STEUBENVILLE — Primary election voters in Jefferson County are deciding the fate of a 1.2-mill replacement levy to fund programs and services for residents age 60 and older.

Election day is March 19. In-person absentee voting is available at the Jefferson County Board of Elections in the Tower building on Market Street from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. today; from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday; and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

On March 19, polls will be open from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Trudy Wilson, manager of senior adult services for the Prime Time Office on Aging, said seniors across the county benefit from the levy, which pays for meals and transportation services and offers legal referral services for seniors and helps pay for out-of-court services, up to $500 annually.

“There are seniors who receive our home-delivered meals who may not see any other person during the day, except for the meal delivery driver,” Wilson said. “(And) there are seniors who receive our home-delivered meals who may not have another nutritious meal that day. Our meal delivery drivers check in with their clients to ensure (their) safety and good health.

“We also provide transportation services — a way for clients to get to their doctor appointments, dialysis or cancer treatments, or get to medical testing or other minor medical procedures,” she continued. “We also provide rides for seniors to buy groceries, get to their pharmacy or get their hair cut. We have wheelchair-accessible vehicles that can take clients directly to their destination without ever having to leave their wheelchair. We provide transportation to seniors in Jefferson County as long as it is beneficial to their health and well-being.”

Last year, Prime Time provided 240,881 meals — that’s an increase of 11 percent over the 2022 numbers — and 14,039 total units of transportation, a 10 percent increase.

She also said they serve about 1,000 meals a day, most of them off site: Anywhere from 90 to 100 typically people come into the Prime Time building each weekday, and another 40 or 50 go through their drive-through “drive-and-go” outside; the rest are delivered to grab-and-go satellite locations, congregate locations where seniors meet and eat their meal together, or to seniors in their home.

“We travel hundreds of miles on a daily basis to reach as far as we can to service as many needs for the seniors as possible,” she said.

“Our routes go clear from the north end of Toronto out through the country in Toronto, serviced by two home-delivered meal routes and one grab and go location. We also have a Steubenville apartment route, and a Steubenville regular route, which services most of the entirety of downtown Steubenville. (We) also have a grab-and-go location at First Westminster Presbyterian Church and we have a congregate site at Heritage Apartments near Trinity Medical Center West, and another sit-down location on 213 Pleasant Heights area,” she said.

“We have two hilltop routes which cover the hilltop of Steubenville, and out toward the hilltop of Mingo Junction, (and) we have two routes in Wintersville that go clear out to the west end of Wintersville. We have two congregate locations with sit-down lunches — one in Richmond and one in Bergholz.

“We go farther south with a home-delivered meal route that takes in Yorkville, Rayland, Dillonvale and Mount Pleasant area, and we’re looking at possibly working with someone in Salineville and Amsterdam to either have congregate sites or grab-and-go locations. We’re also looking at having a grab-and-go site in Mingo in the future.”

Wilson said they have a broad reach on the transportation side, as well.

“Our transportation services do reach almost any area where someone would need a ride within the 405 square miles of Jefferson County,” she said. “We also do one long distance trip per week for medical appointments that are out of town, such as Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Wheeling, etc.”

Prime Time is a service provider through the Area Agency on Aging Region 9, which is a state-funded program, but she said levy funding is critical “because it pays for so much” in terms of programs and services, representing about 70 percent of their yearly budget.

“We reach thousands of people within the county and will continue to grow with the help of the passage of this levy,” he said. “We would not be able to do what we do without the levy funding, which provides about 70 percent of the funding for what we do to help those who live in Jefferson County who are 60 and older.”