No 2016 Social Security Increase

They have traveled all walks of life, but between Monday and Friday they arrive at the same destination: the senior citizens centers in East Hampton and Southampton Towns, where they take advantage of free hot lunches, take-home meals, and social activities.

Their individual situations may differ greatly, but the majority of those who show up are living on fixed incomes and collecting Social Security or disability benefits.

The federal government will not be increasing those benefits in 2016, which will be only the third year since 1975, when Congress adopted annual Social Security increases, that there will be no such adjustment. The other years were 2010 and 2011.

“They always hit the small people,” said Edward King, 73, a retired school custodian, at the East Hampton center on Springs-Fireplace Road, one of two the town provides. “The government doesn’t know how it is to live like we live. . . . There are people in this country who are starving or can’t buy their pills because they don’t have enough money.”

Although he doesn’t fall into that category, Mr. King, a lifelong East Hampton resident and cancer survivor, said he would no longer be able to afford a mortgage payment if he had to and that he and his wife are weighing whether to sell one of their two cars. “I could go on forever,” Mr. King said.

So, too, could Michael R. Geller, 72, an Air Force veteran who said he started collecting Social Security at the age of 62 after falling on hard times. His monthly check barely covers his rent, his car, and food for himself and his dog, he said. He called the lack of an increase in the year ahead “a horrible cop-out.” During lunch at the East Hampton center, Mr. Geller said, “If I didn’t have food stamps and this place here, I wouldn’t have food.”

Ronald Fick, 69, a retired East Hampton Town worker and Navy veteran, said the challenges on the East End were particularly harsh given the high cost of living here. “I think the government forgot that Social Security is all the people’s money,” Mr. Fick said.

Andrew Malone, 89, a retired auto repair shop owner, said he recently received a persuasive letter from the Senior Citizens League, a group that is pressing for an “emergency cost-of-living adjustment” and, at the same time, is demanding that Social Security benefits be denied “illegal aliens.” The group’s efforts are controversial, however, with The Huffington Post dubbing one of its mailings, in 2011, “the holy grail of elderly scare tactics.”

Mr. Malone collects about $800 a month from Social Security. Because he also qualifies for subsidized housing, his rent is $209 a month. “If I didn’t have that, I would be on the street,” he said. A Navy veteran who was once active in Democratic politics, Mr. Malone added, “Definitely, a raise would help me.”

Social Security cost-of-living increases, also known as the consumer price index, or C.P.I., are tied to inflation, which has been mostly flat in the last few years. When told inflation had been level, however, Mr. Fick said, “But not as far as I can see. You’re just trying to survive around here. If it weren’t for the food pantry, a lot of people wouldn’t be able to do it. But you don’t have enough money to move away, either.”

Theoretically, Congress could still enact a cost-of-living increase for 2016.  Representative Lee Zeldin said by phone on Monday, “I don’t think that at any point we should give up that fight among those members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. I don’t think there really is ever a time where it should ever be considered too late.”

Mr. Zeldin, who represents the East End, said he was in the process of reviewing a proposal by Representative Peter DeFazio of Oregon that calls for a consumer price index modified for the elderly population. It would take into account the idea that, according to The Washington Post, “people who are working have different spending patterns than retirees.” Mr. Zeldin said he also supports the idea that Social Security benefits should take regional costs of living into account.

“Money just doesn’t go as far on Long Island as it does elsewhere,” Mr. Zeldin said. “Some seniors choose between oil in their tank and prescription medication. I’m somebody who believes that the money should be paid out factoring the cost of living in very unique regions all across America. . . . It’s needed in order to survive here.”

In 2010, according to the census, East Hampton was home to about 3,780 people 65 and older. They accounted for 17.6 percent of the population, which was 21,457 as tallied by the census that year. The Washington Post reported in October that nationwide 65 million people and disabled workers collect Social Security, or about one in four households, and another 15 million are disabled veterans, federal retirees, or the poor who also qualify for Supplemental Security Income.

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Social Security cost-of-living increases are

 tied to inflation, which has been mostly flat

 in the last few years.

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Aware that the average age in East Hampton is rising, the members of the town board established a senior services committee in 2014 to consider the needs of seniors and make recommendations. According to the committee, the over-65 population will be twice the size of the school-age population here within the next 15 years.

“There are a lot of supports in place for people who might feel the crunch” of rising costs without an increase in Social Security, Diane Patrizio, East Hampton Town’s director of human services, said in a recent interview.

Asked about the local impacts of no Social Security increase, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, an East Hampton Town councilwoman who was the liaison to the  senior services committee, said “an uptick in the town-provided services” was expected.

Ms. Patrizio and Ms. Burke-Gonzalez agreed that the town has the capacity to handle more clients. In  addition to the nutrition programs at the East Hampton senior center and at the Montauk Playhouse Community Center, services include transportation to doctor’s appointments and grocery stores and assistance in applying for benefits like federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance or Medicare. There is also a town residential repair program, which helps eligible seniors obtain repairs for their houses, and a Home Energy Assistance Program, which helps with the expense of heating their houses. More information on these programs can be found on the town’s website at ehamptonny.gov or by calling the Department of Human Services at 329-6939.

“What I want people to be aware of is that there are programs that can help them financially deal with these issues,” Ms. Patrizio said.

Correction: A previous version of this story said Michael Geller was 67 years old and a veteran of the Army.