VOICE OF THE TOWNSHIP

Spring is definitely in the air, and it feels great after a snowy and dreary winter. Here at the Trustee’s Office we have started planning for our spring and summer events, including our “Bike to Work Day” in May.

Another project we do in the spring is of a much more serious nature. Each year, our office, like all township trustees, must by law update our Township Assistance Eligibility Standards. We update our Standards in the spring and present them to our Township Board for approval at the April Board meeting.

This year the Board meeting, which is at the Trustee’s Office and open to the public, will be at 4:30 p.m. on April 13. If the updated Standards are approved by the Board, they will go into effect on May 1.

Making sure our Eligibility Standards are the best they can be is extremely important. All decisions regarding granting or denying Township Assistance applications are based on our Eligibility Standards, in conjunction with Indiana law. When a client appeals our denial of assistance, the County Administrative Law Judge Cathy Serrano uses our Standards to decide the case.

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My supervisors and I spent many hours in March reviewing every page of our Eligibility Standards, as well as the schedules and forms that accompany them. Some of the schedules and forms are mandated by the State and others are specific to Wayne Township.

Two years ago, when it became evident that governments were going to have to make severe cuts in their budgets, we made major changes in our Eligibility Standards. My goal was to provide our clients with excellent service while maintaining careful guardianship of the taxpayers’ dollars. I am proud to say that we have been successful in balancing our budget while moving many clients toward independence.

This year, I am recommending to the Board that we retain most of the changes we made previously. These include limiting rent or mortgage payments to three months, then reducing the payments to one-third of the client’s income or $50, whichever is higher. This arrangement allows clients three months to find more affordable housing or find employment and become self-sufficient.

I also am recommending retaining caps on the amount we pay for utilities for clients. We are asking the Board to keep our income guidelines at one hundred percent of the federal poverty level, which did not increase this year.

The only increase we are recommending is a slight increase in the amount we pay for an apartment with heat included in the rent. We are requesting stronger language in our Standards this year regarding inspecting homes of assistance clients who not requesting help with rent or mortgage payments. I want to make sure clients only requesting, for example, utility assistance are living in safe and sanitary housing.

Our Standards continue to emphasize that our clients must comply with both our employment training program and our workfare program or they will be denied future assistance. I believe our Eligibility Standards strike the best possible balance between providing financial assistance for those in need and helping move our clients toward independence.

Once the 2010 Eligibility Standards are approved, they will be posted on our website at www.waynetownship.org.

Richard A. Stevenson, Sr.

Wayne Township Trustee