OTTAWA — The Putnam County Council on Aging is collecting signatures to put a levy replacement and increase on the ballot this November. The proposed levy would increase the agency’s funding and allow it to continue to provide numerous services to a growing population of elderly residents in Putnam County.
According to the PCCOA’s director, Jodi Warnecke, voters in the county would be asked to approve a 0.4-mill increase to the existing 0.6-mill senior services levy in the upcoming November election. Warnecke said this levy would provide an approximate funding increase from $570,000 to $980,000 per year through local taxes, helping the agency keep pace with rising costs and expanding services.
This would be the first levy increase for the PCCOA since 2009. But demand for the agency’s services has grown exponentially since then, according to the agency, caused by a surging “age wave” as the baby boomer generation gets older, putting the PCCOA at what agency leadership describes as a “tipping point.” The agency says that its services, which include providing transportation for aging residents of the county to and from medical appointments, would be “jeopardized” if the levy fails.
Since 2009, the PCCOA reports that it has seen an 87 percent increase in transportation clients served and a 116 percent increase in the number of miles traveled. Increased demand has led the PCCOA to increase its fleet of transportation vehicles from six to 10 since 2009. This heightened demand has been compounded by rising costs. Gas prices have increased by 162 percent, and vehicle maintenance costs have gone up 109 percent since 2009, according to the PCCOA.
Despite these rising costs, state and federal funding has remained sluggish, leading the PCCOA to rely more and more on local funding.
“State and federal funding have not kept pace with the aging population that’s dramatically increasing,” Warnecke said. “So we have become more reliant on our local levy to be able to provide services here for our county.”
The Putnam County Commissioners voted two to one against putting the increased levy on the ballot last week, concerned about asking residents to pay higher taxes in the face of a strained economy. The PCCOA therefore turned to a petition to get the measure to the voters, having until Aug. 10 to collect the approximately 1,500 signatures required for the levy to appear on the ballot for the Nov. 8 election.
Warnecke reinforced that the levy increase would not strain Putnam County residents too heavily. If supported by the voters, homeowners would only pay $35 per year per $100,000 in home valuation, an increase of $14 from the current levy, according to the PCCOA.
Convincing voters of the value of the levy has not proved too daunting of a task, as canvassers have already gathered roughly 1,000 of the needed signatures only a week into the effort. Warnecke said that the enthusiastic response is owed to the agency’s reputation in the community for being “good stewards of taxpayer dollars” and for providing quality services for the aging population in Putnam County.
“Sometimes we feel like we barely get the words ‘Council on Aging’ out and they’re saying, ‘Here! All signed!’” she said.
