UPDATE: Scott County cuts could impact CASI’s programs, future

CASI leaders who were already staring at a $50,000 budget cut that would shutter Jane’s Place Adult Day Services now have learned that Scott County also is considering slashing all of CASI’s funding for a program that keeps at-risk seniors in their own homes. The Center for Active Seniors, Inc. in Davenport, learned last week that among the social service agency funding budget cuts being targeted by the Scott County Board is CASI’s entire annual contribution of $214,000.  The reduction represents about 20% of the center's annual revenue, CASI President and CEO Laura Kopp said. “We just want the community to know that the programs and services that they’ve come to know and love at CASI are under threat and we need a community response in order to save it,” Ms. Kopp told the QCBJ in an interview Thursday, March 30. “This is a really, really challenging time,” she said, adding, “we want to put out a call to action to our local funders and donors and philanthropic entities in the community” who can help keep the 40,000-square-foot senior center and its senior programs alive. Ms. Kopp acknowledges that CASI, located at 1035 W. Kimberly Road, is not alone in facing cuts. The recommendation to completely X-out funding for the 50-year-old senior center is among $1.2 million in cuts that county supervisors need to make from the budget for Fiscal Year 2024, which begins July 1.  The dollars from the funding cuts will be added to higher than expected county revenues from other sources in order to make up for a total $1.6 million shortfall in property tax revenue.  In February, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a bill adjusting property tax rollback numbers to resolve a 2021 fiscal year error. The move saved Iowa property taxpayers about $133 million, but cut the funding for county and city governments.   Scott County has been working for months to balance its books. The board is expected to consider and vote on the $1.2 million in cuts at a public hearing at its Thursday, April 13, meeting.  Scott County Board Chairman Ken Beck told the QCBJ in an email over the weekend, "Our funding was reduced by $1.6 million this year due to an error in the rollback calculation by the Department of Revenue.  To accommodate the decrease in funding, the board chose to ask each department to provide the board ideas on expenses they could be reduced." He added: "As part of that process, services provided by CASI and (Center for Alcohol & Drug Services) were identified that could be restructured and provide savings to the county. Other departments provided savings too. There is nothing I am aware of that the legislators will change this year that would reinstate the revenue we lost for FY2024." The county also is is unlikely to contract with CASI in the near future, Mr. Beck said.

As for Jane's Place, Scott County Community Services Director Lori Elam recommended the board drop its portion of funding for Jane’s Place, Mr. Beck said. "The reduction in revenue as a result of the rollback error further supported the need to eliminate this expenditure."

The county's budget has been finalized and published for our public hearing on April 13 before final approval by the board.

The latest CASI target – its senior advocacy program – is one of the center’s most important, according to the agency. 

“This is some of our lowest income, in-need and at-risk seniors in our community,” Ms. Kopp said. “When we talk about our mission, this is really at the heart of what we do. It’s making sure that seniors stay safe, that they stay independent in their homes, that they have the resources, they need to age well and without this funding we will have to close that program.” The program is free and it sends three social workers out into the community and into the homes of older residents to find the gaps in services they need and help provide them so they will have everything they need to stay independently in their own homes for as long as possible.” Ms. Kopp worries, too, that a $214,000 cut comes on the heels of CASI’s $700,000 loss of earned income during the center’s year-long COVID-19 shutdown and an additional $250,000 it lost during the gradual and masked reopening of the center last year.  Despite that, the agency continued to assist seniors in their homes, including helping 4,000 seniors get access to potentially life-saving COVID vaccinations. CASI is largely funded by grants and the help of generous donors. The only public money it receives is from Scott County and $25,000 from the City of Davenport. The center and its supporters hold five major fundraisers a year to keep the doors open and programs going. And funding was in short supply before the recent budget cuts, especially after Milestones Area Agency on Aging and United Way stopped funding the center, Ms. Kopp said. ”There are already three open social worker positions in that program because we haven’t seen an increase to that funding for 10 years and other funding partners' share has dropped off and their focuses have shifted and the cost of living continues to grow,” she added. For Ms. Kopp, the important thing now is to “share with the community is that if CASI is to go away the ramifications of that are significant. They are widespread and they are communitywide.” For example, she said: “Without our senior advocacy program you’re going to see high emergency room visits. You’re going to see higher urgent care visits. You’re going to see higher healthcare costs, higher long term care costs, you’re going to see more calls to 911 and Medic when our seniors are scared in the middle of the night or are lonely. Many of our seniors, that’s what they do. They contact these other social service agencies or support agencies inappropriately because they’re just looking for someone to walk this journey with them.” And if the senior advocacy program and Jane’s Place are gone, she said “it has ripple effects on the rest of the organization because the senior center itself has never been self-supporting.” That’s by design to ensure that its membership – who pay just $30 a year along with fees for programs (ranging from $2-$4) – can take advantage of the programs they need to stay active and in their own homes. Leaders and seniors who use the center are hoping that the series of special events scheduled during its 2023 Golden Anniversary in 2023, including its recent St. Patricks’ Day run walk, will help make up for some of the shortfall. For information about individual donations can be found here.