Should dues be higher?

Good afternoon brethren. I will be WM of my lodge in 2 years (God willing) and I have been evaluating the state of my lodge for some time now. I can't help but feel that our lodge dues are very low. We currently pay $75 per year for dues. We raised this from $65 a few years ago but the vote was split. Many of our older members argue against raising dues on the basis that some members live on fixed incomes and can not afford increases in dues. My stance on this is, if these members have been paying their dues successfully every year and the new increase goes beyond their budget, just accept what they can pay and remit the rest. I feel as though this would be a net gain for the lodge and that it is our duty as a lodge to provide relief to our members. We can not continue to operate as a society at the community level, or even the fraternal level if we bring in just enough money to turn the lights on twice a month.

What are your thoughts? What are your lodge dues? For reference, my lodge is in a small town in Ohio. We have 132 Master Masons (a handful of which are endowed, including myself)

Thank you for reading