OREGON CITY COUNCIL

Council seeks approval for tax benefitting senior center

7/22/2013

Oregon voters will be asked to approve a new five year, 0.5-mill tax in November that would generate $200,000 each year for additional services at the city's senior center. It would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $42 annually.

Council voted 7-0 Monday to place the levy request on the ballot, after hearing from Bob Marquette, president of the senior center's board. Mr. Marquette said adoption of the levy would give the senior center a dedicated, stable revenue stream of its own and enable it to offer more services.

The senior center, at the corner of Bay Shore and Stadium roads, currently is supported by money from Oregon's recreation department budget and payments from the Area Office on Aging, which cut its annual funding by $16,000.

Mr. Marquette was supported by a contingent of 60 seniors at the regular council meeting. Mayor Mike Seferian told him that getting council to agree to put the measure on the ballot was the easy part of his task. The hard part, he added, would be getting voters to support the new tax.