Selectmen Oppose Cuts to COA in FY12 Budget

As Westwood officials work at solidifying in preparation for Town Meeting on May 2, a number of cuts are expected to affect several departments.

But there is one department the Westwood Board of Selectmen is reluctant to approve cuts for - the Westwood Council on Aging.

The COA was listed among several town departments that would be facing cuts of either $500 or $1,000, said Town Finance Director Pam Dukeman at Monday night's Selectmen meeting.

"There are small cuts to all of our departments," Dukeman said. "That was something that all departments understood and, in a sense, agreed with. No one wants to put this all on one department."

The COA, Dukeman added, was willing to take the cut, and that it would be a workable number for FY12.

"They were certainly more pleased with that cut than a staffing cut," Dukeman said Monday night. "That's what they were most concerned with."

But the Selectmen's concern was over what the cuts would entail in services, such as a reduction in home visits, in-state travel and other areas that affect local seniors.

"That seems like a reduction of service to the elderly to me," said Selectmen Third Member Patrick Ahearn. "I get concerned when I see we're doing less home visits for the elderly. There are some elderly in this community that that's the only interaction they may have for days at a time."

Added Chair Nancy Hyde, "If we're going to get to the point where we're going to change what we offer to the seniors in this community, we've got to have a bigger discussion about that."

Meanwhile, Westwood's Veterans Services department will face a cut of $500, an amount Veteran's Agent Chris McKeown said would be a workable number during Monday night's meeting.

Hyde, however, reiterated her opposition to discussing a cut to senior services in town.

"The message is something I don't support," Hyde said Monday. "I wish that one line had never made this list. I just think we shouldn't be able to talk about that; I think we should be able to cover that and find another way to go about it.

"A budget is a budget," she added. "It's not perfect, and things happen during the year. We should be able to find some money, somewhere, and not be talking about cutting senior services. This just doesn't seem like the smart thing to do with the resources we have."

Selectmen Clerk Phil Shapiro commended the town's departments for being able to accept a certain level of cut, and that a cut for the COA would mean that senior citizens would be facing similar issues that the rest of the town's residents would face.

"Fewer in-home visits is something that's of concern," Shapiro said. "I think the fact that every department is participating and they're all on a leadership team, is a good thing. Recreation, Board of Health, these all impact citizens and some of them also impact the elderly. So I guess I feel slightly different than (Ahearn) and (Hyde) on that."

Town Administrator Mike Jaillet said he would be able to use funds from a training budget that could be reduced to complement the COA cut.

"We're trying to do a couple of things," Dukeman said of the budget. "Maintain our services, and overall service delivery for FY12. We were able to get through a list that got us where we wanted to be for FY12. (It's) a tight budget - not the budget we'd like to do, but one that does remain in place."

As a result, the Selectmen approved the cuts recommended in the FY12 budget, with the exception that the COA's home visits or support travel were not reduced, and that the difference would be funded with a line item through Jaillet's budget.

A proposed final FY12 budget will be brought before the Westwood Finance Commission at a public hearing on March 21.