January 21, 1999
Commission on Aging to petition for levy
By Malinda Ruble
Staff Writer
For the first time in about 15 years, the Seneca County Commission on Aging is to ask voters for more funding for equipment and services.
The board of trustees voted Wednesday to place a 0.3-mill, five-year levy on the May ballot by petition. In order to place the issue on the ballot, volunteers would need to collect roughly 1,915 signatures from qualified voters -- equal to 10 percent of the number of voters in the county who cast ballots in the governor's race last November.
If approved, the $200,000 generated annually from the 0.3 mill would be used for maintaining and expanding core services and equipment.
''It has become apparent we are not going to get any increase in federal and state dollars and the senior population is going up. What are we going to do in three years when we have 50 people on the waiting list and we don't have the money to increase meals or transportation?'' asked Bryan Glover, executive director of the agency.
Glover told the board that during the past two years, state and federal funding for senior services in Seneca County has decreased six percent, but between 1980 and 1990 the senior population increased 11 percent. The total population decreased three percent.
''We've gone 15 years without asking for anymore. In the past two years, we've done everything on our part to take care of our own house. When money was cut, we didn't just go out and ask for more,'' Glover said.
The additional millage would cost the owner of a $70,000 home about two cents a day.
The board agreed that if the 0.3-mill levy is approved, the current 0.1-mill levy, which expires at the end of 2000, will not be placed on the ballot for renewal. However, the agency would receive revenue from both levies during 2000. The current levy generates between $56,000-$60,000 annually.
The deadline for placing an issue on the May primary ballot is Feb. 18.