Federal cuts, local programs

To the editor:

The dramatic freezes and cuts to personnel and programs at the national level are filtering down to us at the local level.

The Feb. 11 Board of Commissioners meeting highlighted two different responses to what was then a freeze but has since turned into thousands of job terminations. When one commissioner expressed concern about the effect this was having on many local programs, such as “Meals on Wheels”, two other commissioners dismissed them. Both suggested that the state could “reorganize some programs,” and one cautioned that expressing any concern about program cuts would only serve to increase fear and anxiety.