Funding Cut Stalls Seniors’ Shuttle

More than 100 low-income Thousand Oaks seniors dependent on a county service for rides to and from medical appointments have found themselves without transportation following a dispute between the county and city over money for the program.

According to County Supervisor Frank Schillo, the Senior Survival Mobile Program ended in June because city officials did not provide enough money to keep the service going.

Olav Hassel, a Thousand Oaks housing official, said the city provided half of what the county requested for the 1995-1996 fiscal year--$5,500--because there was intense competition for the Community Development Block Grant funds last year.

Hassel said a similar cut was made in requested funding in 1994-1995, even though the city previously had allocated about 80% of the funds sought by the county, which had provided the service for more than 20 years.

Schillo said the reduced funding crippled the service. “About the 8th or 10th of each month, they were running out of money,” he said. The city “had decided they weren’t going to fund more than that, so the county sent them a letter indicating that we couldn’t continue the service because it was causing more problems than it was solving.”

Because of the disagreement, the county this year did not even apply for funds.

“I was told [by a county official] that they thought it wasn’t worth it to apply because they thought we wouldn’t give them enough money so they unilaterally ended the program,” Hassel said. “I thought it was a rather cynical approach.”

But, he said, if the county had indicated that the program would be in jeopardy without further funds, the city may have been able to come up with more money.

The service--which from July 1, 1995, to June 30, 1996, provided 230 rides to 114 seniors--also operates in Moorpark, Camarillo, Ventura and Oxnard.

Those cities pump more money into the service than Thousand Oaks, said Schillo.

Schillo said he will meet with Mayor Andy Fox and City Manager Grant Brimhall later this month to come up with a solution.