St. Joseph Considers to Cover Portion of Whitney Senior Center Membership Fee

ST. JOSEPH -- St. Cloud members of the Whitney Senior Center will be getting part of their membership fees covered by the city next year but what about residents from neighboring towns?

St. Joseph is in the process of deciding if they will subsidize any of the $50 a year membership fee for it's seniors that use the center. St. Cloud decided in September that they will be subsidizing $40 of the $50 fee, so only $10 will need to be covered by the resident. Membership fees will go into effect January 2017.

City administrator Judy Weyrens says the city council doesn't want to make any final decisions until they have a better idea of how many residents use the center.

"We're not going to be making any decision as to whether we will be subsidizing the membership partly because we don't know how many members it would involve and if we're going to have our own community center how we can integrate what residents are doing at St. Cloud in St. Joseph."

Other surrounding cities are still contemplating whether or not to subsidize the membership fees. Waite Park and Sartell have yet to make a decision and St. Augusta has decided against subsidizing the fee.

Weyrens says the council still has some time to decide.

"St. Cloud has indicated the fee starts January 2017, so unless the city makes a decision before then the residents that go there will have to pay the full $50."

The council will likely revisit the subject in December. About 1/3 of residents that use the Whitney Senior Center are from outside of St. Cloud.