North Carolina Slices Funds for Elderly

By Thomas Goldsmith, Raleigh News & Observer 

November 10, 2008

Hard-won state funding for Meals on Wheels and other programs vital to older and disabled people is being withheld to the tune of $2 million to meet state budget-trimming goals, social services officials said. 

The programs are the main source for a range of services -- including home-delivered meals and in-home aides -- that often help older people stay at home and out of more costly, tax-funded nursing homes and assisted living centers.

Advocates for older people had hailed a $2 million increase voted by legislators in July as a success of the last legislative session. But now they're expressing disappointment that the increase is being withheld as part of an overall belt-tightening by state officials who face falling revenues because of the declining economy. 

"I am very dismayed," said Gail Holden, director of adult services for Wake County Human Services. "I was hoping that we would continue to see increases. It seems like we take from our most vulnerable citizens."

Marie McBride, Wake County delegate to the Tar Heel Senior Legislature, a statewide advocacy group, said that people who get services through the state program are low-income, mostly female and 77 years old, on average. 

The state's decision not to deliver the $2 million increase that McBride and others pushed could end up costing more in services such as emergency room visits and long-term care, she said.

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