An announcement on Friday from the Area Agency on Aging that the Community Center, 110 S. Main Street in Joplin, would be closing on April 1, brings home the state’s budget battles.
Unfortunately in the war to keep the state’s budget balanced, there will be casualties. The Area Agency on Aging receives state funding for its nutrition programs. Attendance varies at the downtown nutrition center, although it’s not unusual to see 50 people there.
It’s a deep cut and we expect we will see more throughout our communities. In the case of the Community Center, the AAA says its job is to ensure the organization lives within its means and services aren’t reduced.
We know the closing of the Community Center will create a hardship on some. However, the senior nutrition site on Jackson Avenue will remain open serving hot meals five days a week.
The closing is in response to a $41,000 cut to agency funding from this year’s budget. Senior services through AAA were cut by $1 million statewide. More cuts are expected in the state budget year that starts July 1 because of a slump in state revenues caused by the economic recession.
Jerry Carter, Newton County presiding commissioner and board chairman, called the decision “painful.”
We expect there will be many more “painful” decisions that will have to be made in the months to come and in one way or another we will all be affected.
Let’s focus on solutions that allow services to continue. In the case of seniors, we think the decision to channel all services through one center makes more sense than cutting back on meals.
Opinion
Related Photos
Discussion
In our view: Casualties of the economy
- Opinion
-
-
Our View: Santorum's Achilles' ear
Rick Santorum knocked everyone for a loop this week, not just with his victory in Missouri but with the landslide size of the thing.
-
Our View: Are school loans next 'debt bomb'?
The late American middle class struggled for decades to keep pace with an American dream slipping from its grasp.
-
Our View: A better way of limit terms
A Missouri House committee on Tuesday endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to serve 16 years in the state Legislature, either the House or the Senate.
-
Your View: Is it our fault?
When did coveting things and money take over character? What happened?
-
Your View: No way to run a school
All throughout the state of Missouri, you’ll hear much discussion about teacher tenure and the indefinite contracts that go along with that. Most — if not nearly all — jobs in the private and public sectors have no such career protection.
-
Your View: Prime suspects
If it’s too cool in the house, you can turn up the heat if you think you can afford it.
-
Our View: Worldwide concern
There is growing concern worldwide that Israel might launch an attack on Iranian nuclear plants.
-
Other Views: FAA deal up in air five years
The Federal Aviation Administration bill was delayed 23 times, but the agency finally has a law giving it $63 billion and full operating authority for the next four years.
-
Don Ray, columnist: Obama's pipeline excuse an election-year cop-out
On Jan. 18, President Barack Obama announced he was rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline project — a project that had its beginnings some 40 months ago (September 2008).
-
James Whitford, guest columnist: Broken people or broken system?
Are the people broken or is the system broken? If you walk into Watered Gardens, our rescue mission, it may seem the people are broken. But it’s a rescue mission. It just feels that way. And sometimes, it just looks that way.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Obama Scraps Birth Control Mandate
US Airmen's Killer Sentenced to Life in Germany
Navy Names Ship for Gabrielle Giffords
Raw Video: Deadly Blasts in Syria
Romney Slams President Obama at CPAC
Gingrich: Pres. Obama 'waging War on Religion'
5 Killed in Wrong-way Crash on I-10 in La.
Uzbek Man Pleads Guilty in Plot to Kill Obama
Denver's Largest-Ever Drug Bust Nets Dozens
Marines: No Punishment for Nazi-like Flag
Vets Look to Translate Military Skills Into Jobs
Raw Video: School Bus Burst Into Flames
LA School Reopens Amid Sex Abuse Scandal
$25B Settlement Reached Over Foreclosure Abuses
Pentagon: Allow Women Closer to Front Lines
LA School in Sex Abuse Scandal Reopens
Raw Video: Italy's Mount Etna Bursts Into Life
Greeks March; Angry Despite Debt Deal
Air Force Airlines: Leaders Get Polished Service
Ga Girl Fights Off Kidnapper at Walmart
