EDEN, Idaho — As the November election approaches, one rural community is looking to voters to decide the fate of a proposed new community center.
Idaho News 6 paid a visit to the Silver and Gold Senior Center in Eden to learn more about a proposed bond that voters will decide on Nov. 7.
Like most people who live here, Alex Corral drives a lot. Every day he makes the trip to Burley after work to go to a gym, before returning home to Murtaugh.
Corral said he wants to see a new community center in the area.
“I’d be going there, especially if it was just right in town,” Corral told Idaho News 6. “I’d get off work, I can go there, work out, shower, and go home and enjoy the rest of my night.”
Even though he knows he would use the community center, Corral said he sees a need for others as well.
"That community center would really build our community, Corral said. “We have a bunch of kids out here in the summertime, they're out playing, walking down the park to play ball, I think that's a more safe secure safe spot for them, really bring more people in here and expand."
This Nov. 7, residents in the Valley Recreation District will vote on whether to issue a 30-year, $10.8 million bond to build one.
The center would house a rec center, with basketball and volleyball courts along with other exercise equipment.
It would also become the new home of the Silver and Gold Senior Center, which serves an average of 60 meals several times a week, and hosts classes to engage seniors.
In a community survey, 80% of respondents said they would approve of higher taxes for a center like that
Rob Grant is director of the Valley Rec District, which operates programs and activities, mostly for youths up to age 16, and mostly in the summer, when baseball and soccer fields are accessible.
Grant said the situation gets a little more congested in the winter, when middle school and high school teams are usually given priority to facilities with indoor courts.
"So we're just giving it to the community and saying here it is, here's what it costs, you decide. It's up to them because they're going to be the ones that have to pay for it."
The estimated increase in property taxes would be $174 dollars per $100,000 dollars of value. That price tag has some people wary.
One man who declined to be interviewed told Idaho News 6 that he felt the town could use a lot of things, and a $10 million dollar building wasn't one of them. He also said the town of Burley just finished building a rec center, and, according to him, it never gets used.
Amanda Standlee, who had just finished visiting with a family member for lunch said she had more to find out about what the bond would cost, but said she could see the need in the community.
"The cost of it, I don't know anything about what all goes into that,” Standlee told Idaho News 6. “I know there's a lot of concern. (There’s) talk about the taxes being raised a lot. But other than that, I think it would be a really good thing for the community.”
“The kids really need somewhere to go," Standlee said.
There will be an open house for the bond at the Silver and Gold Senior Center on Wednesday, Nov. 1
