TOO MANY SENIORS, NOT ENOUGH CENTER REVENUE BUDGET SHORTFALL IS EXPECTED THIS YEAR, FIRST TIME SINCE 1991.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

NEWHALL -- Seniors make their way between the meal hall, billiard tables and card games in a one-story structure overlooked by a hill where buffalos lounge.

This is the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center in Newhall. It's been serving seniors for 30 years, but for the first time in more than a decade, it has a budget gap.

``The trouble is our senior population is growing -- our funding isn't,'' said Robin Clough, director of voluntary and recreation programs.

The center had to take $100,000 from its reserves in the fiscal year that ended June 30, and it expects further funding shortfalls this fiscal year. The last time the center faced a deficit was in 1991.

The center's total annual budget is $3.1 million, with about 80 percent of that coming from government sources, said Brad Berens, executive director.

But corporate donations have plummeted even as costs have increased. The price of gas is up, which hurts the center's Meals on Wheels program, and the county has ended a utility subsidy the center had enjoyed.

In January, the center created a special foundation to raise more money. Duane Harte, former chairman of the board of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, is heading the foundation and hopes to raise $500,000 in a year.

``Basically the senior center, through the federal and state and county funding, has been able to operate pretty much on an even keel,'' Harte said. ``But this past year, we have had additional expenses come into light that we did not expect.''

The center has a couple of regular fundraisers -- a wine auction and a dinner function. In August, a business called All Corked Up organized a new event, a wine-tasting festival, that raised nearly $35,000.

The center hopes more fundraisers will help, even as it plans a facility expansion with federal cash channeled through the city.

Meanwhile, the center, which has 65 employees (half of them part time) and 270 volunteers (mostly seniors), has reduced its staff by four workers. It eliminated all evening programs in July, but started those programs again a couple months later when a church paid to use the center on Sundays.

Other cutbacks are possible, Berens said.

On Market Street near Hart Park, where buffalos graze in an enclosure within sight of the center, the center offers dozens of programs for seniors. Chairs line the busy halls, and the meal hall is bustling every lunch hour.

Seniors are bused in for activities that range from painting to card games. A kitchen makes the home-delivered meals. Case managers work with seniors in need, sometimes after getting a call from a relative in another city. And a respite program works with seniors suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other conditions.

More than 8,000 seniors use the center every month.

Mary Lou Carraher used to teach calligraphy in local schools. Now the retiree teaches painting at the senior center, heading a class whose members like to joke with her.

``Everybody kind of does their own thing,'' Carraher said, while sitting next to a student copying from a homemade workbook full of geometric shapes, barren trees and rural-style buildings.

Alethia Knox, 64, started using the center more than a year ago after moving to Canyon Country from Harlem in New York City.

``It's wonderful,'' she said. ``Everybody's looking out for one another and everybody's so kind.''

But the staff of the center has had to work harder to meet the needs of a growing senior clientele -- one that is increasing locally by more than 10 percent annually, Berens said.

``We're looking in every nook and cranny to cut costs as much as we can,'' Berens said.

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com

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