FRANKLIN CO. (WCMH) — Early voting started today for Franklin County voters. One of the issues on the May 2nd ballot is the Senior Options levy. It’s a 5-year levy on property taxes that will go towards services like Meals on Wheels, and in-home care.

Katie Sims-Marcus is 92-years-old. For the last 10-years, two home caretakers come to her apartment every day to clean, cook and give her a bath.

“See I can’t move without that walker and I’m completely stooped and I need help every day,” said Sims-Marcus.

The Franklin County Office on Aging is asking residents living in Franklin County to approve a 5-year-levy that will cost homeowners a total of $233 million in property taxes,” said Sims-Marcus.

“It used to cost a person with a $100,000 value home $40 a year,” said Chuck Gehring, President and CEO of LifeCare Alliance. “The new proposal once it is passed would go to $55 a year.”

LifeCare Alliance provides home care services to seniors like Sims-Marcus. If this levy does not pass, the Office of Aging would lose 90 percent of its funding and would not be able to provide many services to seniors. Gehring says there will be a waiting list for programs like meals on wheels and the homecare service could be cut entirely.

“I will have to go to a nursing home, I sure will. I won’t have any choice,” Sims-Marcus says.

“Assisted living or nursing home care averages right now in Central Ohio, $6,200 dollars a month. That’s $74,400 a year.

“Those people are just like their grandparents and their moms. So they need this,” said Mavis Mamhey, Sims-Marcus’ caretaker.

“Take another hard look at this service, because you really don’t understand it until you’re in it, said Sims-Marcus. “If you don’t walk in my shoes you don’t know how they feel.”