BP LEE ON BUDGET CUTS TO SENIOR SERVICES: “Queens Elders Yet Again Shafted and Disproportionately Shortchanged” “On the Backs of our Elders is More Than Our Fair Share of Pain”

USANEWSONLINE.COM DESK, QUEENS, NY – Acting Queens Borough President Sharon Lee stated the following in response to questions about the millions of dollars in cuts to Senior Services announced in the $88.1 billion FY2021 Expense Budget. The Council Senior Services Initiatives are slated to be cut by over 12 percent from FY2020, including the decimation of $1.13 million of the Borough President’s Discretionary DFTA Funding, of which $324,904 serves senior programs in Queens:

“Queens elders are yet again shafted and disproportionately shortchanged by the City’s budget,” said Borough President LEE. “Nearly a third of the City’s elders reside here in Queens, yet the City has persistently spent the lowest per-capita for Queens seniors out of all five boroughs — a sharp, historical disparity only worsened by this to-be-adopted budget. Pledging to redirect funding into our communities, only to cut millions of dollars from precious senior services and to slash the borough presidents’ discretionary funds for seniors in wholesale form, is disingenuous at best. On the backs of our elders is more than our fair share of pain.”

In her May 6 response to the Mayor’s FY2021 Executive Budget, while acknowledging budgetary burdens caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would have to understandably be shared, Borough President Lee emphatically urged the City to address many of the deep disparities Queens has faced well before the pandemic and to finally provide some long overdue parity and a fairer share for the Borough of Families. Press Release.