Seniors in Snohomish and elsewhere who want to create senior centers or improve current ones in their towns may be getting some help from the Snohomish County Council.
Councilman Jeff Sax wants the county to set up a special fund that senior groups could tap for $5,000 grants to be used as seed money to get new senior centers up and running.
The idea came up last week during committee discussions on the county’s 2004 budget.
Sax first suggested creating a $150,000 fund for the senior center grants, but a suggestion by Councilman Dave Gossett to start the fund at $75,000 found widespread council support.
Sax readily agreed to the change.
"I heard four seniors here," Sax said jokingly, referring to his elders on the council.
The county already offers financial assistance to five regional senior centers in the county. The senior centers in Stanwood, Monroe, Edmonds and Smokey Point each receive $60,500 annually to pay for operations. The fifth, the Northshore Senior Center in Bothell, gets $33,000 annually because it also serves seniors from King County.
Sax said later it made sense to help out senior groups that want to do more with existing local facilities that already stretched to the max and need a bit of money to pay for outside expertise to improve the facility or programs.
"This is an opportunity to give back to people who have already given a lot to their communities," he said.
The council is expected to adopt the budget sometime after the final public hearing on Wednesday.
That means the council will sort out the details on Sax’s proposal later, Gossett said.
"I think we need to take a little bit more time to decide what that pot of money is for," Gossett said, and what expenses the $5,000 grants will cover. "Is it for capital, is it operating, is it start-up?"
Sax has suggested tapping tax revenues the county will receive from the Snohomish County PUD to pay for the senior seed money fund.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
