Funding issues concern task force

A Costa Mesa task force designed to work on the partnership between the city and the nonprofit corporation that runs the Senior Center went over the history of the center and its funding at its May meeting Tuesday afternoon.

The corporation has an agreement with the city to share the costs of its operation.

That agreement expires June 30, 2010, and Councilman Gary Monahan convened the task force to talk about how the funding picture will look in the future.

Center leadership says it is having a difficult time raising funding. The city also finds itself in bad shape, running a $15-million deficit this year and projecting a $19-million deficit for next year unless cuts are made and new revenues found.

Under the current agreement, the city provides about $250,000 annually to the center, as well as furnishing it with its Westside building for $1 per year and paying for needed maintenance.

The arrangement is unlike most other senior centers that are owned and run by the cities in which they operate like the centers in Newport Beach and Huntington Beach.

The only other center in the state with a similar arrangement is in Los Angeles, and that center is in bad shape, said city Recreation Manager Jana Ransom.

The task force set its next meeting for 3 p.m. June 16.