California Governor Proposes Cuts in Senior Nutrition Program

The Orange County Register, Calif. - February 9, 2003  

California Governor Gray Davis

Feb. 9--WESTMINSTER, Calif.--To Gov. Gray Davis, the Brown Bag Program for seniors is a way to save $865,000 next year. To Don Rioux of Westminster, it is half his monthly supply of food.

Davis proposes $8.25 million of cuts to senior programs for the 2003-'04 budget year, almost half of it from nutrition efforts such as the Brown Bag Program, which serves 1,900 seniors in Orange County.

Rioux, 69, lives on Social Security and money he makes recycling cardboard. He comes to the Abrazar Community Center in Westminster every other week to pick up a bag of food. Without the fresh produce, canned goods, bread and cereal in those bags, food would be a real concern.

"We paid our dues already," Rioux said. "Why can't the politicians go easier on us so we don't have to worry so much?"

Davis should find the money to solve the state budget crisis with measures like increasing vehicle-license fees, Rioux said.

Together, the proposed cuts in senior services would ease $8.25 million of the $26 billion budget deficit projected by legislative analysts through June 2004.

The governor's office admits that the savings on senior programs is relative pocket change, but says the economic reality leaves no choice.

"We simply don't have the resources," said Davis spokeswoman Hilary McLean. "We're in a crisis mode and have to make tough choices."

Davis wanted to cut senior nutrition programs for this budget year, but the Legislature has delayed the cuts at least until the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Such proposed cuts have Assemblyman Ken Maddox, R-Garden Grove, feeling "livid." He has voted no on similar cuts for the disabled.

"This is exploitation of seniors for the purposes of political games," Maddox said. "But I'm not playing."

The proposed cuts would harm seniors but do virtually nothing to help with the budget deficit, Maddox said.

"We've identified art programs bigger than the Office on Aging," he said.

Davis has expanded government since he came to power, Maddox said, and should look at cutting the expansion programs first.

"It's a matter of priorities," Maddox said. "Agencies like the Integrated Waste Management Board would be a better place to start," he said of the state agency that encourages recycling and hazardous waste disposal.

The Brown Bag Program is among the smaller nutrition programs in the county, said Pamela Mokler, executive director for the Orange County Office of Aging, but it is the most critical.

"It targets the seniors with the most need," Mokler said. "Low-income seniors spend every penny they get on rent and live on this food."

When the Brown Bag Program started in 1983, it was mostly surplus fresh fruits and vegetables -- some donated from stores, others gleaned from fields. Scout troops and youth groups still glean fields for the program, but it has been expanded to include donated bread, cereal and canned goods.

The Second Harvest Food Bank distributes the food to 23 churches and community centers across the county. At the centers, volunteers -- sometimes the seniors who eat the food -- break down the loads into individual bags.

Without the Brown Bag Program, the canned goods would probably still reach the needy through other programs, said Kay Mather, Food Bank service coordinator.

"But the fruits and vegetables would just be plowed into the ground," Mather said.

Should Davis' proposed cuts be adopted in the next budget year, it would mean cutting 5,900 bags out of 42,000 that are distributed every year, Mokler said.

"This food means an awful lot to us," said Helen Gentleman, 82, of Westminster. "It gives us all the staples and helps us get the right nutrition."

State Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, serves on the Senate subcommittee that took the nutrition program cuts off the table for this budget year, but he was among the minority that voted to proceed with the cuts.

He sees future cuts in all programs as an absolute necessity to solve the budget deficit problem.

"The only alternatives are massive tax increases that would implode the California economy," McClintock said. "Or severe cuts in core functions such as police and fire."

His colleague on the subcommittee, state Sen. Deborah Ortiz, D-Sacramento, said she is aware of the value of the nutritional programs for seniors.

"But the same argument can be made about all programs," Ortiz said. "It's a horrific situation, but we have to cut in services -- there is no other place left to cut."

Cuts in nutrition programs may actually cost the state more in health care for the elderly down the line, Mokler said.

"For every dollar you spend on nutrition, you save $3.50 in hospitalization costs," Mokler said.

Mokler hopes to make up for the cuts with donations, but the Food Bank has seen donations drop about 50 percent since September 2002.