Warren County staff: $612,000 in one-time "unmet needs" funding helped 2025 services; meal program attendance has declined

D, a staff member, presented the Warren County Office for the Agingannual report and told the Health Services Committee the program received an additional $612,000 in "unmet needs" funding for the year, calling it "unprecedented" and cautioning that it may not recur.

The presenter said the report (distributed in color) outlines funding sources from the New York State Office for the Aging and breaks down service types and contracts. "We did receive an additional $612,000 this year in unmet need funding which is unprecedented. We're not sure if we will get that again for 2025 or 2026 but at least for last year it was great; it helped us out," D said.

Committee members were given program-level details: the largest service by volume is the nutrition program, followed by information and assistance, personal care services and health insurance counseling. A new pie chart in the report shows the state as the majority funding source, then county, federal and individual contributions. The presenter said the total average cost for the entire meal program is $12.31 per meal.

The report lists operational changes and highlights for 2025: consolidation of Johnsburg and Warrensburg meal-site food preparation so meals are made in Warrensburg while Johnsburg continues to offer congregate and home-delivered meals; a friendly-calls volunteer program; a caregiver peer-support group run by staff; and food donations from Price Chopper in Lake George distributed to seniors and local organizations. The presenter also described "med QR bracelets" with QR codes linking emergency responders to seniors' contact and medication information.

On program trends, a committee member noted a drop in meals served; the presenter said the program provided about 500 meals a day across Warren and Hamilton counties in 2016 and now provides about 300 a day. "We used to do about 500 meals between Warren and Hamilton County a day and that was back in 2016 when I started; now it's about 300 meals a day," D said, and suggested demographic shifts (younger seniors remaining in the workforce) as one factor.

Committee members asked about funding stability. The presenter said the New York State Office for the Aging told the county 2026 allocations should be similar to 2025, but the one-time unmet-needs funding is not guaranteed. The presenter also outlined county fiscal figures in the report: as stated in the meeting, Warren County's contribution was described as "about $320,000" for 2024 and "about $218,000" the prior year; the transcript phrasing did not make the year-to-amount mapping fully explicit.

In response to a question about the Cedars meal site, the presenter clarified that Cedars is the largest meal site (it provides both congregate locations and home-delivered meals across Lake George, Queensbury and Glens Falls) and that the Salvation Army now prepares the meals there (Cedars had previously prepared them).

The committee had no further questions. The chair thanked the presenter and the meeting adjourned after routine motions to approve prior minutes and to adjourn were carried.

Votes at a glance - Motion to approve minutes of the previous meeting: moved by Supervisor May; seconded by Supervisor O'Neill; outcome: approved (individual tallies not specified in transcript). - Motion to adjourn: moved by Supervisor May; seconded by Supervisor O'Neill; outcome: approved (individual tallies not specified in transcript).

Next steps: Committee members were invited to submit suggestions for content to include in next year's report.