A College Station parks and recreation department update to the city council included a request from their senior advisory committee wants more.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Cunha said seniors “want a lot more money, they want a lot more programming, (and) they want a different facility”.
After Cunha said she “can’t make what they’re wishing for and the money we have match”, mayor John Nichols said “sometimes it won’t match and we’ll make the hard decision that we won’t spend all the money that some people want to spend and we do that all the time.”
Cunha later brought up charging more for senior activity passes who don’t live in College Station. The city recoups about ten percent of the cost of senior programming. Senior activity passes cost $27 dollars for College Station residents and $32 for non-residents. 719 senior activity passes were sold during the 2023 fiscal year, with about two-thirds being purchased by residents.
Responding to the idea of charging non-residents more for senior passes, councilwoman Linda Harvell asked “Why?” adding that “I don’t want us to get into nit-picking. And I think if we have the opportunity to extend some of these exercises and programs, really you’re going to worry about they don’t live inside in the city?”
The discussion included forwarding requests to College Station’s parks board, since senior programs are operated by the parks and recreation department. Cunha also wanted input from the senior advisory committee.
Click below to hear comments from the September 14, 2023 College Station city council meeting.