Buckland board considers local assistance for heating

[ Originally published on: Thursday, July 03, 2008 ]

BUCKLAND -- Long ago, small rural towns provided emergency assistance to residents through locally administered welfare programs in town halls.

With heating fuel prices climbing as winter approaches, Buckland selectmen are looking at setting up a local fuel assistance program to help the elderly and other residents who might ''fall through the cracks,'' and not get help from existing fuel assistance programs.

Selectman Kevin Fox proposed the idea at Tuesday's selectmen's meeting. ''I think this winter's going to be pretty bad for many of our elderly residents,'' he said.

Fox wondered if the town could use some of its $42,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency reimbursements to start the program.

''I see no reason why, if the town agrees (through a special town meeting vote), why we couldn't give residents their own money back,'' he said.

Town Administrator Andrea Lamas said she would check with the state Department of Revenue to find out if the money could be used for emergency heating assistance and ''to identify some potential money sources,'' she said.

Lamas also said she would look for communities with similar programs, to find out how they are running them.

''Towns can establish housing trust funds, which are quasi-independent boards,'' said Lamas.

''Years ago, (welfare) was administered at a local level,'' said Fox. ''Let's keep this on the agenda.''

The other selectmen, Chairman Stefan Racz and new Selectman Robert Dean, agreed to explore the idea further.

''I think we're going to see a lot of seniors not making their real estate taxes in the third quarter,'' said Racz. ''I think they're going to choose heat over everything else.''

If the board finds that setting up fuel assistance is feasible, the proposal would go before residents for a vote at a special town meeting, selectmen said.

The price of heating oil has shot up nearly 90 percent from last year's prices. For instance, Greenfield-based Sandri Oil recently set its pre-pay program at $4.79 per gallon -- a sharp increase from last year's price of just under $2.50.

The state and federal governments do provide fuel aid money for the poor through Community Action, but in recent years the appropriations have not kept pace with demand or price increases, program administrators have said.

 

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