By Dave Ranney
KHI News Service
John Tienken, a volunteer driver for the Ottawa Senior Center for the past 14 years, delivers a noon meal to Maxine Holden. The meals, prepared by the Mid-America Nutrition Program, allow seniors citizens to maintain their independence, avoiding moves to nursing homes. (Dave Ranney/KHI)
TOPEKA, July 16
When Congress in May agreed to increase the federal minimum wage for the first time in a decade many cheered, saying $5.15 an hour had been too little for too long.
But those who run meal programs for the Kansas elderly say they have no idea how they”ll come up with the extra money for their workers and may be forced to cut services. The new law kicks in July 24 when the minimum wage is increased to $5.85 an hour. That will then increase to $6.55 on July 24 next year and reach $7.25 an hour by July 24, 2009.
“We figure we”re going to need an additional $111,000 by 2009. That”s when the $7.25 goes into play,” said Sharon Geiss, executive director of the Mid-America Nutrition Program in Ottawa.
The new law is expected to cost Aging Projects Inc., a Hutchinson-based meals program, about $228,000 by 2009.
“We don”t have that kind of money, and I don”t where we can get it,” said the agency”s director, Rosie O”Brien. “We”re tapped out.”
Without more money, O”Brien said, meal programs will have to cut services. And if services are cut, she said, it”s likely that some elderly Kansans
an exact number isn”t known
will end up in hospitals or nursing homes, increasing the state”s health care costs.
Aging Projects serves home-delivered and congregate meals in 33 locations in 10 counties. The program last year provided about 366,000 meals.
“We can”t close sites,” O”Brien said, “because that would mean serving fewer meals. Our state and federal funding is tied to the number of meals served, so we”d end up getting less money
yet most of our fixed costs would remain the same. I don”t know what the answer is.”
Laying off workers, she said, would only add to the agency”s headaches.
“We have a formula we use that determines how many people it takes to keep a site going,” O”Brien said. “It”s usually a site manager
someone who sets up and cleans up
kitchen help and a driver. And these are part-time positions. If we laid somebody off, we just have to pay somebody more to make up for what laid-off person did.”
Federal law prevents the meal programs from making the elderly pay more for their meals.
“All we can do is ask people to contribute what they can afford. We don”t get to recoup our costs by charging them more,” said Pam Gordon, director of field services at North Central-Flint Hills AAA, which served about 500,000 meals last year.
“That”s one of the complicating factors in all this
we can suggest a higher donation, but that doesn”t mean they have to pay it,” Gordon said. “At the same time, we don”t want to do anything to discourage people from taking part in the program.”
Meal programs are not allowed to keep track of which patrons pay for their meals or how much they pay.
North Central-Flint Hills AAA serves meals in 44 locations in 18 counties in north central Kansas.
Anyone over age 60 who fills out a participation form is eligible for meals. They do not have to be low-income.
“The goal is to feed people and to keep them healthy,” Gordon said. “Nutrition is essential to good health.”
The suggested donation for a North Central-Flint Hills AAA meal is $2.50.
“That may not sound like much, but whenever we raise our suggested donation, we see a drop in participation because people feel like they can”t afford it and they won”t come if they don”t feel like they aren”t contributing,” Gordon said.
Meal-program wages, she said, are low because they”re one of the few costs that the programs can control.
At North Central-Flint Hills AAA, most meal-program workers are paid $5.50 an hour. Most work two to six hours a day, depending on their position.
“We have no control over the cost of food or gas or repairs, and most of our sites are in donated facilities
the utilities are donated, we don”t pay the insurance,” Gordon said.
Liz Whitacre, a Mid-America Nutrition Program worker, serves a meal at the Ottawa Senior Center. “I love it here,” she said. Whitacre works four hours a day, five days a week, earning $6.94 an hour. Mid-American Nutrition Program officials say they will need $111,000 to give workers like Whitacre raises triggered by scheduled increase over the next three years in the federal minimum wage. (Dave Ranney/KHI)
“The only thing we control is wages, so we don”t give raises. It”s embarrassing. Our people are worth more than that.”
Other costs are becoming increasingly unpredictable, Gordon said.
“We just got a bill for almost $400 to get a $15 part installed in a convection oven in one of our rural locations,” she said.
“In the last six weeks, the price for an industrial-size roll of aluminum foil has gone from $61 to $102,” she said. “Everybody knows what”s happened to the price of gasoline. Milk”s gone up. We”re getting hit from all directions,” O”Brien said.
State assistance?
Kansas Department on Aging Secretary Kathy Greenlee said she”s leaning toward proposing additional spending on meal programs in the department”s budget for Fiscal 2009, which begins July 1, 2008.
“We know it”s an issue,” Greenlee said. “We”re in the process of figuring out what the full impact is going to be on services and where the money could come from.”
Legislators also are aware of the shortfall.
“This was a major issue I had with the feds raising minimum wage and, essentially, passing the costs on down to the states,” said Rep. Bob Bethell, R-Alden.
“At the same time this is going on, they”re cutting support for the meals programs in some other areas,” he said. “We already put $750,000 in the budget this year to make up for some of those shortfalls. Now, I guess we”ll have to make up for this, too.I don”t know where we”ll find the money, but we”re sure going to look for it.”
Bethell is chairman of the House Social Services Budget Committee.
-Dave Ranney is a staff writer for KHI News Service, which specializes in coverage of health issues facing Kansans. He can be reached at
dranney@khi.org
or at 785-233-5443, ext. 128.