{"id":9009,"date":"2011-06-07T03:03:44","date_gmt":"2011-06-07T08:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=9009"},"modified":"2011-06-08T03:49:52","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T08:49:52","slug":"council-on-agings-survival-linked-to-tax-levy-passage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2011\/06\/07\/council-on-agings-survival-linked-to-tax-levy-passage\/","title":{"rendered":"Aging agency’s survival linked to levies"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Van Wert Council on Aging Executive Director Cindy Wood (left) speaks with County Commissioners Gary Adams (top right) and Clair Dudgeon (bottom right) about placing the agency's two levies on the November ballot. Commissioners' clerk Larry Clouse (top left) looks on. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The still weak economy and decreasing property tax revenues, coupled with increasing costs, have Van Wert Council on Aging Executive Director Cindy Wood worried about the continued financial viability of her agency, which provides a number of important services to county senior citizens.<\/p>\n

Critical to the continued operation of the agency is passage of two small levies that will be placed on the ballot this November.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve told people, \u2018look, if these levies fail, we close,\u2019\u201d Wood told the commissioners, adding that one perception problem she often runs into is that many people think the CoA is a county agency. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many people think we\u2019re a county agency,\u201d she noted, adding she continually has to explain that the agency receives no county funding — or county benefits for its employees.<\/p>\n

Wood and Van Wert County Commissioners Gary Adams and Clair Dudgeon met last week to discuss what action should be taken on the levies, and when.<\/p>\n

Currently, plans are to seek renewal or replacement of the agency\u2019s two levies — an 0.2-mill, five-year levy that is partially shared with a similar agency in Delphos, and an 0.25-mill, five-year levy that goes solely to the local senior citizens agency — this November. The two tax issues provide pretty much all of the private, not-for-profit agency\u2019s funding.<\/p>\n

Survival of the agency and the services it provides to local senior citizens is at stake if the levies don\u2019t pass in November, Wood stressed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as if the agency hasn\u2019t been frugal with its money. Wood noted that cost-cutting measures were implemented soon after she took over as director three years ago. \u201cTwo months after I took this job, we started hacking away,\u201d Wood said of attempts to cut costs. She added that the agency staff has decreased from 12 employees to seven during that time.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, with the agency losing state and federal dollars, the agency\u2019s financial situation is still precarious.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a problem for Wood, who knows just what an impact the agency has on county senior citizens. The Council on Aging provides transportation for seniors to the supermarket, hospital, doctor\u2019s offices and elsewhere, while the agency\u2019s Senior Center on Fox Road provides a place where seniors can gather to socialize and receive other needed services.<\/p>\n

Ironically, even with two levies, Wood noted that the Council on Aging still has one of the lowest levy amounts of any agency in the county receiving property tax funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re asking very little and our expenses have obviously gone up,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Both levies have been on the books for more than a decade. The 0.2-mill levy was first passed in November 1987 and has been renewed every five years since then, with a replacement levy approved in 2006. The 0.25-mill levy was first passed in November 1997 and has been renewed twice since then, although its passage rate of approximately 1,200 votes in 2006 is a concern to Wood, because it\u2019s lower than the previous renewal.<\/p>\n

The Council on Aging has until August 10 to place the levies on the November ballot, with the commissioners needing to adopt a resolution doing so in July, to allow for any ballot language corrections that may have to be made prior to August 10.<\/p>\n

With no opponent for Van Wert Municipal Court Judge Jill Leatherman in November and only two Van Wert city races (at-large City Council and law director) at this point, voter turnout is expected to be low in November. However, neither Wood nor the commissioners had a firm handle on what low voter turnout might mean for the Council on Aging levies.<\/p>\n

Adams suggested that Wood make sure her agency is able to get older voters to the polls in support of the levies.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, while passing both levies is crucial to maintaining the Council on Aging\u2019s funding levels, the 0.2-mill levy is the most critical, since its failure in November would, in essence, do away with that source of funding, since the levy expires in 2012. If the 0.25-mill levy would fail, Wood said there would be two more chances to pass it, although the point would likely be moot, since her agency needs both levies to survive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we miss this shot in November, I don\u2019t know if the other levy will matter,\u201d she told the commissioners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The still weak economy and decreasing property tax revenues, coupled with increasing costs, have Van Wert Council on Aging Executive Director Cindy Wood worried about the continued financial viability of her agency, which provides a number of important services to county senior citizens. Critical to the continued operation of the agency is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-03 04:18:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}