SALISBURY, Md. - After funding concerns for MAC Inc.'s nutritional programs earlier this month, one Maryland lawmaker says the senior center will be just fine.
Delegate Carl Anderton says he has spoken to Wicomico County Executive Bob Culver and MAC Executive Director Pattie Tingle to go over possible solutions to save lost state funding.
"We're hoping that MAC will look inward at their own budget and make those adjustments and then with some additional monies from the state we should be fine," Anderton said.
Anderton explained that MAC Inc. lost upwards of $100,000 in state funding after a planned reallocation for the FY2021 budget.
While it wouldn't affect MAC for another few months, Anderton says he does not think the senior center will experience "a crisis" as it was previously identified as by local officials.
Anderton said he has spoken with the state budget secretary about tweaking the state formula for how aging centers receive funding, but that will only cover part of it. MAC, he says, will have to cover the rest themselves.
"There's not a spot where they're going to go back to the money they were, but we're going to find a middle ground between where they were and where they're supposed to be," Anderton said.
Another solution that has been proposed in the meantime, is county support for the next few months if need be. But Anderton does not think that will be necessary at this stage.
Tingle says it has been an action packed few weeks to try to figure out these solutions, but there is now some hope at the end of the road.
"We were struggling to try to meet this need alone, but pulling everyone together so that we could have dialogue has helped us create hope and now we think there is a light at the end of the tunnel," Tingle said.
Tingle says one important note that seniors should keep in mind is to fill out the upcoming 2020 census. She says state and grant funding largely depends on those demographics collected from the national survey.
