Dacia Timmer, CEO of Elderbridge, briefed the board on services the area agency on aging provides in Osceola County and asked supervisors to increase county support slightly for FY27. Timmer said Elderbridge provided about $106,000 in direct services in Osceola County and that the current county contribution of $6,202 for FY26 represents a small portion of funding that the agency uses to leverage state and federal match. She requested a $114 increase — a total county ask of $6,316 for FY27 — which equates to a 10-cent increase per resident age 60 and over (from $3.25 to $3.30 per eligible resident).

Timmer described core services Elderbridge manages through local contracting, including congregate meals, home-delivered meals, case management, caregiver support and programs for elder-abuse prevention. She said Sibley’s congregate meal site now operates three days per week because of staffing constraints, not funding. She framed county contributions as a match that helps Elderbridge draw down federal funds: “The more match that we can provide, the more federal funds that we can pull down,” she said.

Library directors from Sibley, O’Shea (Ochin in transcript) and Melbourne reported increased usage, staff transitions and rising fixed costs for building maintenance and online catalog subscriptions. Catherine Nazars, the Sibley Library director, said the Sibley summer reading program registered 145 children (up from 133 the previous year) and asked supervisors to consider modest increases during the budget process to address maintenance and subscription inflation.

Why it matters: both Elderbridge and the libraries deliver visible, direct services to county residents. Small county adjustments can help agencies maintain meal and transportation programs and sustain increased programming. No immediate appropriation was made; staff will factor requests into upcoming budget deliberations.

Speakers quoted: direct quotes come from the meeting transcript and are attributed to the presenters as recorded. Proper names and program names are used as stated in the transcript.