Trumbull officials approve levy allocations

Staff report

WARREN

Trumbull County commissioners have approved the recommendations of the Trumbull County Senior Services Advisory Council, which called for $1.7 million in allocations of seniors-levy money during the next year.

The allocations are similar to the ones made in 2009, said Diane Drawl, who was appointed senior levy administrator last October, replacing the Niles-based Area Agency on Aging 11.

Slight changes were made in the amounts given to the senior centers “based on head counts” recorded at each center, Drawl said.

The Howland SCOPE center, for example, saw an increase from $80,000 to $93,160, while Girard Multi-Generational Center saw a decrease from $110,000 to $98,000.

The Niles SCOPE center increased from $80,000 to $89,920, Warren SCOPE center dropped from $120,000 to $118,920, and the Champion, Cortland and Lordstown SCOPE centers each rose by about $3,000 to $53,000. The Johnston center gets $40,000, and the Farmington center will get $27,809.

Amounts similar to 2009 were allotted to the Trumbull County Office of Elderly Affairs ($364,500) for home-delivered meals and SCOPE ($306,000) for personal care, chore services, adult day care and adult day- care transportation, Drawl said.

Country Neighbor of Orwell ($102,000 for meals and homemaker services), Trumbull Mobile Meals ($43,500 for therapeutic home-delivered meals), and Easter Seals of Youngstown ($24,000 for adult day care and transportation) also received allocations.

Protective-services contracts were awarded to Trumbull County Job and Family Services ($109,940), Guardianship and Protective Services of Warren ($83,650), Area Agency on Aging II ($31,070), and Trumbull Advocacy and Protective Network of Brookfield ($14,340).

The Area Agency on Aging contract is new, Drawl said. The agency did not bid to offer services while it was administering the contract.

One company that did not get the same contract again was the Trumbull Community Action Program of Warren, which failed to bid on the contract by the deadline to provide transportation to clients needing medical trips outside the county, mostly dialysis patients, Drawl said.

The Office of Elderly Affairs was the only other bidder and is likely to receive the contract in the near future for about $85,000, Drawl said.

One other allocation that awaits approval by the commissioners is about $250,000 worth of in-county and out-of-county transportation.

The levy raises about $2.3 million annually to benefit county residents age 60 and older. The levy was first approved in November 2005 and was renewed for five more years last May.