THE 25-YEAR-old Golden Age Home is running out of cash to fund its operations for the remainder of the current financial year.

With 440 homeless elderly persons under its care, the home has appealed to the Department of Local Government to provide an additional $27 million for the 2008/2009 fiscal year.

The plight of the institution was highlighted on Wednesday during a meeting of the Public Administra-tion and Appropriations Committee of Parliament.

Administrator of the Home, Major Frank McCaulsky told the group that the institution was allocated $107 million for the financial year.

Rising expenses

However, he pointed out that the facility was faced with rising expenses to carry out its mandate of taking care of senior citizens.

Yesterday, McCaulsky told The Gleaner that he has not been given any commitment by the Depart-ment of Local Government that the funds would be provided in time.

State minister with responsibility for local government, Robert Montague, could not be reached for comment, as he was said to be in a meeting.

McCaulsky said he did not expect the authorities to be indifferent to the urgent demands of the institution.

But what would be the institu-tion's next move if the funds were not forthcoming?

Organisational structure

"I really haven't made any contingencies," said McCaulsky, adding that this situation has never arisen before.

The organisational structure of the Golden Age Home has never been reviewed.

During his presentation to the committee, McCaulsky revealed that a female employee who worked on a temporary basis with the organisation from its inception had reached retirement age without being placed on staff.

This has resulted in the former temporary employee receiving no retirement benefits.

However, it was pointed out that an ex gratia payment amounting to $300,000 was paid to the worker.