Funding practices scrutinized at SCOPE senior agency in Warren

By Ed Runyan

WARREN — One Trumbull County official said he just wants SCOPE Inc. to follow the rules for using senior services levy money.

As county commissioners weigh the next round of funding for the levy, problems still fester with Senior Citizens Opportunity for Personal Endeavor, one of the levy’s largest services providers.

The problem, according to the Area Agency on Aging 11, which monitors the spending of seniors levy money for the county commissioners, is that SCOPE still is not meeting the agency’s guidelines for receiving levy money.

County Commissioner Frank Fuda said SCOPE needs to follow the rules established by Area Agency because the rules are in place to ensure the levy money is being spent properly.

“We have to be accountable,” Fuda said of the county commissioners.

The Area Agency had problems with SCOPE last year because of activities such as line dancing being billed at $33 per hour to the levy when such activities are supposed to cost about $9.

Negotiations finally broke down in early February, when commissioners notified SCOPE that it will have to make good on $90,000 in services the Area Agency says were overbilled.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com