Dick Spotswood: Marin government structure inefficient for seniors in need
Marin County’s 2023-24 Civil Grand Jury has issued a report, “What Have They Done? An Update on the Responses to the 2022-2023 Marin County Civil Grand Jury Reports.” Of multiple reviews from last year’s jury findings, the report titled “The Coming Wave of Older Adults — Is Marin Prepared?” has the potential to impact Marin’s largest subgroup: seniors.
The 2022-23 report spots the phenomena: “By 2030, over 25% of the state’s population will be 60 years or older. Marin residents have an average life expectancy of 85.2 years, compared to a statewide average of 81 years.” Of Marin’s 275,000 population, about 33% are aged 60 or older.
The grand jury’s fundamental finding is that “Marin is not prepared to adequately serve the coming wave of older adults. Marin has siloed fragmented aging services that are not well integrated among county departments, thus creating confusion for older residents and family members. … The well-being of older adults is not reflected as a county government priority.”
The 2023-24 grand jury’s first recommendation, seconded by the Marin Commission on Aging, is that “by Dec. 31, 2023, the Board of Supervisors should elevate the Office of Adult and Aging Services to a division-level department within the Health and Human Services Department. The lead executive within AAS should be on a peer level with other directors within HHS as part of the HHS executive team.”
That sounds bureaucratic and it is. Never forget, the hierarchy of issues within any bureaucracy – whether in the public sector or in corporate America – is crucial when it comes to priority setting, budget and staffing.
It doesn’t necessarily take money to address this recommendation. It requires reorganization and bypassing middle management. Reorganization of the chain of command is needed so that staff and proposals by Marin’s Commission on Aging go directly to Derek Johnson, the new county executive, and the elected supervisors, bypassing bureaucratic turf wars.
The Marin County Civil Grand Jury emphasizes that efforts to aid seniors are spread out all over county government with feeble coordination. Many older residents have no idea where to apply for aid that’s already authorized.
That’s inefficient, expensive and fails seniors needing prompt help. So far, our five county supervisors haven’t found the route to bypass the “we’ve always done it this way” mentality.
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Marin residents who are low-income, at least 65 years of age, are physically disabled and own their own homes should be aware that time is running short to apply for property tax exemptions and discounts.
If they reside within Tamalpais Union High School, Miller Creek or Lagunitas school districts, senior, disabled and low-income residents have until Wednesday to apply for property tax exemptions.
If individual property owners have recently moved their residence from one location to another within the same town or school district, they’ll be surprised to learn, as I did, that they now need to reapply for their senior property or low-income tax exemptions and discounts or they will be lost.
Most other Marin local governments that grant parcel tax exemptions require homeowners to register by June 1 to qualify. Contact information for each is found at the Marin County Department of Finance’s website at bit.ly/44f7C7C.
Applicants need their assessor’s parcel number to access the information pertinent to their address. It is found on real property tax bills. Useful information that explains the process is found on the Marin Coalition of Sensible Taxpayers website at costmarin.org.
COST, which successfully first advocated that county government publicizes senior and low-income exemptions, says “Many Marinites will be surprised to learn that they qualify for what are termed ‘low income’ programs but in fact have income thresholds that include many Marin middle-class families.”
Columnist Dick Spotswood of Mill Valley writes on local issues Sundays and Wednesdays. Email him at spotswood@comcast.net.