SCOPE spending procedure under scrutiny

By Ed Runyan

SCOPE’s director says some activities will have to be eliminated because of restrictive levy rules.

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

While 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 around $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.

Lisa Solley, agency spokeswoman, said the most recent problem with SCOPE billing arose in December, when SCOPE submitted a request to be reimbursed $11,699 for 117 Christmas baskets SCOPE distributed to senior citizens from its Warren senior center. SCOPE operates six centers throughout the county.

Area Agency said the request lacked three important pieces of documentation: signatures of clients who received the baskets, signatures by social workers who prepared the baskets, and dates of delivery.

Because of the missing documentation, SCOPE’s December reimbursement request was denied. SCOPE eventually submitted a revised December reimbursement with the Christmas baskets no longer included, Solley said.

Janet Schweitzer, SCOPE’s director, said that as a “matter of principal,” SCOPE is taking steps to gather the documentation for the Christmas baskets even though it is not clear whether the baskets will qualify for funding even if documentation is complete.

Solley said the baskets do not qualify for reimbursement at the rate SCOPE had sought — $99 per basket — but there is a chance that some reimbursement is possible.

There are ways that such tasks can be billed for “staff time” or “volunteer rate,” Solley said. Schweitzer said it isn’t clear to her how that would work, however.

SCOPE turned in a bill asking for $99 per basket, which was three hours of service at $33 per hour, per basket.

Solley said the $33 per-hour-rate, called supportive services, is only for one-on-one visits with a senior citizen from a social worker.

SCOPE has said social workers did spend time with clients while the baskets were being dropped off, but not three hours. Some of the time billed was for assembling the baskets, SCOPE said.

Solley said it also is not permissible to gather the documentation after the fact, as Schweitzer is suggesting, because those who received the service may no longer remember specific details of the activity, such as how much time a worker spent at his or her home.

Schweitzer said the problem with conforming to the agency’s rules is that certain types of services SCOPE has offered in the past will probably have to be eliminated because the rules don’t allow the organization to get reimbursement.

“A lot of kind acts just don’t fit the slots,” Schweitzer said. She was referring to the baskets as an example of something that doesn’t fit Area Agency guidelines. “If you take away some of the creativity or kindness, it becomes a more sterile environment,” she said.

SCOPE has provided Christmas baskets for about 10 years, Schweitzer said.

Inside the baskets are items such as food, gifts and homemade quilts and afghans. The contents of the baskets are donated.

“We thought this was very supportive,” Schweitzer said. “But to some people, they think it’s like an Easter basket. You just drop it off on the porch.”

In reality, providing the baskets was a good reason “for talking to [senior citizens] and bringing them joy,” she said, adding, “I guess joy doesn’t meet the definition.”

County commissioners hired Area Agency on Aging in July 2006 to oversee the spending of the $2.6 million raised annually by the levy county voters approved in November 2005.

SCOPE was awarded $643,851 in senior levy funds in 2007 — $428,671 for operation of senior centers, and $215,180 to provide personal care, homemaker services, adult day care, adult day-care transportation and chore services. SCOPE was awarded roughly the same amount in 2008.

Commissioners say they may approve funding for 2009 at a meeting Wednesday.

The Seniors Advisory Council has recommended that SCOPE be approved for a similar amount of money in 2009 as in 2007 and 2008. The council recommended in mid-February that SCOPE be approved for $428,671 for senior centers and $236,192 for the other services.

Levy money is paid to SCOPE as a reimbursement, up to a certain level, after SCOPE gives the county an invoice.

runyan@vindy.com