The budget for the delivery of services to seniors in Waynesboro by the Valley Program for Aging Services has been balanced for years by the shifting of funds designated for senior services in Staunton.
But with the opening of a new Senior Center in Staunton next year that funding approach won’t be possible anymore.
“In the 2010-2011 fiscal year it’s going to be a problem for Waynesboro because the new Staunton Senior Center is going to need all of its revenue to account for the operations,” local VPAS program manager Jennifer Chestnut told me.
The new Staunton Senior Center at Gypsy Hill Place is scheduled to open sometime in the summer or fall of 2010. The operating budget for the Senior Center will have to account for $50,000 in increased expenditures for VPAS to run the Center in fiscal year 2010-2011, and in the following fiscal year the funding is going to take $100,000 out of the local VPAS budget, according to Chestnut.
The shortfall isn’t something that one can point to as being Waynesboro’s fault. The state formulas have just returned fewer dollars for senior services to VPAS for local senior services to Waynesboro than they have to Staunton and Augusta County, “which is interesting considering the demographic information that goes into determining that funding being so similar across the region,” Chestnut said.
“Waynesboro historically has just not had enough money to provide for its services. So we’ve had to use excess revenue from Staunton and Augusta County to make up Waynesboro’s shortfall,” Chestnut said.
“We’ve never had a problem with service delivery in Staunton and Augusta County. They’ve always had more than they’ve needed to take care of their situations. So our approach has always been, Let’s take care of them first, and then what’s left over is sent to Waynesboro to take care of its shortfall.”
VPAS coordinates the local Meals on Wheels program in addition to offering personal care and adult day care for seniors and running the senior centers in Staunton and Waynesboro.
The Waynesboro Senior Center on Pine Avenue is a focal point with the anticipated funding shortfall.
“You’re talking about maybe a $100,000 deficit. We would literally have to close the Senior Center down four days a week. Or completely eliminate the Meals on Wheels program. We just don’t have $100,000 in revenue sitting around. The local government is not going to have it. This is a real problem,” Chestnut said.
– Story by Chris Graham
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