Seniors Levy On The Ballot This March

The voters of Lake County will have the opportunity to vote on a 0.5-mill replacement levy for seniors on March 6.

If the levy were approved, it would be a 0.1-mill increase from the levy that was originally passed in 1992.

The new 5-year levy would produce $3,159,248 for senior services in Lake County while costing property owners $15.31 annually per $100,000 valuation, according to the Lake County Auditor's Office.

By comparison, the current levy would produce $2,565,291 and cost property owners $12.25 per $100,000 valuation if renewed. In 2007, the last time the levy passed, it produced $2.9 million per year.

Fifty-three percent of the levy's proceeds are distributed to the Lake County Council on Aging, 42 percent to 10 local senior centers and the remainder goes to the RSVP senior volunteer program, LCCA interim CEO Ellen Cantor said.

Cantor said the additional millage was needed to keep funding at about the same level. Without it, funding would drop because of decreased property values -- and, consequently, decreased property taxes -- and the phasing out of .

If the levy were not passed -- either in March or, hypothetically, in November -- Cantor said LCCA would have to make deep cuts.

"We'd have to dramatically cut and that means everything," she said.

The funds from this levy help support caregiver programs, home-delivered meals and other nutrition programs, Cantor said.