NATCHEZ &045; Sabrina Bartley, executive director of the Natchez Senior Citizen Multipurpose Center, said she would be watching the president’s speech Wednesday night for more details of his Social Security plan.

As far as releasing details of the plan is concerned, &uot;they’ve been so vague. How much are they going to take? Will it be voluntary? These are the kinds of things we want to know,&uot; Bartley said.

That goes double for Bartley. She is concerned about the seniors she serves, most of whom live almost solely on Social Security and veterans’ benefits. Bartley, who is not of Social Security age, is also watching to see how her future benefits might be affected.

&uot;It’s like anything else you change &045; some people will be hurt and some could possibly benefit,&uot; Bartley said. &uot;We’re just trying to see the changes will be and how they could impact our community.&uot;

Dorothy McDonald, who is drawing Social Security herself, said many of the 500-plus senior citizens her Concordia Council on Aging serves are also heavily dependant on Social Security.

&uot;Our parish is very low income,&uot; said McDonald, who directs the agency. &uot;They don’t get a lot to invest as it is.&uot;

Like Bartley, McDonald said she will need more information on Bush’s proposal before deciding her stance on the issue.

Bush has indicated he would not support changes that affect those already receiving Social Security benefits and those 55 and older still in the work force.

Any change to the Social Security system should be carefully and conservatively crafted, said financial consultant Bill Byrne of the Smith Barney Natchez office.

As President Bush lobbies for workers to have options to privatize portions of their Social Security taxes, others in think tanks and in Congress are drawing lines in the sand to make a stand for their own proposals.

The privatizing idea can work, Byrne said, but only with professional management.

Having model portfolios from which workers could choose, basing their choices on their circumstances, could be beneficial.

&uot;The closer you are to retirement, the less exposure you need to equities,&uot; Byrne said. The younger worker has more time to recover in case of a market downturn.

&uot;That’s why I think there should be models of portfolios based on age and risk tolerance,&uot; he said. &uot;I think the private sector can do a good job managing the money.&uot;

Social Security, established in 1935 during the Depression, is not working the way it was supposed to work, said Bill Rush Mosby, a certified public accountant with Silas Simmons.

&uot;Over the years we’re getting people who get way more from Social Security than they put into it,&uot; he said.

Forty years ago, five people paid into the system for every one Social Security beneficiary. Today, the number of workers is about three for each Social Security recipient. In 2035, there will be only two workers per beneficiary.

The system is tilted, Mosby said. By about 2018, Social Security will begin paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes; but the system has tucked away surplus in U.S. Treasury bonds and can draw from those funds for perhaps 20 years.

Workers today pay 12.4 percent of their wages to Social Security. Some proposals, including the President’s, call for changes that include giving as much as 4 percent of those withholdings to the worker for a private account.

Mosby said he doesn’t disagree with the president’s theory.

&uot;It could work if those who did it did it properly and systematically,&uot; he said. &uot;But it could be like putting people on the honor system. People say ‘let me tend to my own retirement and I will invest it and have more to show for it,’ and some may; but I know some will not. They will spend it.&uot;