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Project Concern asks Atchison County for $125,000 to maintain seniors services; commissioners say budget review is underway
Summary
Project Concern requested a $125,000 county appropriation for its 2026 budget to sustain two senior centers, Meals on Wheels and countywide transportation; commissioners said they will review the request during the budget process but provided no immediate appropriation.
Jeff Shealy, representing Project Concern, told Atchison County commissioners on June 3 that the agency needs county support to maintain two senior centers (Atchison and Effingham), its Meals on Wheels deliveries and countywide public transportation.
Shealy said Project Concern’s board voted to request a $125,000 county appropriation for fiscal year 2026 — a number the organization described as a reinstatement and which Project Concern said would represent about 25% of the agency’s revenue. Shealy told commissioners the organization’s 2024 totals included 6,192 in‑center (congregate) meals and 39,260 Meals on Wheels deliveries, and that the agency provided about 3,120 total rides countywide that year.
Shealy described budget pressures driven by rising food and labor costs; Project Concern reported its 2024 operating budget at about $488,000 and its 2025 budget at about $501,000. He told commissioners that, without additional funding, Project Concern could face difficult choices about maintaining both centers and countywide services.
Commissioners asked questions about operational logistics and service quality. One commissioner raised reports that Meals on Wheels deliveries to Effingham sometimes arrived with temperature or packaging problems after long delivery routes. Shealy and staff discussed operational fixes such as adjusting delivery sequencing (dropping off to Effingham earlier in the route) and reassessing kitchen certification to allow meal packaging at the Effingham site; Shealy said certification and logistics options would need to be evaluated with Kansas area agency partners.
Project Concern’s board voted to seek the $125,000 appropriation and indicated that if county funding is restored they will work to keep both centers and county services open; the board’s final operational decisions would depend on the full funding picture. Commissioners said the county is not prepared to make a figure-by-figure commitment at the June 3 meeting but indicated they are not looking to reduce the county’s prior-year appropriation baseline and will consider Project Concern’s request in the upcoming budget process. Project Concern and the commission will revisit the request through the usual budget timetable later this summer.
