Legislators on Sept. 22 approved an amendment to the ordinance establishing the Jackson County Senior Citizen Services Fund that requires committee membership from each legislative in-district plus one at-large member and replaces a mandate that funds be distributed "equally" with a requirement to distribute funds "equitably."

The amendment, as presented by sponsoring legislators, added a "be it resolved" clause specifying committee composition: one representative from each legislative in-district and one at-large member. Legislator Anderson read definitions into the record while framing the change: "The word equally means an amounts or parts that are the same in size," and he argued the original ballot/ordinance language could lead to an uneven real-world result across districts.

Lawmakers debated whether "equitable" provided sufficient guardrails for a new board that will award funds, with some urging a more prescriptive standard tied to census counts or other measures. Legislator Megan Lauer and others asked for a written amendment that clarified how the term "equitable" would be operationalized; sponsors said they could provide the formal amendment language within a day.

The legislature moved the amendment through committee and to the floor. A roll call on the amendment returned "7 yes, 2 no"; later perfection and adoption votes were recorded with yea/abstain counts in the record as the ordinance moved forward. Several legislators asked that a finalized, written amendment be circulated before remaining procedural votes; sponsors agreed to provide that text.

Why this matters: The change from "equal" to "equitable" affects how limited senior-services tax dollars are allocated across the county's six legislative subdistricts. Legislators said they wanted to prevent concentration of funds in wealthier or better-resourced districts and to ensure dollars serve areas of greatest need.

Next steps: Sponsors said they will circulate the formal amendment language for review and that the ordinance will proceed through perfection steps already initiated by the legislature. The final administrative rules and the commission’s allocation method will determine how strictly funds are divided across districts.