Enterprise file photo — Michael Koff
A new bus would allow for more elderly residents to attend twice-weekly senior lunches, like this one, held at the Wyman Osterhout Community Center in New Salem and also at Saint Matthew’s in Voorheesville, Deb Engel, New Scotland’s senior outreach liaison, told the New Scotland Town Board.
NEW SCOTLAND — Deb Engel, New Scotland’s senior outreach liaison, continues to make the case for a new van to transport the town’s elderly residents.
Transportation of New Scotland’s senior citizens has been at half capacity for the past three years after it was determined repairing one of the town’s two senior buses would be too expensive, which led to the board declaring it surplus and the bus being sold at auction.
Engel told the town board at its Oct. 11 meeting that parts for the remaining 2009 vehicle are hard to find.
“The exhaust system is completely gone,” she said of the 14-year-old vehicle. “I’m just afraid if it breaks down again, we’ll be without one.”
The board had hosted a workshop in May to find out how residents thought the town’s federal American Rescue Plan Act funds, meant to help with fallout from the pandemic, should best be spent.
The town had already earmarked about $324,000 for new playground equipment at its Swift Road and Feura Bush parks — with $125,000 of that to come from a state grant — and another $23,000 from federal funds to streamline the town’s general code.
A handful of New Scotland senior citizens came to the May 10 workshop to ask board members to use some of the remaining funding to purchase a new bus.
Engel told the board then that the pandemic took a terrible toll on all New Scotland residents, but it was the “seniors and the elderly residents in town who were affected immensely.” Engel said, “They were left almost completely vulnerable and alone. They were terrified at the thought of going to the grocery store or coming into contact with the public, [and] becoming very sick.”
Although the “Yellow Bus Trips” organized by Engel had stopped during the pandemic, they started again last spring with outings to various local venues.
Engel told the board a new bus would allow for more elderly residents to attend twice-weekly senior lunches held at the Wyman Osterhout Community Center and Saint Matthew’s in Voorheesville.
Engel also pointed out to board members that New Scotland’s residents aren’t getting any younger.
“According to the latest Census report, seniors are currently the largest population [cohort]” in New Scotland,” Engel said; nearly 38 percent of residents are over the age of 55. “In the town of New Scotland, we all know that the senior numbers are going to continue to grow over the years,” she said.
While all four board members present at the Oct. 11 meeting — Daniel Leinung was absent — sounded empathetic toward the need for a reliable vehicle to transport seniors, there was disagreement over how much money to commit.
“We still have several hundred thousand we can allocate,” said William Hennessy of the federal funds. He said a new van would cost $120,000 and that grants often require a 50-percent match.
Bridgit Burke said that Engel had been working tirelessly to get grants and had been turned down. She said she would like to spend the ARPA funds “to get us to 100 percent.”
In September 2022, the board had passed a resolution allowing the town to accept private donations to help pay for the uncovered portion of a grant Engel was applying for at the time; the award would have been for 80 percent of the new bus’s cost, about $90,000.
Engel said at the Oct. 11 meeting that, in addition to donations from individuals, that the charitable Kara’s Closet in Voorheesville has also raised funds for the bus.
Hennessy said the federal funds don’t have to be allocated until the end of 2024 and he wasn’t sure he wanted to allocate the full $100,000.
“I think we should at least make a resolution to dedicate $50,000,” Burke said of the ARPA funds.
Supervisor Douglas LaGrange asked Albany County legislator Vicky Plotsky, who was in the gallery, if the county’s committee allocating its ARPA funds would look favorably on the town paying for half the cost of a van.
Plotsky said that would definitely be helpful but added, “There’s a lot of demand on the county funds.”
Plotsky also suggested that, since the town knows a van would have to be replaced 10 years down the road, it should reserve funds ahead for the purchase.
LaGrange said that, with some grants, if the town were to buy the bus before receiving the grant money, it would not get the grant.
Engel said that Deputy Supervisor Adam Greenberg had helped her write a letter to state…
Read More: Town Board allocates $50K in federal funds toward $120K senior bus