COEUR d'ALENE - Judy Lingle is 67 years old, and she's still working.

She has to, she says, because her Social Security checks don't provide enough income on their own.

"If I had to rely on my Social Security, I wouldn't make it," she said.

Lingle works at Four Seasons Assisted Living Community in Coeur d'Alene. Tuesday, she was busy baking oatmeal cookies for the residents.

She wasn't happy to learn this week that Social Security checks won't be getting any bigger in 2011.

"I don't think it's right," Lingle said. "I mean everything keeps going up. The price of food keeps going up, but (seniors) don't get an increase."

According to the Associated Press, the federal government is expected to announce this week that Social Security benefits will not increase for the second year in a row. This year was the first since 1975 - when Congress adopted automatic adjustments for inflation - that seniors did not receive a boost in their monthly benefits.

For many seniors, two years back-to-back just doesn't seem fair.

"I thought that was a shame that they're not going to give a little something," said Shirley Braswell, 81, of Coeur d'Alene.

She said inflation is still a problem as local prices continue to rise.

"Milk and gas and everything like that - everything is going up a penny or two," Braswell said. "It's all adding up."

Social Security raises are based on the Consumer Price Index, which measures inflation, the AP said. Inflation was negative in 2009 and 2010, so the benefits were not increased.

More than 58.7 million people receive Social Security, the AP reported. The average monthly check totals $1,072.

With Social Security offering less of a cushion, some seniors are choosing to cut costs wherever they can. Braswell enjoys gambling at the Coeur d'Alene Casino in Worley, but she won't be doing that much anymore, she said - it's a luxury she can live without.

"There's nothing you can do about it, you can't change it," she said of her benefits.

Bill Patton turns 90 in December. He collects Social Security, receives a pension from his former employer and has some dollars saved up from wise investments. Living comfortably, he said the government's plan didn't trouble him.

"I hadn't worried about it because I'm in a good financial situation," Patton said. "I just am not worried about it. (But) I can see that it's a tough row on a whole lot of people that need that money. I'm not happy with the way things are going. I don't think that the people operating the government are doing things the right way."

A 92-year-old retiree, James Williams once worked for the Walt Disney Company. He has a pension, a Social Security income and Air Force benefits, so like Patton he didn't find the Social Security situation particularly forboding.

"Of course, I can always use more money," he said with a chuckle.

Williams didn't lay the blame entirely on the Obama Administration, as many seniors have. He recalled Franklin Delano Roosevelt's days in office, when the far-sighted president oversaw the creation of Social Security.

The program hadn't been popular then, Williams remembered, and neither had Roosevelt.

"He turned out to be one of the best presidents we've had, in the end," Williams said.