 The Bishop Senior Center is used for anything from senior meals to community meetings. Inyo County is currently evaluating the cost for such functions and considering changing the rate structure for similar facilities throughout the county. Photo by Mike Bodine By Mike Gervais
Register Staff
10-13-2009 County officials will be meeting later this month to discuss who uses local community centers and for what purposes.
As part of an effort to look at ways to limit General Fund contributions to the Inyo Mono Area Agency on Aging budget, Health and Human Services is examining the fees, usage, proprieties and community needs when it comes to local community centers that IMAAA uses.
“The bottom line is,” Health and Human Services Director Jean Turner said, “with the governor getting rid of the Linkages, IMAAA is basically a nutrition program” with a dwindling budget.
In July, Health and Human Services staff reported that each of the five county-owned facilities that serve as senior centers – the Bishop Senior Center, Big Pine Town Hall, Independence American Legion Hall and Tecopa Senior Center – are managed by different organizations and have different fees and terms of use.
Each site is available to rent out for private parties, community functions and more, but each location has a unique way of charging for use and issuing fee waivers.
The Board of Supervisors hopes to set a standard policy for each site in hopes of realizing enough profit to keep IMAAA running on a cost-neutral basis.
Over the past two years the county has waived fees at local community centers for community public agencies, non-profit groups, schools and county-sponsored events.
For-profit groups, such as the Lone Pine Film Festival, Coso Operating Company and the Lone Pine Film History Museum, were charged for use of the community centers.
Also, United Blood Services was charged for holding its annual blood drive at Statham Hall and the Lone Pine Future Farmers of America was charged for use of the community center.
Health and Human Services is suggesting that the county increase fees for any organization that does not fall under the current fee waiver to help offset the cost for entities that do receive waivers; remove fee waivers from the current policy so all entities must contribute to operating costs; or ask community civic groups to make donations to offset costs and subsidize use for community groups who cannot afford fees.
When it comes to raising fees, there is a concern that if there is an increase, use will decrease.
Also, the hourly cost to use the facility in Big Pine is significantly lower than in Independence, so, Turner said, the fee structure should not be one-size-fits-all.
On the other hand, if the county removes fee waivers, entities that generally use community facilities may not be able to afford the fees.
And finally, if community groups are asked to subsidize use for community centers, it is “not clear which groups could or could not afford to pay the fee or make donations,” Turner said.
The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet Tuesday, Oct. 27 to discuss the community center conundrum. The community is invited to attend and share its feelings on the matter.
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