After Cobb seniors were asked to pay a membership fee and pay higher fees for services at county senior centers this year, a senior citizens group is asking that they be eliminated or at least reconsidered.
At a recent Cobb Board of Commissioners meeting, June Van Brackle, president of the Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County, cited a figure that fewer than 3,000 seniors are using the centers this year, compared to around 6,500 before the fees were imposed.
Earlier, commissioners set an annual membership fee of $60 a person to take part in activities at the senior centers.
While some were upset by the membership fees and higher cost for activities fees and room rentals, he said “we’re all in this together.”
One group that regularly met at the East Cobb Senior Center has stopped having regular events there. The Foxtrotters Ballroom Dance Club, held a farewell dance in June after 21 years. They’re having a reunion dance there on Jan. 18.
Here’s more from Van Brackle’s remarks:
The Senior Citizens Council of Cobb is urging the Board of Commissioners to eliminate these mandatory fees. Cobb County is renowned for the services it offers to its residents. The reduction in participation at the five centers can only be a major detriment to the overall quality of life for Cobb seniors.
The Senior Citizen Council of Cobb County is an all-volunteer organization that has been in existence for 45 years and advocates for better public policies for Cobb seniors. The Council has always been against additional burden on our oldest citizens and if you are interested, we ask that you contact your commissioner and express your feelings regarding these fees.
Commissioners will be holding their semiannual retreat Monday at the Cobb Civic Center, and Boyce told Van Brackle to attend.
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The Foxtrotters Ballroom Dance Club is disbanding at the end of this month, after 21 years of events at the East Cobb Senior Center. A farewell dance will take place there on June 22.
A steep increase in fees for renting out the event for their dances is the reason for the decision to shut down the group, Foxtrotters president Barbara Digulla told East Cobb News.
Like other groups and individuals who have been using the East Cobb Senior Center, the Foxtrotters have been affected by proposed activity fee increases for senior centers across the county to address Cobb’s current $30 million budget deficit.
At a January town hall meeting in January at the East Cobb Senior Center, Boyce told seniors upset about the proposals that “we’re all in this together” in terms of resolving the county’s fiscal crisis.
While some seniors didn’t object to paying a $60 annual membership fee, groups that meet at senior centers were alarmed by the high increases that commissioners are being asked to approve.
The Foxtrotters have paid $120 a month to Cobb Senior Services for the use of the facility for their monthly dances.
That cost could jump to $540 an event, if the proposed fee increases are approved when the commissioners finalize the budget in July. The hours for their dances also were pushed up from 7-10 p.m. to 6-9 p.m., with the county citing security reasons.
The Foxtrotters said the changing hours negatively affected turnout, and they hire their own security guard for their dances. Digulla said she was able to negotiate a 7-10 p.m. window for their final dance on June 22.
She said around a third of those coming for the dances are from well beyond the Cobb area, including DeKalb and Gwinnett counties and elsewhere.
“We’ve accepted it,” Digulla said about the end of the group. She said she and other dance club members “tried every possibility there is in this area” to find another place for their events, including churches and community centers.
She said that typically 45-55 people attend a dance, but attendance has been down 20 to 30 percent since the new fees kicked in.
Digulla said the Foxtrotters are required to pay for a security guard that cost $80 an event. Combined with that and the rental fee, along with around $500 an event for bands, each dance cost in the range of $650 to $750 a month.
To have to pay nearly double that, between $1,100 to $1,200 a month, and on short notice, “is ridiculous,” Digulla said.
The Foxtrotters aren’t the first senior dance group to shut down in the wake of the new Cobb senior activity fees.
The Stardust Dance Ballroom Dance Group that held events at the West Cobb Senior Center also is closing down, due to the proposed fee increases, and is having three final dances this year at a senior center in Paulding County.
The Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2019 budget in July. The senior fee increases were initially delayed as Boyce held senior town hall meetings, but they went into effect this spring.
Launched in 1997 by founding members Naomi Davis and Jan Henkleman, the Foxtrotters are geared toward seniors, with attendance open to those 55 and older.
They used to have another senior dance group, the Flamingos, who met at the Windy Hill Senior Center, but that group disbanded when the center closed in 2011.
The Foxtrotters farewell event begins June 22, 21 years and two days after their first event at the East Cobb Senior Center. The cost is $15 a person, with music provided by The Continentals Band and the theme “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning.”
Digulla said around 70 people have signed up to attend, enough to provide a free buffet meal as the Foxtrotters have their last dance.
As a Foxtrotters Facebook page message indicated:
“Let’s say goodbye in style and pay tribute to the best social event East Cobb has ever known!”
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Cobb commission chairman Mike Boyce faced a full house at the East Cobb Senior Center Friday (East Cobb News photos by Wendy Parker)
Before Cobb Commission Chairman Mike Boyce made his case for increasing charges for senior services, including the creation of an annual membership fee, he issued an apology.
Not for the idea of raising fees. As he reiterated several times, often to the derision of some in attendance at a town hall meeting at the East Cobb Senior Center Friday morning, “We’re all in this together” in addressing Cobb’s mounting budget problems.
