How many seniors live in Harvard? The answer depends on whom you’re counting and when.
While Massachusetts and the town of Harvard categorize anyone over the age of 60 years as a “senior,” others use 65 as the defining number. And while it’s common to use the 2010 federal census as the source of such information, other more recent numbers are available, such as Harvard’s own annual census. But mixing and matching sources can be as misleading as counting a blue jay as a bluebird, and that’s what happened in Harvard at a recent forum.
Community leaders responsible for the delivery of senior services were surprised and angered two weeks ago when Master Plan consultant Judith Barrett of RKG Associates told attendees at a Dec. 6 forum on Devens that the number of seniors living in town is 680. That number is less than half the town clerk’s report of 1,423 seniors living in town as of June 30, 2014. Debbie Thompson, director of the Council on Aging, said she was appalled at the RKG figure; her entire budget is based on the town clerk’s count. Both numbers include senior residents living at Devens within the historical boundaries of Harvard.
‘Numbers matter’
But it turns out that the disparity in numbers between those of the RKG report and those of the COA lies in their use of two entirely different sources and definitions. RKG took its numbers from the 2010 federal census, which defines as “senior” anyone aged 65 years or older. The COA relies on the most recent town census and uses Massachusetts’ definition of a senior: anyone 60 years of age or older. The RKG figures are based on solid but four-year-old data and a national definition of “senior,” but they are less up to date and relevant than data compiled by the town.
“The numbers matter,” Council on Aging board co-chairwoman Connie Larrabee told the Press. This year the COA is asking citizens to approve a $1.3 million upgrade of Harvard’s senior center. In addition, the Council on Aging wants to hire a second 19-hour-a-week outreach coordinator to help deal with a caseload that consumes many more hours than are currently budgeted. Nineteen hours a week is the most an employee can work and not qualify for benefits, so the town prefers hiring two part-timers rather than making the outreach coordinator’s job full time. As the budget process for fiscal 2016 gathers steam, a key rationale for increased spending on Harvard’s senior cohort is its growing size. The jump in numbers from 2010 to 2014 represents a 27 percent growth in Harvard’s older population.
Oddly, of the 40 residents who attended the Devens forum, none rose to question RKG’s data. Master Plan Steering Committee Chairman Joe Hutchinson said his group received RKG’s slides at 5 a.m. the morning of the event, leaving no time to alert Barrett to the discrepancy between her data and that used by the town.
A myth dispelled
Adding to the confusion, COA Director Debbie Thompson told the Press this week, is the fact that 680 is exactly the number of seniors who made use of Harvard’s senior services in fiscal 2014. Some thought RKG had taken that number as its count. Not true. Myth dispelled.
