Senior mil levy aims to tackle elder services deficit
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LAKE COUNTY – On June 3 county voters have a chance to tax themselves and help alleviate an eldercare crisis that officials say is growing more prominent as the population of senior citizens continues to boom at a pace unmatched by funding support from the federal and state government.
A senior mil levy on the ballot would raise approximately $200,000 per year for area seniors, by tacking a $2.62 annual tax on every $100,000 worth of property.
“We’re not asking for a lot of money, but we do need it if we are going to continue the programs,” Mission Valley Senior Center President Al Sampson said.
The Mission Valley Senior Center in Ronan and four other senior centers throughout the county provide a variety of services for elder citizens including healthy meals, homebound meal delivery, health clinics, social events, and tax services. The local agencies have received $40,000 from Lake County government’s general fund for the past several years, but that amount is scant when split seven ways, and doled out to help hundreds of seniors.
The funding is also not guaranteed. The county commissioners could reallocate the funds for something else in the next budget.
Funding uncertainty is a top-down problem for local entities that originates with the federal and state governments. In recent years funding for area senior centers have flatlined or shrunk, as an increased demand for services has emerged.
“When the demand and number of individuals requiring services keeps going up and your funding stays flat, it gets to be significant,” said Duane Lutke, executive director of Western Montana Area VI Aging, that provides services to seniors in four local counties.
Estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau indicated more than 18 percent of Lake County is more than 65 years of age. That’s up from when 14 percent of the population that was age 65 or older in the 2000 Census. The proportion of seniors is expected to double to almost 40 percent of the county’s total headcount in the next decade, Sampson said.
Modern medicine has extended the average lifespan and the attitude toward aging in general.
“I have 90-year-olds who don’t think they are old enough to come to the senior center,” said Linda Schoon, former director of the Mission Valley Senior Center in Ronan.
For those that do partake in area services, it can mean an extension of quality of life. For the 18 seniors who received two meals delivered to their homes each day in Charlo, the fleeting interaction with a delivery person is the only human contact experienced for days on end. For those who actually visit the center, the social rewards are great.
“One of the biggest benefits is that getting together is so good for us socially,” Charlo Nutrition Program Worker Susan Krantz said. “If you haven’t seen anybody for three or four days, at least you’ll be able to see somebody when you come in here.”
The food served seniors is also much better than what fixed incomes might typically allow, Krantz said.
“It’s so much more and so much more nutritious,” Krantz said. “It’s wonderful. It’s not a peanut butter sandwich and maybe a couple of Oreos. It’s meat and vegetables and fruit.”
The center once received commodities to serve its patrons, but because of storage limitations the system has now changed to a money-in-lieu of commodities distribution. The cash flow, while better than nothing, struggles to provide the same amount of sustenance as food prices increase.
The compounding factors paint a grim picture for the future if secure funding is not obtained, Krantz said.
“We need to realize it’s going to be tough all the way around,” she said.
