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Thursday, July 1, 2010 • HERITAGE NEWSPAPERS/WESTERN REGION
Milan backing off support of senior group By Gerald LaVaute Heritage Newspapers
The city of Milan and the senior citizens who participate in its programs formally entered into a public and private partnership June 14. The key change is how senior programs that are currently funded by the city will be paid for in the future. Called the Milan Seniors for Healthy Living, the organization is now a not-for-profit 501(c)3 entity that will be asked to raise an increasing share of its money through its own fundraising efforts, while the city will gradually reduce its financial support. The goal is to have the group become self-sufficient over the next several years. In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the city provided $16,000 in funding to the group. It plans to decrease the amount by $4,000 in each of four subsequent years until Milan Seniors for Healthy Living no longer receives funding from the city. There is a separate vision in which Milan Seniors for Healthy Living also will pay rent to the city for the facilities it uses, but City Administrator Ben Swayze said there isn’t a specific timetable for that change. In the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the forecast is for the city’s net incoming revenue to decrease by $400,000, primarily as a result of lower property tax collections. The city is responding by reducing its costs in a variety of ways, including how its senior program is financially structured. Swayze said that the change would save the city $10,500 in its first year. He said that the change has three benefits in that it will save money, maintain senior programs and allow the senior program to focus on its mission. In other informal discussions among city officials during the June 14 City Council
meeting: Council member Joe Chapin noted the success of the beer tent at the fireworks display at the Milan Fair June 4, and wondered if further research on deed restrictions might allow the city to sponsor more events. Police Chief Jeffery Lewis also said that the recent experience with the beer tent was successful. “The beer tent, I think, was a success. We had absolutely no problems.” Chapin also wondered about the potential to close the weirs that are currently part of the Ford Lake dam system by pouring concrete into them. There are two weirs at the Ford Lake dam in Milan, in addition to large opening through which most of the lake water flows. Council members thought that it wouldn’t do much to solve the current problem, which requires a partial or full reconstruction of the dam, but that it would simplify the job of managing the dam in the future, and would reduce the infiltration of water into the basements of City Hall and the adjacent library. Other council members praised the success of the recent Milan Fair, especially the fireworks, and thanked Milan employees and residents for their help in the cleanup following the tornado in nearby Dundee. Also, Swayze said that quotes recently had been requested for a new snowplow, and for pavement marking for city streets, and that the city had recently made progress in paying tax and water bills online. City Clerk/Treasurer Sherry Steinwedel said that an insert describing payment options had been included in a recent mailing of property tax bills. Staff Writer Gerald LaVaute can be reached at 429-7380 or glavaute@heritage.com.
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