Finance Committee cuts $1.9 million from Mayor Deegan’s budget for Meals on Wheels

City Council’s Finance Committee cut $1.9 million from Mayor Donna Deegan’s proposed budget for Meals on Wheels, a reduction that would roll back a recent jump in the number of homebound seniors getting hot meals delivered to them.

Deegan’s proposed to spend $2.37 million for Meals on Wheels. The Finance Committee decided on $468,000. At the lower funding level, many seniors currently served by Meals on Wheels in Jacksonville will stop getting them.

Finance Committee Chairman Raul Arias said the city created a pilot program for reducing the number of seniors on that waiting list and now that the pilot’s funding is winding down, Deegan wants to continue it.

He said Deegan is “essentially shoving this down our throats to tell us we have to re-fund it again. I feel like we’re boxed in now because the narrative will be that we don’t take care of seniors.”

Arias said the Finance Committee is supporting about $6.6 million for senior centers across the city where seniors can go for meals. He said the city also provides rides for seniors to the centers in additon to delivering meals to homes.

The Finance Committee has been cutting millions of dollars from Deegan’s proposed $2 billion budget in order to clear space for a 1% cut in the property tax rate that will trim property tax collections by $13 million.

Before the city ramped up spending for Meals on Wheels, the program had a waiting list in Jacksonville of 2,837 elderly people a year ago. The additional funding enabled the progam to add meal deliveries for about 1,900 people and the number on the waiting list dropped to 987 people.

The funding amount set by the Finance Committee would return some seniors to the waiting list, though it’s not clear exactly how many.

City Council member Ju’Coby Pittman said the delivery of hot meals make a difference for seniors who are homebound.

“You really can’t put a price tag on it,” she told fellow Finance Committe members.

She brought up the Meals on Wheels program again later in the meeting when council members discussed additional funding for care of animals in the animal shelter.

“Again, I bring it to your attention — no meals for the seniors, but meals for the pets,” Pittman said.

Finance Committee members said that aside from the pilot program that swelled city support for Meals on Wheels, the city usually spent about $150,000 per year aiding the service. They argued they actually increased the budget for Meals on Wheels by setting it at $468,000.

But in terms of people getting hot meals delivered to their homes, the Finance Committee’s dollar amount would result in fewer deliveries compared to what’s been happening over the past year.

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How to apply for Meals on Wheels Service

The city’s support for Meals on Wheels flows through Aging True, a nonprofit that manages the program in Duval County.

“We always call Meals on Wheels the cheapest medical service that seniors obtain because one of the most important things to keep a senior at home is they have a diet that’s a healthy diet,” Aging True CEO Teresa Barton told the Finance Committee last month.

Aging True says the program is open to people who are at least 60 years old and have restrictions in being able to get around. For those who qualify, meals are free because the cost is covered by financial partners and sponsors.

Seniors who do not meet the criteria for free meals can enroll in the Private Pay program for home delivery of reduced-cost meals.

For more information, call Aging True’s customer service center at (904) 807-1203.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: City Council members cut Jacksonville mayor’s Meals on Wheels budget