Española city officials are mulling whether seniors should start paying to enter the Española Senior Center’s fitness facility.
According to a facility use fees form distributed in a Community Services Committee meeting May 21, the Española Community Services Department is proposing at least a $2.50 entrance fee to the fitness center for seniors older than 55. At the moment, seniors can get in for free.
Community Services Director Mark Trujillo, who presented the proposal in the meeting, said the fee will allow members of the senior center access to the city’s recreational pools.
“We thought that it would give an added value, because at that rate, they would be able to go to the Lucero, as well as to the Ranchitos Center, if they want to go swimming,” he said. “Because we don’t have a pool in the senior center, this would maybe give them incentive to possibly increase the membership at the senior center.”
The Lucero Center currently charges seniors $2.50 for a day pass to the entire facility, which includes the gym and indoor pool. Regular adult day passes cost $5.
The proposed fee schedule for the senior center gym includes a monthly fee option of $20.
Seniors might also be able to choose to pay $45 for three months, $60 for six months or $105 annually, according to the form.
Senior Center Coordinator Josephine Velasquez said the fees will make access to the pools more convenient for members of the senior center.
“It could give them the advantage to use the swimming pools, because a lot of our members already do that,” she said. “We probably have about 20 to 30 who use the (Lucero) gym.”
The senior center serves about 50 to 70 senior members daily, Velasquez said.
Possible revenue from the entrance fee will be used for maintenance of the senior center gym, she said.
Velasquez said the proposed senior center entrance fee rates are priced fairly, but the Community Services Department is willing to compromise with members who think otherwise.
She said she is optimistic that the City Council would approve the rates in the future.
“The reason that we went with the $2.50 is because that’s what the Lucero Center already charges,” she said. “We’re going based off what they already have. I’m open for it to be lower if that’s the pleasure of our members.”
At the meeting, City Councilor Eric Radosevich, who serves as chairman of the Community Services Committee, said he agrees with the proposed fees.
“We can’t be giving away everything there for free,” he said. “We can’t give away $100, get $80, and expect to survive.”
But City Councilor and Community Services Committee member Peggy Sue Martinez said the proposed fee would make it more burdensome for retirees who have a fixed income.
She said the department should consider proposing lower rates.
“I know for a fact that they feel really volatile that electricity has gone up, the gas has gone up, and everything else is going up, and their income stays the same,” she said. “This is a group that is dealing with everything going up except their pay.”
Martinez said she is also concerned that regular, paying members of Lucero Center will not have access to the senior center gym, despite paying more than the seniors.
But Trujillo said exercise equipment in the senior center gym is specifically designed for seniors. So, he said it will not make sense to allow regular members of the Lucero Center in the senior gym.
“That facility is designed for seniors so that seniors can exercise and lift weights in a different level,” he said. “So, we have a 30-year-old trying to lift 350 pounds saying, ‘Spot me, bro,’ and you really don’t want to have that in a more conservative center.”
Still, Trujillo said there might be a possibility that membership in the senior center gym would decrease because of the proposed fees.
Trujillo said his department will conduct a 30-day process to inform members of the senior center about the possible fees and to get suggestions from them on how to proceed.
“We are going to go back to the table with it to ask for the suggestions of our seniors and see how they want it to go over,” he said.