For the third year in a row, the town’s Senior Advisory Committee will ask the Town Council to substantially increase its operating budget for the next year.
At their Jan. 18 meeting, the committee unanimously approved a $36,100 budget request for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The proposal is $13,000 or 56 percent more than the SAC’s $23,100 allocation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. In the previous year, which ended June 30, 2019, the committee’s budget was $17,100. The increase from 2019 to 2020 was $6,000 or 35 percent.
The SAC’s request will be forwarded to the Town Manager and Finance Department for inclusion in the overall budget proposal presented to the Town Council.
The largest item in the committee’s budget is $17,500 in wages for the Senior Coordinator, Gloria Redlich. Her work schedule was expanded this year to 14 hours per week.
The committee is seeking $10,000 to fund its transportation initiative for a full year, taking the Senior Ride Service from a wintertime pilot program funded by grants and donations to a year-round service for seniors, people with special needs, and caregivers
