When voters in Oxford, Addison and Orion townships go to the polls Nov. 7 they will decide the fate of two proposed taxes designed to fund the construction and operation of a $9.85 million senior citizen center to serve the three communities.
‘I support this concept because I feel the seniors need to have their own space,? said Pat Fitchena, Oxford Township trustee and director of the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA).
‘It’s an investment in our communities,? said Addison Township Trustee Claudia Von Drak. ‘We need to understand as communties that seniors have special needs as they go through the aging process.?
But not everyone feels this is the right time to ask voters for a tax increase to build and run a senior center given Michigan’s poor economy.
‘Companies are laying off thousands of people and we’re building senior centers and bridges,? said Oxford Township Trustee Sue Bellairs, who opposes the proposed new taxes. ‘Everybody I talk to, except for a few, are opposed to the spending of money at this time.?
‘It’s a bad time to increase taxes on everybody for the benefit of a very few that don’t really want it,? said Addison Township Supervisor Bob Koski.
Voters are being asked to approve a bond proposition totalling $9.85 million to construct, furnish and equip Phase I (which is just under 50,000 square feet) of a senior center designed to serve all three townships.
If the bond is approved by voters, property owners in all three townships would be asked to pay the same approximately 0.2-mill tax over 20 years to retire the bond debt.
The total amount each community would contribute as a whole to the $9.85 million bond issue would vary according to each township’s total taxable value.
Oxford would contribute $2.815 million, Addison $1.085 million and Orion $5.95 million.
In order for the project’s financing to go through, voters in all three townships must approve the bond. For example, if the bond passes in two townships and fails in one, the project cannot go forward.
At just under 50,000 square feet, Phase I of the proposed center would include a full-size gymnasium, aerobics room, locker rooms, kitchen and dining area, adult daycare program for residents with Alzheimer’s Disease or Dementia, offices for NOTA, an administrative office for the center, a series of multipurpose program rooms, wood shop, art room, small library, large multipurpose room with a stage and general storage.
The proposed center would be constructed on 10 acres of land donated by Crossroads for Youth, a nonprofit agency which helps at-risk youth. The center would sit on Crossroads? 320-acre campus along E. Drahner Road in Oxford Township.
To operate and maintain the proposed center, voters in all three townships are also being asked to approve a 10-year, 0.25-mill tax.
The total levy to build and run the center would be approximately 0.45 mill, which works out to about $45 for every $100,000 of a property’s taxable value.
‘We need to understand as communities that seniors have special needs as they go through the aging process,? said Von Drak, who heads an older adult education and enrichment program in Harper Woods and is pursuing her doctorate in Gerontology (the scientific study of aging) from Wayne State University.
Von Drak said seniors need the option of being able to ‘age in their own homes where they raised their kids and in the communities that they love.?
But ‘as one ages, one needs a little more assistance to do that.? That’s where the proposed senior center comes in.
‘A senior center is a central point where seniors and their families can receive the information and special resources that will allow them to age in place,? Von Drak said. ‘It’s providing the necessary coordination that will allow our older adults to remain in our communities and be an integral part of them.?
‘To me, (the center’s) going to be a life-link for older adults and their families in our communities. I see the senior center as joining the power of the three communities to provide the necessary services,? she noted.
These services include nutritious meals, transportation, preventative health and fitness classes, social events, athletics, recreational programs, leisure activities, personal enrichment classes, access to in-home support for low-income seniors (lawn assistance, snow removal) and senior outreach.
Being able to provide ‘socialization opportunities? for seniors at the center is vital, according to Von Drak.
‘That’s very, very important as people age to continue to be connected with other people,? she said.
Fitchena said the three separate senior centers which currently serve their respective townships are not meeting the majority of seniors? needs and interests due to their extremely limited space to provide activities and programs.
‘We are loaded with seniors in these communities and we have just a handful that are participating (at the existing centers),? she said. ‘You have 700 seniors in Addison Township and Leonard. Why aren’t they going to that center? There’s nothing there to attract them.?
In comparison, the Older Persons Commission (OPC) Center in Rochester is regularly attended by 600-800 seniors, all engaged in various activities.
‘There are just droves of seniors there,? Fitchena said. ‘There’s activity there. Guys playing pool, working in the wood shop, playing volleyball, doing aerobics, people moving and walking and running ? things you just don’t see in these other centers here.?
Fitchena said she would love to have a center for the entire community, but right now the seniors need their own place.
‘I’m all for a community center too,? she said. ‘But many times in community centers, the seniors get pushed aside. The kids take over and the seniors are left out.?
‘I think everybody has to have something for themselves,? Fitchena noted.
But Bellairs said the three communities already provide many senior services such as NOTA, Meals on Wheels, enrichment and recreational programs, health programs, and senior outreach.
‘All the services at the (proposed) senior center, we’re currently receiving,? she said. ‘Why can’t the three communities still work together and use the facilities they now have??
Bellairs believes supporters of the proposed center don’t want to do that because of the OPC Center.
‘They just want to be Rochester right now,? she said. ‘We’re not Rochester.?
Between the ‘spiraling downfall of the (state) economy? and ‘Michigan workers being laid off and jobs eliminated,? Bellairs believes a tax increase for a new senior center is ‘not a good idea at this time.?
‘There are people out there that won’t be able to pay their heat bills this winter,? she noted.
Koski’s opposition to the center is based on not only the poor state of the economy, but the fact that the 30-40 seniors who regularly attend Addison’s center previously voted against the idea of a tri-township facility. ‘They don’t want it,? he said. ‘They don’t want to be bussed out of the area. They want to stay in the township.?