City council's budget proposal to cut the seniors' annual utility grant is akin to death by a thousand cuts, says the president of the Yukon Council on Aging.

Dorothy Drummond asked council Monday night to reconsider its proposal to cut the grant by $50 from $500 to $450 a year before the 2005 annual budget comes back for final approval next week.

'The seniors you are penalizing are those who have lived here 30, 40 and 50 years,' she said. 'They have helped to build this community.'

Drummond said they're the seniors who didn't head down the highway when times were tough, but rather stuck it out.

They've paid their property taxes over the years, and the different improvement taxes to spruce up their streets and sidewalks, she emphasized.

'They have contributed far in excess of what they have received through the utility grant.'

Many seniors, continued Drummond, live on fixed incomes and want to remain in their own homes for as long as possible. Many are from the era before full pensions and registered retirement savings plans were common-place.

With the cuts to the grants, the two-per-cent increase in property taxes, and the two-per-cent boost in utility fees all compounded there is less and less for the seniors to live on, she suggested.

Drummond said there is also the appearance the city is attempting to balance its budget on the back of the territorial government.

Last fall, the territory announced an increase to its pioneer utility grant for the second year in a row.

Seniors will be eligible for a maximum grant of $825 this year, up from a maximum $750 last year, which was the result of a 2003 increase from the previous maximum of $600.

It would appear, Drummond suggested, that knowing the territorial government is coming to the rescue, city council has tempered any apprehension or guilt it feels for reducing its utility grant.

'Claw-backs are not pretty,' she said.

Drummond's presentation to council was supported by four letters to council requesting the senior utility grants be maintained at $500.

Figures show the city will save approximately $16,000 by reducing the cap on the grant.

Coun. Bev Buckway suggested to Drummond the city needs to begin preparing for the not-too-distant future now. Statistics show that by 2014, there will be a 112-per-cent increase in the 65-to-69 age category of senior residents.

Either the cap needs to be lowered, or perhaps a means test implemented where only those who qualify financially get the maximum grant, Buckway said. She personally is opposed to means tests, she added.

Drummond, however, said there are always seniors moving out of their homes and into retirement homes and extended care facilities, or up to Grey Mountain.

A lot can happen between now and 2014, including the likelihood of a more affluent senior community in 10 years, she added.

'Hell could freeze over by then,' she said.

The city's 2005 annual budget the $37.8 million operating budget and the $20.3 million capital budget will be going before city hall for final approval next Monday.

Council was also told of other requests for amendments to the budget before it is passed:

ï a request by downtown business people for $25,000 to fund a month-long arts and culture festival downtown in July;

ï Mount Sima ski operators are seeking an additional $20,000 to help defray costs; and

ï Ride Yukon '05 would like $10,000 to help cover the cost of a reception for an upcoming gathering of motorcyclists.

Council members were also asked to reconsider the 2005 fee hike they're proposing for seniors and youth who use the new aquatic centre.

It was suggested by submissions that the new fire hall be put back into the city's capital plan, that funding be sought to remove the new roundabouts on Hamilton Boulevard and the south end of Fourth Avenue, and a new Municipal Services Building be erected.

City council is scheduled to meet behind closed doors tomorrow to discuss whether amendments to the budget are needed.