Ross County — A renewal of the 0.5 mil Ross County Senior Citizens Services levy will again be on the ballot in November, after failing last fall – but a new contract on how it is spent will hopefully be finalized by then.
The commissioners indulged me with a long interview after their August 6th, 2026 session, and this is the fourth and last segment. Hear the commissioners in their own words in the below interview.
Disagreements about management and spending of the Senior Citizens Services levy flared up last summer, especially in the July 28th commissioners’ session when they heard from two sides on the senior citizens facilities in Ross County.
It was pointed out that public senior citizens services are managed by the Ross County Committee for Elderly. The committee operates the senior center on Western Avenue in Chillicothe, but other senior citizen centers were variously independent. Covid closures and shifting of funding disrupted all that.
In the meeting, Adelphi and Bainbridge seniors complained that they want better services from the Committee. But the executive director and board members of the committee said they have been supplying other services, have guidelines to re-establish senior centers outside of Chillicothe…but have also been dealing with funding challenges that year.
The only operating senior center outside of Chillicothe, in Londonderry, was managed by the Committee and operated by volunteers. Centers in Frankfort and Kingston had closed before covid.
More conversations with both sides have happened since then, especially after the failure of the levy renewal in the November 2025 election – 53.4% against, 46.7% in favor. The Ross County Committee for Elderly had discussed reduced services because of that.
In their August 3rd, 2026 session, I asked the commissioners about their involvement in the issue. They clarified that they do not fund or manage senior citizen services or centers, but they have limited oversight of when its levy is on the ballot, and negotiate the contract to provide services.
Ross County Commissioner Jack Everson said they have given approval for the renewal of the 0.5 mil levy to be on fall ballot – but pointed out that it is the same rate from the 1980s.
He also said the commissioners are in ongoing negotiations of the contract to provide services with the current contractor, the Ross County Committee for Elderly. The contract ends at the end of this year.
Ross County Commissioner David Glass said they hope to have a contract negotiated by then – hopefully before the election. But Everson said, “we’ll see.”
