Last week the trustees and the Finance Committee of the Senior Center had a discussion about the next fiscal year budget. As you may recall, the Senior Center fiscal year is July 1 through June 30. You may also recall that we agonized over the budget last year and eventually cut one lunch in order to make the budget work.

I think that we will have to look hard at the budget again this year. We must do our part to reduce our dependency on the taxpayers of Wiscasset. There are still many who say that taxes in Wiscasset are much too high. Now with the vote to withdraw from the RSU a done deal and the municipal side looking for a new town manager, I can’t imagine that taxes will go down right away.

The Senior Center budget is relatively small and our appropriation from the taxpayers has been under $11,000. However, we should reduce that amount and also make sure that the taxpayer money is being used for a worthwhile purpose. The majority of the money goes to support the meal program.

Now let’s look at what we get for that money. We have a dinner and a lunch each week. A good night at the dinner is around 40 to 50 people. Many times we do not get that. Lunches seem to be around 16 people. Membership is way down and is currently running around 85. We have entertainment and speakers after the dinner on occasion but only a small number attend and many leave during the program. We had a Coffee Break Meeting two weeks ago to get members together to talk about possible trips and activities for the coming year. No one came.

Are we giving the taxpayer a good return for their money? In years past we used to get around 30 for lunches. There would always be more when a program was offered. We had trips. There were exercise classes, walking in the gym, card games, crafts and people just interested in town and school activities. I’m not sure what people 50 years old and older want now. I’ve heard that the meals are too expensive and times are tough. However the fast food places seem to be doing well and it costs more to eat there even if you take one of the value meals.

On a recent bitterly cold morning I went off to the doctor’s office for my periodic checkup. I complained about how cold it was to the technician checking me in. She agreed and said that her 22 month old son had grabbed her hand that morning and said “Outside.” She explained to him that she had to go to work and anyway it was too cold to go outside.

That got me thinking and I imagined a small boy running outside, jumping around, sliding on the ice in the driveway and falling down in the snow banks. All the time he would be laughing and screaming in delight. What I imagined was a picture of the sheer joy of being alive. Perhaps all of us that are over 50 should just get out there and laugh and scream in delight that we are alive. We are alive and we can do things and we can make a difference. We can get involved and make use of the taxpayer’s appropriation and we can even give back to our towns. The power of seniors is vast but only if all seniors will get out and be a part of the community.

What do you say, is the Senior Center important to you?

The cribbage tournament winners on Tuesday, Jan. 21, were Earl Dighton first, Cleo (from Richmond, we didn’t get a last name) second, Blanche Johnson third, and Leonard Foss low score. The cribbage tournament winners on Thursday, Jan. 23 were Phoebe Cromwell first, Doc Schilke second, Dawn Sutter third, Larry Clark low score and Gail Thayer high hand.

Meals for next week:

(Reservations, please! Call 207-882-8230 at least two days in advance for meal reservations.)

Wednesday, Feb. 5: Dinner, Chef’s Choice

Thursday, Feb. 6: Lunch, Chef’s Choice