Under a new lease agreement, Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc. is guaranteed about $24,000 in rent from the Town of Colonie this year, as well as $270,400 in town funding for the continuation of programs and services.
Not guaranteed is the $55,000 Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc. will be losing this year under the new lease agreement. That money is essential to supporting maintenance expenses of the senior center, according to Ed Neary, executive director of Colonie Senior Service Centers.
Funding issues were first raised early last year, when Supervisor Paula Mahan began looking into the then-existing lease between the Town of Colonie and Colonie Senior Service Centers, one of the town’s two largest nonprofit organizations, for office space at the Beltrone Living Center. The town was paying $85,000 in rent.
Town officials determined that amount to be too high at a time when the figure for the town’s deficit continued to grow with every audit.
Since April 2008, the town has been working on a new lease agreement, the completion of which Mahan announced during a State of the Town address at the Century House in Latham on Tuesday, Jan. 6.
But according Neary, the supervisor jumped the gun on announcing a deal that was not yet finalized with the board of directors from Colonie Senior Service Centers.
It caught my surprise because we had not had the opportunity to finalize those discussions, Neary said. `I was surprised that she brought it up that way in front the audience.`
The lease discussions, Neary said, are not finalized and include talks of where the $55,000 difference will go, now that the rent, which he said has been agreed upon by Colonie Senior Service Centers, has been set at less than $25,000.
On Thursday, Jan. 8, Neary described plans for the center’s board of directors to meet with the Colonie Town Board and tell them how they had planned to use the $55,000 in the hopes that they would persuade them to continue to use that money for Colonie Senior Service Centers projects.
Later that evening, however, the Town Board adopted a resolution that would distribute the funds to the town’s Senior Resources Department, allowing Christine Cary, the department’s director to determine its use.
While Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc. still could potentially receive the money through the Senior Resources Department, the nonprofit will have to lobby its cause along with other organizations townwide that are also seeking funding.
In an agenda review session prior to the Jan. 8 Town Board meeting, Town Attorney Michael Magguilli said, `There’s no guarantee that this money is going back to [Colonie Senior Service Centers, Inc.]. There’s no agreement.`
When asked later how the distribution of funds to the Senior Resources Department budget has an affected the board’s plans to meet with the Town Board and discuss their intentions for the funds, Neary said, `I don’t know that a whole lot can be done at this stage of the game.`
While Colonie Senior Service Centers will still be receiving the $270,400 this year, as they have in years past, Mahan said it is imperative that the town knows specifically where the money is going.
`We need to know where the money is going and have it itemized,` she said.
Also during the Jan. 8 agenda review session prior to the board’s voting on the resolutions pertaining to the new lease agreement and funding distribution, Magguilli commented on Colonie Senior Service Centers’ unwillingness to approach the supervisor and board about these topics, stating that Neary, `frequented this building prior to this administration.`
In response, Neary said that Colonie Senior Service Centers has strictly a business relationship with the town and that they have not maintained a closer relationship with one administration over another.
In addition, Neary said Colonie Senior Service Centers had invited Mahan to be an honorary director on their board, a title that Neary said has been held by every supervisor he can remember.
`As far as I know, the supervisor has always been an honorary member of the board of directors,` he said. Mahan was offered the position as honorary director in April, Neary said, and has yet to accept the invitation.
Town Director of Operations Peter Gannon said he did not know why the supervisor has not accepted the invitation, but that it is not something that has been pursued on the part of Colonie Senior Service Centers in great detail.
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