Why did Mr. Runion cut Community Caregivers funding in the first place?
Community Caregivers, a Guilderland-based nonprofit, is a largely
volunteer organization that helps the disabled, chronically ill and elderly. At a November 6, 2008 town budget meeting, Mr. Runion (and fellow Democrats Pat Slavick and Paul Pastore) voted down a board member Mark Grimm motion (Motion #218) seeking to restore funding for
Community Caregivers.
At that meeting, Mr. Runion explained why he wanted to completely cut the Caregivers from the budget. View for yourself.
At the November meeting, he made no mention of any plan to
restore the money in some other line item.
Due to community pressure, Mr. Runion later reversed himself and restored the money at a February 2009 board meeting. The issue remains, however, what is the status of future funding of the
organization given the remarks Mr. Runion made at the November 2008
meeting?