Money available to help low-income residents pay their heating bills this winter now exceeds last year’s total – thanks to a special $5 million appropriation by the Legislature – and more help is on the way from the president of Venezuela.
To date, the federal government has given the state about $25.5 million in base funding and a $1.5 million emergency appropriation was announced last week. Add to that the $5 million approved by the Legislature last Wednesday and the total available now stands at $32 million as compared to last year’s total of $30.6 million.
The problem, as any Mainer paying for heat knows, is the price of fuel has gone up a lot more than the 4 percent increase in available funds. The state reports that No. 2 heating oil is up 2 cents since last week at $2.36 per gallon, which is 49 cents or 26 percent higher than last year at this time.
And, the $5 million the Legislature approved that could have been used to start filling the price gap is just making up for what the federal government did not give. Last year the emergency allocation from Washington was $6.5 million versus $1.5 million, and while more may be coming, it’s starting to appear unlikely.
The good news, so far, has been the weather. It has been about 10 percent warmer this heating season than last.
And, the governor’s office has confirmed that a deal will be penned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to provide Maine with $5.5 million, which is the cash equivalent to discounting 8 million gallons of oil by 40 percent. The deal is being offered through the now Venezuelan-owned Citgo Petroleum Corporation.
While some have criticized Chavez’s offer, which he already has extended to Massachusetts and New York City, as an attempt to embarrass Pres. George Bush for not taking care of his own, that won’t stop Maine from accepting the gift.
“It is imperative we act to ensure our citizens are safe and warm this winter,” said Gov. John Baldacci. “The cost of heating oil has risen dramatically and the federal government has failed to provide the resources needed to help Maine citizens. We are grateful to Citgo and the Venezuelan government for their generosity.”
The governor’s office also announced that Citgo has agreed to provide 120,000 gallons of heating oil to more than 40 homeless shelters in Maine in addition to the cash.
Dick Davies, a senior advisor in charge of energy policy for the governor, said the $5.5 million would be run through the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) just like the federal funds and the state’s appropriation.
“We would put it through the LIHEAP…sort of like an emergency release from the president, except in this case, it would come from Citgo.”
The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program is expected to serve 48,000 Maine households this winter with average household incomes of $12,000.
Dale McCormick, director of the Maine State Housing Authority (MSHA), which administers the LIHEAP program, said rather than increase the number of homes targeted for help, the program has historically increased the benefit per household when the funding increases. That would at least cover a full-tank of oil this winter.
In addition to the fuel assistance, which last year amounted to about $478 per household, LIHEAP funding also covers a weatherization program and emergency intervention.
Federal regulations allow that 10 percent of the federal LIHEAP funding can be used for administration of the program, and last year that was just over $3 million. Of that 7.5 percent goes to the state’s 10 Community Action Programs, which interview applicants and verify eligibility. The other 2.5 percent goes to the Maine State Housing Authority.
The program got off to a slow start this year, as McCormick tried to pressure oil dealers to give a bigger discount to LIHEAP clients and put in a new computer system connecting the state’s CAPs to the state housing authority. The oil dealers balked at the mandate, but it is expected to come up again this legislative session.
She also had her agency take over the payment to oil dealers, who are paid directly by the state to deliver oil to eligible households. And, under pressure by the Legislature to speed up the process, she asked all CAPs to get all their eligibility interviews done by the end of December – a process that usually stretches throughout the winter. Each CAP was given $10,000 for temporary help or overtime to speed up the interviewing.
“It’s been a very difficult year to say the very least,” said Joyce Scott, executive director of the Waldo Community Action Partners of Belfast. A year that was made more difficult because of people’s concerns about rising oil prices.
Her small agency had a lot of problems with the new computer system, and she isn’t happy about having most of the information consolidated in Augusta.
“We’ve always been the answer people,” said Scott, who has worked on LIHEAP since the program started 27 years ago. “For 27 years, each CAP agency has done their own payments and this year we don’t.”
“We can’t run our own reports at this point,” she said of the new computer system. “I couldn’t go in and print a list of vendors. I can’t even print a list of clients. Would you believe that?”
McCormick concedes there has been a lot of change, but said the new computer system was something the CAP agencies requested. The system cost $250,000, McCormick said.
“It allows for better monitoring; better data; more efficiencies and less paperwork,” said McCormick. “People come in and their accounts get paid to their oil dealers within a couple of weeks instead of eight weeks, which is what it has been taking.”
Jessica Tysen, executive director of Coastal Economic Development Corporation serving Sagadahoc and Lincoln Counties, agrees it’s been a difficult year but supports the changes.
“Things got off to a slower start because the Maine State Housing Authority was first initiating a new computer system and looking at ways to increase the benefit to clients,” by trying to get deeper discounts out of oil dealers,” Tysen said, but people are getting served.
“I have the utmost respect for Dale McCormick,” Tysen said. “She’s taken bold steps that haven’t been taken before and whether or not people agree with her, things don’t get changed” if the status quo is maintained, she said.
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