Austintown officials support senior levy

By Elise Franco

Efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

The Austintown Senior Center played host to the township trustees’ regular meeting to showcase all the center has to offer seniors in Mahoning County, said Trustee David Ditzler.

Austintown residents will vote Nov. 8 on a 0.5-mill senior-services levy that will fund the center by raising $309,202 each year for five years, said Fiscal Officer Michael Kurish.

Kurish said the levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 about $16 per year. The center, which opened in September 2010, currently is run on donations.

Millie Potkinsky said during Monday’s meeting that the center has become important to more than 500 seniors in Austintown and throughout the county. She said she hopes nonsenior residents will vote yes.

“It’s less per year than stopping at McDonald’s each week or for coffee for month,” she said. “We really need this place.”

Potkinsky said she’s been a member since Day One and has watched new friendships form through the center and its activities.

“I’ve seen seniors come in here as strangers, and we get them involved,” she said. “Some have no family and have no place else they go during the day.”

John Serenko, another center member, thanked the trustees for the work they’ve put into the center over the past year. He said he hopes voters will realize what an asset it is.

“You are helping us to be where we are today,” he said. “I hope this levy passes so we can grow even larger.”

Also during the meeting, fire Chief Andy Frost Jr. said the grand re-opening of the Raccoon Road fire station will be from noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 13.

Frost said they’ll cut the ribbon outside the station at 1 p.m. and will offer free smoke detectors and tours of the renovated facility throughout the afternoon.

The $333,000 renovation was funded by a federal grant, and the work, which took about six months, was completed in September.