levy campaign because she wasn't active in it, nor has she heard of any commitments made since being named to the council.
O'Connell, now the advisory council's chairman, said the only discussions with Niles-Trumbull Transit representatives were done to "get a sense" of senior transportation needs. O'Connell said if anybody believes they were promised anything, they "jumped the gun."
Thomas Klingeman of Howland, another advisory council member who was active in the levy campaign, is also firm that no promises were made to anybody.
The transit system was not promised $450,000; rather the advisory council will seek proposals and a contract will be awarded to the entity "that will do the best job," Klingeman said.
Mark Hess, Niles development coordinator who runs the transit system, said there was a quid-pro-quo -- $450,000 to the Niles-Trumbull Transit System in exchange for levy support.
Hess recalls one meeting attended by O'Connell in which O'Connell said the $450,000 "could be made available" if all seniors in the county could ride the transit system for $2 per ride. Hess went so far as to renew the transportation agency's budget based on receiving the $450,000.
"What we were told isn't happening now," Hess said.
Riders in member communities now pay $2 for a one-way ride, while those in nonmember communities pay $4 each way.
Asked if part of the $450,000 offer was in exchange for levy support, Hess said, "I understood it to be that way."
Infante said he's nervous about the advisory council's failure to recommend to county commissioners that $151,000 in levy money be spent on transportation this year.
Infante said that if the transit operation doesn't receive the $151,000 within the next month, he will shut down the system. That would be detrimental to seniors, the mayor said, noting that some were paying up to $30 for a ride before the transit system became operational three years ago.
"I'm not sure exactly what they were told," Schweitzer said of those asked to promote the issue.
Fund-distribution efforts
Schweitzer, who regularly attends advisory council meetings, said distributing the funds is a "new project" that is going slowly because the council is attempting to be democratic.
For example, she explained, the Niles-Trumbull Transit System should be "out front" in receiving funds to expand senior transportation. However, the council may solicit proposals from other transportation providers such as the Western Reserve Transit Authority based in Youngstown or CATS Transportation System operated by the Trumbull Community Action Program in Warren.
O'Connell and Klingeman said that's what is going to occur.
As for the levy funds picking up the programming costs at the Niles and Howland senior centers, Schweitzer said that "probably could happen."
The dilemma, she explained, is if levy money is used to fund current senior services, there will be no money to provide other programs.
"I can't say exactly how it will be spent," Schweitzer added, noting the final authority is the county commissioners.
St. George counters that the levy money should be used to support current services before creating others. She has become suspicious that a new form of bureaucracy will be created to handle the money, thus decreasing the funds available for seniors.
Janice Bolchalk of Hubbard, a levy promoter, said the District XI Area Agency on Aging is seeking a $60,000 contract to provide a full-time person to monitor where the levy money is being spent.
yovich@vindy.com