Wilmington Council approves creating database of city's seniors

Wilmington's city council wants senior citizens to register into a citywide database to keep them informed of certain benefits.

Council approved the resolution, which serves only as a request to the city administration, Thursday night. John Rago, deputy chief of staff for policy and communications for Mayor Mike Purzycki, said the administration will work with council to create the database.

Council president Hanifa Shabazz introduced the resolution and said the city would only collect "basic contact information."

The database would be used to notify seniors of such benefits as the senior real estate tax exemption, waivers for certain fines and fees, water rate reductions and other programs.

Shabazz told a council committee this week that she wants to “know where our senior residents are, ensure they get the information available to them and know they can apply for these types of exemptions.”

She said the database would be useful to inform residents of potential exemptions as the city attempts to crack down on blighted houses. Residents have raised concerns that code violation fines would burden seniors who may not be able to afford home renovations.

Wilmington council halts mayor's blight plan, cites lack of coverage for underserved

The resolution does not specify what kind of information the city would collect. It calls for the database to include senior residents’ “basic contact information” and for the city to be “aware of where seniors reside for emergency purposes.”

Seniors or their caretakers would be allowed to opt into the registry online, Shabazz has proposed. She said AARP advised her to request a program that is not mandatory.

“It is an optional initiative,” she said. “It’s a helpful tool for us to make sure our seniors are getting the support they should have.”

Wilmington's seniors have 'extreme need' for help affording food, advocates say

The proposal raises questions with privacy experts about how the database would be used and how many city officials or departments would have access.

“You want to minimize access on a need-to-know basis,” said Wilmington attorney William Denny, who specializes in privacy and data issues. “The more people with access to the data the more chances of someone hacking into it.”

The resolution also notes the database would be used to help the city budget for its senior tax and fee exemptions. That would suggest the database could be requested by the public through public records requests, Denny noted.

“I could imagine that a dataset of every senior citizen in the city could be attractive to people with malicious intentions,” said Ben Green, of Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, who studies how local governments use data.

Shabazz said she envisions the database being in the hands of the city's Finance Department, which handles fines and taxes.

Kathleen Rupert, who administers Delaware’s financial coaching program at the Wilmington Senior Center, said she believes the program would be useful for both her and her clients, if the city can persuade seniors to register. Her clients are often reluctant to give away personal information, she said, for fear of being targeted for fraud.

Council members, as part of the proposal, also have asked the city to spread the word about the database at community meetings to ask seniors to sign up.

Contact Jeanne Kuang at jkuang@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2476. Follow her on Twitter at @JeanneKuang.

The Thanksgiving Sale is On Now!

WILMINGTON NEWS:

As temperatures drop, Wilmington homeless shelter 'RVRC' plans shutdown

$100 million plan would revitalize Wilmington neighborhood

Wilmington councilman who owes city taxes is up for promotion, won't take raise