In June of 2003, I proposed changes to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) allocations to provide for Social Services. This proposal was voted down by the mayors sitting on the CDBG committee of the Mountainland Association of Governments (MAG). During the same year I took the funding of transportation for Seniors from the lowest priority to the next-to-highest priority as the Chairman of the Area Agency on Aging. 

Next I proposed to the mayors that we used the Wasatch Front Regional Council’s formula for distribution of CDBG funds, which would increase Utah County’s portion from 45% historically to 79%.  This was also voted down by Utah County Mayors (excluding Provo and Orem who receive their funds directly from the federal government and therefore don't participate in MAG’s CDBG program).

The last proposal I made was that Utah County, under the Mayor’s Council of Government, would administer CDBG funds for Utah County (along with Technical Assistance and Planning) for only 5.6% of allocated grants.  At the time of this proposal MAG was charging 21.06% to administer the same services, which would have represented a $231,900 saving on administration, which then could have been spent on Social Services (including Seniors) without any negative impact on funding for cities!  After the mayors voted against this proposal, HUD’s state office required MAG to cut their administrative costs from 21.06% to 15% because MAG was twice as costly as the state average for CDBG administration.

I proposed a Republican Solution to this problem which represented lower costs, less waste, and more services for the same tax dollars!!! After being rebuffed by the mayors on multiple occasions, while experiencing a rapidly expanding Senior population, myself and Commissioner Grover felt compelled to honor and respect the Seniors of Utah County by creating a new Utah County Provider Service Area (PSA) and becoming the Area Agency on Aging (AAA).  Utah County could then appropriate monies to fully fund Transportation, Ombudsman, and “Meals on Wheels” programs.  During the period of our application process (April 2005-March 2006) the waiting list for “Meals on Wheels” increased by 266%.

Though our request for Utah County to become the AAA failed, due to the political pressure exerted by the Utah County Commission, MAG has increased the Title XX allocation for Seniors by 234% in one year and increased CDBG funding for Senior programs from ~$50,000 a year to just over ~$200,000 a year.  This will be a great benefit and blessing to the Seniors of Utah County.  If now we could reduce the administration costs from 15% to 5.6% it would create another $141,000 that could be used on eligible projects.  This would be the Republican, Conservative, and Effective solution to eliminating the high cost of the administering this program.

CDBG Awards by County (notice the underfunding of Utah County though we have the largest population)

Daily Herald Article discussing the good that has come from Utah County working to become the Area Agency on Aging

MAG oversees Regional Transportation Planning, Social Services (which were not part of MAG’s original charter over 30 years ago), and CDBG and Title XX allocations.

While remaining in MAG for Transportation Planning, Utah County left MAG’s Social Services for the following reasons:

1. Inadequate funding of Senior Services
   1. Title XX allocations are completely discretionary funds which may be used for any program that meets federal objectives (ie. care for Seniors)
   2. The mayors within the three affected counties (Utah, Wasatch, and Summit) voted against using federal Title XX Social Services Block Grants (SSBG) to adequately fund senior services (Utah County has 89% of the Seniors in the three counties)

                                                               i.   The money that MAG was allocating was predominantly to non-profit/non-government organizations, which left government services inadequately funded

1.      “Meals on Wheels” program has always had a waiting list

2.      The number of days that transportation could be provided for Seniors was cut from 5 days a week to 4 days (due to inadequate funding)

a.       This transportation is exclusively to provide a meal at a Senior center near their home (benefits include social interaction, improved mental acuity, and nutrition). Many of these Seniors only receive $500-$600 a month in Social Security.

3.   Ombudsman services in nursing homes (which reviews conditions and treatment of Seniors) MAG was under-funding by ~80% compared to other counties while the federal dollars were available to do so!

2. Ethically, Utah County Commissioners could not serve on the MAG executive council while applying for designation for AAA of Senior Services.

 

Other concerns we had were the unfair distribution of CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) funds. The allocation of funds is determined based on US Census data and those with the largest population should receive proportionate dollars. Unfortunately Utah County had been getting the smallest allocations of grant money at that time (see Supporting Document above). We were also concerned by the failure of mayors to use a lower cost administration agency.