Rather, Boyce regretted the way the announcement was handled in November, when commissioners voted to impose an annual $60 membership fee to use Cobb senior centers and in some cases charge steep increases in renting rooms for events at those facilities.
Those new charges are set to go into effect on Feb. 1, but because of strong pushback from seniors, Boyce scheduled a series of town hall meetings this month.
The first was at the East Cobb center on Sandy Plains Road, one of the busiest of the five senior centers run by the county, and with a robust schedule of activities and organizations that meet there.
“You’re angry because you feel like we’re shoving this down your throat,” Boyce said to a standing-room only crowd. “That’s why we’re here.”
Many were angry about any increases in general, with some citing living on fixed incomes, and wondering how much the new charges would help solve a budget deficit projected to be $30 million or more for fiscal 2019.
“I’m hoping it’s only $30 million,” Boyce said, rattling off a long list of things that the county isn’t buying these days—including public safety and senior services vehicles—due to the budget crunch.
He deflected criticism that the county’s obligation for SunTrust Park is contributing to the budget woes, which were $20 million for fiscal 2018. Cobb pays $8.4 million annually for its share of the new home of the Atlanta Braves.
When an attendee charged that the county is “Mickey Mousing us around” instead of addressing funding for the stadium, Boyce was adamant:
“The Braves didn’t create this hole. All they did was accelerate the inevitable.”
Of the $405 million fiscal year general fund budget for 2018, around $170 million is earmarked for required services under state law: public safety, courts, roads and water.
A longer list of “essential” services includes code enforcement, finance and budget and planning and zoning. That totals another $146 million.
The longest list of all, “desired” services, has the smallest budget sum of the three: $86 million, and it’s where the budgets for popular programs for parks, libraries and seniors all come from.
Each senior center costs around $250,000 a year to operate, but county officials estimate only 6,100 of Cobb’s 165,000 seniors use them at all.
When a senior asked why the elderly are being asked to share the burden this way, Boyce offered his standard response—”because we’re all in this together”—to a chorus of boos and groans.
“You may not like the answer, but if we don’t fill this [budget] hole, we may have to close places,” he said.
Boyce faced greater opposition to the room rate increases, which in some cases would be 200 or 300 percent higher than what they are now, as well as class fees.
Currently, the Foxtrotters Dance Club pays $120 for its monthly events, and the Marietta Golden K Kiwanis Club pays the same amount for several meetings a year at the East Cobb center.
Those rentals would go up to $200 an event. Class fees would go up from $48 to $112 and $160 for painting classes and from $30 to $50 for yoga and tai chi sessions.
Some worried that their fellow seniors may drop out of coming to the centers, which have become a vital social hub.
One suggestion Boyce said he definitely would take back to the commissioners is a $5 monthly fee, which may be more affordable for some seniors who can’t pay $60 in advance.
After the town hall meeting, East Cobb senior resident Chris Vail said he appreciated Boyce taking the heat, and for apologizing at the outset.
Vail is member of the Golden K Kiwanis, which has met at the East Cobb Senior Center for 22 years. He’s concerned that higher charges for room rental and other club activities would cost the organization $12,000 a year, about the same amount of money the group raises for various children’s charities every year.
“That would put us out of business,” said Vail, a retired police officer from Albany, Ga., and a former Congressional investigator. “There’s a lot of benefit for us to be here.”
He said a user fee for seniors would be fine with him “as long as it is reasonable.” Vail said while he was glad for the chance to be heard, “I only pray that they will listen to us.”
Additional town hall meetings will take place week at the North Cobb, West Cobb, Freeman Poole and Marietta senior centers. The commissioners will discuss the feedback at a work session later this month before scheduling a vote on the new fees.
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The East Cobb Senior Center celebrated its 22nd anniversary in August. (East Cobb News file photo)
The Cobb Board of Commissioners voted on Nov. 15 to create a membership fee structure for use of Cobb Senior Services, including centers such as the East Cobb Senior Center (previous East Cobb Newspost here).
The charges go into effect on Feb. 1, 2018, and will be implemented for spring 2018 class registration (but not winter, which is still going on. Here’s also a schedule of December and holiday activities at the East Cobb Senior Center, 3332 Sandy Plains Road).
Here’s what the county sent out earlier today, with more details and contact information about the new membership program:
Membership Fees
Cobb residents: $60/year
Non-residents: $90/year
You may create your yearly membership online at CobbSeniors.org or by visiting any senior center. Cash, check and credit cards (MasterCard/Visa/American Express) are acceptable forms of payment.
Included in the yearly membership are free, evidence-based health programs (Cooking Matters, Matter of Balance, etc.), access to workout facilities and free coffee.
If you can’t afford the membership fee, call 770-528-5355 to discuss possible options. You must be within the federal poverty guidelines for consideration.
Class Registration
Registration for winter 2018 classes will begin Monday, Jan. 22, for everyone. Both in-person registration and online registration will start at 9 a.m. Although class fees will remain the same for winter 2018 classes, the new fee structure will be in place for spring registration beginning in April. You must have a valid 2018 Senior Services membership BEFORE you register for any spring 2018 and beyond classes.
The fee schedule is available at each senior center. To view a question-and-answer fact sheet on the new membership program, click here.
Please call 770-528-5355 with questions not addressed above.
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