Northpinellas: Senior center reshuffles bingo plans

PALM HARBOR -- When voters narrowly rejected a referendum 1 1/2 years ago to support the Palm Harbor Senior Activities Center with a special property tax, executive director Irene Rausch went to plan B: bingo.

Going into last year, Rausch conservatively estimated bingo would bring in $500 a week to the financially strapped center.

This week, the center will begin to offer bingo games of a sort. But along the way, plan B hit a major snag.

Pinellas County, which owns the senior center's building, denied the facility's application to run a weekly bingo game.

"They said it was a county building and that there is no gambling allowed in county buildings," Rausch said, rolling her eyes.

The county issues bingo licenses, said Sheryl Lord, director of the Pinellas County Consumer Protection Department, "and the county is not going to issue a license to itself." That would be a conflict of interest, she said.

As a result, Rausch was told that if she wanted to offer bingo, she could not do the things that generally make bingo games so lucrative: charge admission, charge for cards or offer cash prizes.

Undeterred, Rausch thought, "There's got to be a way around this."

On Thursday, the senior center will offer its diluted substitute, Summer Fun Bingo, from noon to 3 p.m.

There will be no admission. Players will each receive the same number of free cards. They will play for prizes donated by local business. If the games draw a regular crowd, Rausch hopes to sell advertising in a free bingo program.

So how will the center make any money? Rausch said organizers hope to sell lunches: sloppy Joe sandwiches, chips, dessert and a drink for $4. It's optional, and county consumer protection officials say the same lunch must be available to anyone off the street for the same price, even if they don't play bingo, so it can't be perceived as an incentive.

"We're looking at it as a way to get people into the center," Rausch said. "People three blocks away don't know we're here."

But it's hardly the moneymaker Rausch envisioned a year ago.

Now in its third year, the senior activities center still operates on a shoestring budget. The center gets no public funding. It exists on fundraisers, contributions from the public, proceeds from its in-house thrift shop, memberships, class fees and room rentals for wedding receptions and parties. That barely covers the center's $200,000 annual budget, Rausch said, and it needs more.

For example, she said, the center desperately needs more chairs and a heavy-duty vacuum. And it needs more staff, she said. Rausch herself works seven days a week, about 60 to 70 hours a week.

"I'm beat," Rausch said with a sigh Monday afternoon. "But if I didn't do this, who would do it?"

Keeping the center afloat has been a struggle, she said. Like many businesses, she said, the senior center saw a dropoff in support after Sept. 11. The Sweetheart Ball, which was a big moneymaker last year, was canceled in February because of a lack of interest. The Women's Club casino night suffered a similar fate. The number of people renting the large room for weddings also has dropped off.

Rausch thinks the senior center suffers from its name.

"There's a stigma about seniors," she said. "We have people in their 80s who refer to "those old people.' The perception is that this is like a nursing home. You bring people in and they see it isn't."

So is there a plan C?

Rausch said the center is trying to broaden its appeal in the community with programs such as a new computer class for kids. But ultimately, Rausch said, plan C might be to take another crack at a referendum.

"I truly believe we should be under Palm Harbor Community Services Agency's budget," she said.

The agency already oversees taxes levied for the library and recreation.

In 2000, Palm Harbor voters decided 53 percent to 47 percent not to give Pinellas County officials the authority to levy a property tax of up to a quarter mill to support the senior center. A mill equals $1 in tax for every $1,000 of assessed, nonexempt property value. As a result, the maximum senior center tax on a $125,000 home with a $25,000 homestead exemption would have been $25 a year.

Things have changed some since November 2000, Rausch said. In the 2000 referendum, "people said, "Gosh, they just opened, how come they want money?' " Rausch said. And now, she said, the center is better known. Last year, 36,250 passed through its doors, up from just under 32,000 the year before.

Unless or until voters pass a referendum to support the senior center, Rausch said, they will simply have to scrape by on smaller fundraisers.

The solution isn't likely to be bingo. Coming up with a monthly supply of donated prizes will be difficult, she said. And she wonders how many will be drawn to a bingo game without cash prizes.

"I'd be surprised if that attracts a huge, tumultuous crowd," said John Wood, chief investigator for Pinellas County Department of Consumer Protection. "The reason why some venues are more popular than others is that the prizes are bigger than the others. I'm not sure this would be very attractive to bingo players."

-- Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.

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