Bourbon County senior center asks county for $25,800, outlines meals, transportation and building needs

Deb Needleman, secretary-treasurer of Bourbon County Senior Citizens, told the Bourbon County Budget Committee the senior center is requesting the same county funding level it received in recent years: $25,800.

Needleman said the senior organization has received county funding since 1976 and traced the group's local history: the senior organization was formed in 1966, started Meals on Wheels in January 1972, drew a three-year Area Agency on Aging grant in 1973 and, after that grant expired, had a 1-mill levy approved by voters in 1976 that has funded operations in part ever since. "On behalf of senior citizens, I'm requesting the same funding level we had in 2026, which is what we also had in '24 and '25, which is $25,800," Needleman said.

Needleman described current programs and demand: the center enrolls 97 seniors in a USDA seniors-only food box program (with a waiting list because USDA limits participation), distributes USDA Emergency Food Assistance Program commodities to about 205 low-income families every other month (up from roughly 150 earlier this year) and subsidizes local transportation in partnership with Old Fort Transportation. She estimated the center provides roughly 2,000 individual rides per year (counting repeat riders) to grocery stores and medical appointments.

The center no longer prepares meals on site. Needleman said financial problems and mismanagement years ago led the board to contract meal preparation to a regional provider; that arrangement shifted food-preparation funding directly to the contractor, which Needleman said reduced local control and volunteer engagement. "If they did that, we would lose control. We would lose leverage," she said, describing volunteer loss after changes in meal preparation and management.

Needleman detailed recent facility repairs and operating costs. The senior center is at 26 North Main in Fort Scott, next to La Hacienda, she said. The center obtained a $5,000 HebKat grant toward window replacement in 2023; brickwork needed repair at an upper-floor corner that was estimated at about $10,000, and the group raised the balance and completed the repair earlier this year with MidContinental. A $5,000 Heartland Co-op contribution helped cover that work. Needleman said the center pays roughly $6,000 a year for an oversight contractor who manages USDA compliance and paperwork, and building insurance and elevator maintenance are among the other significant expenses.

Needleman said the center now focuses on food distribution and subsidized transportation while trying to rebuild programming and volunteer participation. She said volunteers still assemble monthly commodity boxes and run distribution events that draw long lines. On staffing and operations, Needleman said the center uses a contracted oversight director to handle USDA enrollment verification and paperwork.

County committee members thanked Needleman for the report; no formal funding decision was made at the meeting. Committee members asked timing questions about mill-levy payments and receipts; Needleman said the center receives mill-levy disbursements monthly and expects the remaining half of its annual levy payments before year-end.

The committee did not vote on the senior center's funding request during the session and directed that the center's budget be considered as part of the broader county budget process.