Wasilla cuts budget 6 percent; OKs funds for seniors

WASILLA — The city council met Monday to approve a proposed budget for the fiscal year 2010, but first added an amendment to help the ailing

Wasilla Senior Center.

Before council members cast their votes on the budget, Mayor Verne Rupright opened the floor for public comment. Representatives of the Wasilla Area Seniors, Inc. presented their case.

The senior center has been running a budget deficit for quite some time, said executive director Sondra Kaplan. The center recently cut the hours it’s open for activities, and the state grants fall pitifully short of meeting their needs, she said.

The group asked the council for a grant of $3,000 each month to continue their Meals on Wheels and popular congregate meal programs.

After some back and fourth about the amount and stipulations associated with the grant, the council approved the amount provided the senior center presents a detailed monthly report about how the money is being spent.

“I don’t anticipate a problem,” Rupright said in an interview after the meeting, “but the council can suspend the grant any time they see fit.”

Kaplan was very pleased with the outcome, saying the council did the responsible thing by supporting the one-third of the city’s population eligible for services provided by the senior center.

“I don’t view this as a grant or a gift. It’s the responsibility of the city to support its senior center,” Kaplan said.

It is not the job of the city council to award grants, said Councilwoman Dianne Woodruff, but this was a rare case. The council is worried about the senior center and keeping it on track, she said.

“I was glad to see a realization among the council that it’s not only important to feed the seniors,” said Woodruff, “but to provide them with the social interaction that comes along with the feeding. This is almost more important than the food itself.”

The $3,000 still does not cover the monthly shortfall, Kaplan said, and the senior center’s phone-a-thon is still under way. In one week, the center has raised more than $17,000 toward their goal of $50,000 by May 15, Kaplan said.

Even with the grant for the seniors and six other amendments, the $24 million budget the council approved is a cut of almost 6 percent from the 2009 fiscal year, Rupright said.

“My goal was only a three to five percent cut in my first year,” the mayor said. “I’m very happy.”

Contact Todd L. Disher at todd.disher@frontiersman.com or (907) 352-2252.