On September 8, officials with the Pennyrile Area Development District — and other such organizations across the Commonwealth — received a memo from the Department for Aging and Independent Living and its commissioner, Victoria L. Elridge.
In it, she mentions that the senior nutrition program received “record-setting funding” for program expansion under the one-time federal COVID-19 American Rescue Plan Act funds — which are set to expire September 30 — as well as dollars appropriated in the 2024-26 biennium budget.
Elridge, however, went on to mention that due to reduced federal funding, and other “recent federal policy changes,” fewer dollars would be available — thus shifting responsibilities to states.
Because of this, she said financial allocations agencies received June 30 are to be the “only federal and state funding available” this fiscal year, and that “effective immediately,” only 25% of agency Homecare program dollars can be utilized to support the senior meal program.
As such, ADDs were asked to do five things:
1) Prioritize older adults with the highest nutritional need score;
2) Expend all available federal carryover funds and state funds first, then expend current year federal funding;
3) Implement a meal reservation system for older adults attending senior citizens centers and nutrition sites to minimize food waste;
4) Reduce or stop drive thru senior citizen center meal services to maximize nutrition dollars;
And 5) Reduce the number of shelf stable or emergency meals provided to program participants.
Three weeks later, PeADD Executive Director Jason Vincent can offer some clarity as to some of the language that’s been released this week, regarding home delivery and where it stands in this region.
Vincent, however, said he couldn’t say how many residents would be reactivated per county, because the entire nine-county region of Trigg, Christian, Todd, Lyon, Livingston, Crittenden, Caldwell, Hopkins and Muhlenberg will undergo this assessment.
It will be, he said, the 288 individuals with the “highest needs.”
Up until about two weeks before the release of the memo, Vincent said DAIL officials confirmed “the money is coming” and “the money is lined up,” and that ADDs could “avoid putting anyone on a waiting list.”
Now, it seems the rug has been pulled out from under officials, and the seniors themselves.
Multiple credible sources indicate that this is reportedly not a state or federal legislative issue.
During the last biennium budget process held in 2024, officials from several ADDs intimated to both the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the Department for Aging and Independent Living that a shortfall in the senior meal funding was likely coming heading into late 2025 and all of 2026, and as such had requested $15 million over two years from the state legislature for a total of $30 million.
DAIL’s request to the state, however, was but only $10 million per year and $20 million total — and now the program faces no less than an $8-to-$10 million deficit heading into the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and maybe beyond.
Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam confirmed that PeADD’s average senior home-delivered meal cost is about $18 a day, and said it was “alarming” to know money was “already thin” coming out of the first quarter of the final fiscal year in this state budget window.
Trigg County Judge-Executive Stan Humphries, meanwhile, said his fiscal court is assessing everything they can in real time, and he hoped “cooler heads soon prevail” — and to make it known how important this program is to the region.
This continues to be a developing story.
