BY RYAN O’CONNOR

A month ago, the Slusser Senior Center was estimated to cost $450,000 more than expected, but selectmen say cuts have made the project more manageable and any additional money will not burden to taxpayers.

“I think we’re going to be around our original goal,” said Selectman Don Lane. “We’re not going to spend more than a million and if for any reason we have to, we’ll raise more money privately. But we won’t raise it through taxes.”

That may be music to many residents’ ears after assessed values of Hopkinton homes went up 22 percent, causing many tax bills to skyrocket.

Jane Fairchild, a member of the Slusser Center programming subcommittee, said, as a taxpayer, she is happy to see everything fall into place.

“That’s great news to us because we’ve worked really hard to get those costs down to what we had originally estimated,” said Fairchild.

“It’s a winwin for both the town and the seniors because almost all of the senior programming will be covered by low fees to participants, and those in town who don’t participate won’t have to pay for it. As a taxpayer, I feel great about that part of it.”

Lane said some cuts have been made to reach the anticipated bottom line.

“The original estimate was simply based on a very early design for what was wanted, so we’ve cut out a few things thatwere not significant but were major in terms of cost estimate,” said Lane. “Bids have also been more aggressive because of the competitive climate as far as contractors are concerned.”

As an example, Lane said the original bid for plumbing and heating was expected to be $130,000, but will only cost $100,000.

Another bid that has come in lower than expected is cement work, which selectmen expected to cost in the mid-$40,000s, but will cost in the mid-$30,000s. Other bids are in line with original projections, said Lane, who said more important than cost is the fact that program interest has exceeded expectations.

“A lot of people wonder why we would build a senior center for a very small exclusive group of people, but that’s not what we’re doing here,” he said.

“It’s obvious that we are not just building a senior center for the programs that were offered a year ago, but considerably more activities are being added and many people are coming forward with ideas that we’ll be looking to incorporate.”

Hopkinton Recreation Director Robert Mattes also expressed excitement over the amount of interest in town.

“It’s not unexpected, it’s what we hoped for,” said Mattes. “Our goal is to get people out and about and see people playing and recreating, and I think that is being achieved. But, we’re always excited to strive for new things and it sounds like most of the participants are very excited as well.”

While maintaining senior lunches, Silver Striders walking group and other programs, Mattes said the recreation department has already started some new activities.

“Basically, the programs that were already running through the community center (which closed in August) have carried over and we started doing other senior activities such as bingo and card games, while also continuing senior lunches. So, it’s been really exciting to see all the activity,” he said.

“What we’re really trying to do is to get most of the programs started now and move them over, so we don’t have to start from scratch when (the Slusser Center) opens.”

A senior trip has already been planned to Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Mass., on Thursday, Nov. 16, and the recreation department has already started bringing in the Visiting Nurses Association for senior seminars.

Mattes said bridge clubs and movie nights for different demographics such as families and seniors, are also being planned. Fairchild said the six-member planning subcommittee divided the needs of the senior center into several categories, including health and wellness, nutrition and meals, social programming to get people interacting, and outdoors and recreational adventure programming.

“We’re just looking to start up as many programs now at Columbia Hall as we can, so we can hit the ground running once we move into the new Slusser Center in a few months,” she said. “So we went through it all at our first couple of meetings and decided to field ideas in broad categories that absolutely had to be offered in any senior center.”

In addition, members of the programming subcommittee have started bringing in people to volunteer at the senior center to help with different activities and to handle administrative work, said Fairchild.