Long Beach Social Security office shuts it doors

City Council urges agency to reconsider, says closure will negatively impact residents

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After Congress slashed nearly $1 billion from its budget this year, the Social Security Administration will permanently close its Long Beach office on East Park Avenue on Friday at noon as the agency consolidates operations, scales back hours and transfers services to other locations.

The closure means that thousands of Long Beach residents, many of them seniors, will be forced to visit the agency’s offices in Freeport, Mineola or Far Rockaway.

The Long Beach office, at 25-27 E. Park Ave., has been open since 1996. It is one of many closures throughout the country, after Congress provided nearly $1 billion less than what President Obama requested in federal funding for the agency for the 2012 fiscal year.

According to the Social Security Administration, nearly 55 million Americans received a total of $727 billion in Social Security benefits last year, accounting for roughly 20 percent of the federal budget.

District Manager Joseph D’Orio said that residents were being notified of the closure, but he declined to comment, referring questions to the agency’s regional communications director, John Shallman. Shallman said that the consolidation of the Long Beach and Freeport district offices would reduce costs and save approximately $3.8 million over the next 10 years.

“We’ve had to make this difficult decision to consolidate our Long Beach office, along with its employees and workloads, into our office in Freeport,” he said. “During Fiscal 2011, Congress cut our administrative budget, resulting in hiring freezes and our inability to replace employees when they leave or retire. We do not expect that circumstances will improve this year, as our administrative budget for Fiscal 2012 was also around $1 billion less than the president’s requested budget.”

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