Staff Proposing $50 Membership Fee to Whitney Senior Center

ST. CLOUD - Area residents who use the Whitney Senior Center in St. Cloud may be charged a membership fee starting next year.

City staff are proposing a $50 annual fee. St. Cloud residents would have $40 of the fee waived. Non St. Cloud residents would have to pay the full $50, however other area cities would be able to buy-down their residents memberships.

Some activities would still be open to everyone like: senior dining, RSVP volunteers, and Senior Linkage Line.

Staff is also recommending fee increases for other programs, like woodshop, the fitness area, and the garden plot.

Staff cautions the membership fees could cause a loss of participants and a loss of donations. They say a best-case projection would be roughly 1,200 members.

The St. Cloud City Council will be discussing the proposal on Monday, during their work study session.

If the plan is approved, the fee would go into effect on January 1st of next year.