The Senior Center on Bradley Road has seen a boom in programming and attendance over the past few years. With more and more people passing through the center doors on a regular basis, the Senior Commission, Board of Selectmen (BOS), and Board of Finance (BOF) have reviewed and approved a new membership fee at the center starting Jan. 1, 2018.

Director of Senior Services Austin Hall recently presented the new membership fee to the BOS and the BOF.

“This discussion has taken place at the commission level over the past couple of years to try and find the right time to initiate a membership fee,” he said. “A majority of towns do have some sort of a membership fee to their local senior center. There are a host of good reasons to have one—being a member of something makes you feel increased ownership in the product and you feel like you can give more input to the programing and things that we do for seniors in town.”

The annual membership fee, which starts the first day of the New Year, is a $15 for residents and $20 for non-residents. Existing additional fees for special programs and lunches will remain the same.

“Last fiscal year we had 1,422 individual people use the senior center, 1,000 of which were Madison residents,” said Hall. “Roughly a third of the senior population in town participates. With those numbers, if all of those people pay the fee, we are looking at a $20,000 membership fee amount.”

Hall said this fee is an average rate among senior centers across the state. He said he didn’t want the fee to be too high and scare off any current center users.

“During lunch every day I try to go in and have discussions with folks and meet new people and over the past few months I have brought it up and no one has blinked at eye at it,” he said. “A lot of Madison seniors as well as others who come to our place join other senior centers as well, so they are used to paying a fee.”

Some members of the BOF expressed concern that the fee may still be seen as a hardship to some low-income seniors, but Hall said he has a plan in place should that issue arise.

“If there is a hardship on behalf of a Madison resident, we will screen them,” he said. “Anyone who has a hardship has already probably been screened by our department for energy assistance, for rent rebate, the sate tax relief, so if they have already been approved to participate in one of those programs, we can waive the fee so it won’t negatively affect them at all.”

All money raised from the fees will not be used as a revenue source for the town, but as a away to ensure some big programs at the senior center stay properly funded.

“We would like to put 70 percent of that back into the Milton Marcus account,” said Hall. “The account was a gift given to us by a Madison resident maybe six or seven years ago. We use that money strictly for Meals on Wheels and energy assistance. It is about $20,000 a year to pay for Meals on Wheels and energy assistance and this will help replenish that fund and keep this going. Then 20 percent of the membership fee, which will amount to about $4,000, we would like to put back into our revolving account, which would allow me to hire entertainment [and] do special events without having to charge additional fees to folks who want to attend those programs, etc.”

With the fee now approved, Hall said the senior center will start reaching out to seniors via a newsletter, email, and phone calls to let people know about the new fee.

“We will communicate so that when people show up for the first time they know that there is a membership fee,” he said. “If they don’t have it on them [the first time] we will postpone it until the next time they sign up for a program.”

BOF member Bennett Pudlin said the membership fee has been well thought out and is a good step for the senior center.

“I have just marveled at the transformation that has taken place at the senior center,” he said. “…This issue of membership is something the commission has considered for a number of years and I think there is ample evidence from around the country that it really does give people a sense of ownership and pride from being a member and I think it makes it seem like you are not just a recipient of a social service.”