Membership fees to increase at Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center

IOWA CITY - Those who frequent the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center will see membership fees increase by about 25 percent this summer as center officials work to diversify their funding streams to reduce the organization's reliance on the Iowa City budget.

Center coordinator Linda Kopping said the increases, which take effect July 1, shouldn't come as a surprise to members and the center's primary focus in terms of revenue is targeted on fundraising efforts to reduce the impact on member fees.

The potential for fee increases has been known since Iowa City's Ad Hoc Senior Services Committee completed a comprehensive report on the center about one year ago.

'Everybody knew what the recommendations of the committee where, so it really was no surprise that there were going to be fee increases,” Kopping said. 'I haven't heard a single complaint about it.”

Fee changes taking effect July 1 include:

' Annual membership for a single Iowa City resident will increase from $33 to $40. Additional household memberships for Iowa City residents increase from $20 to $25.

' Annual membership for a single non-Iowa City resident will increase from $60 to $75 and additional household members, non-Iowa City residents, increase from $36 to $45.

Various increases also will be applied to parking permits, locker rentals and other services at the 28 S. Linn St. center.

A Senior Center committee report completed a few months ago on the center's fee structure indicates that member fees generated nearly $54,000 in fiscal year 2015. The increase to membership fees and other services is estimated to add more than $19,500 annually in new revenue.

While modest increases, Kopping noted that the Senior Center's larger focus moving forward will be on other revenue streams - primarily fundraising - to keep those fees from climbing too much.

'It's a significant amount of funding, it should not fall entirely on the backs of participants,” she said. 'The focus will be on fundraising and building our endowment.”

The center's budget application to the city council this upcoming session includes a request for a half-time employee who will focus solely on those efforts.

'You need to have someone who can devote time to it, our current workload, our current staff, is not sufficient to take the time to do that,” Kopping said. 'It's still going to require assistance from current staff, but it will certainly lighten the load.”

The center has 1,567 members, but Kopping said that number typically climbs after the first of the year when classes at the center start up.

The Senior Center's fiscal 2016 operational budget is projected at about $890,000. Of that, more than to $667,000 is expected to come from the city. More than $59,000 is anticipated from a quality of life block grant from Johnson County and approximately $166,000 is expected in fees, donations, grants and money through foundation earnings.

Dennis Bockenstedt, Iowa City finance director, said the Senior Center's efforts mirror those of many city departments and services, which are looking at ways to restructure revenue. All this comes after 2013 legislation on statewide property tax reform, which reduces city revenue from property taxes.

'Generally speaking, organizationally we've been looking at ways to diversify our revenue structure to reduce our reliance on property taxes,” he said.