Council on Aging Reports Funding Cuts as County Recognizes Support for Seniors
TROY, Mo. — The Lincoln County Council on Aging is asking the community to help sustain its services as government funding falls and more residents turn to the organization for assistance.
During Thursday’s Lincoln County Commission meeting, the organization reported a roughly $45,000 reduction in government funding that took effect July 1, with another cut anticipated next year. Commissioners then approved a proclamation recognizing November as Embrace a Senior Month.
Presiding Commissioner Joe Kaimann and Associate Commissioners Mike Mueller and Matt Bass were all present for the October 22 meeting. The audience was sparse, and no one offered public comment.
The Council on Aging’s update brought a financial concern into what otherwise might have been a routine recognition of its work: demand for help is increasing while one source of support is shrinking.
The organization reported that the July reduction amounted to approximately 22% of its government funding and came with about a month’s notice. Another reduction of roughly 20% to 30% is expected July 1, 2027.
Those figures were presented as cuts to government support, not reductions to the organization’s entire budget.
The Council on Aging described a yearslong effort to reduce its reliance on government funding and said local support has become increasingly important.
The November proclamation recognizes the role older residents have played in building Lincoln County and encourages the community to support organizations that help them remain nourished, connected and independent.
For the Council on Aging, that work includes home-delivered meals, activities and assistance through its community center. The presentation emphasized that a meal delivery also provides personal contact for someone who might otherwise spend much of the day alone.
The organization also sought to clear up a misconception about who can use its services.
Since becoming a community center in 2020, it has offered assistance to people beyond the senior population. Residents do not have to be 60 or older to visit the center and ask for help, although eligibility requirements still apply to particular programs.
The home-delivered meals program, for example, serves qualifying older adults who are homebound.
Commissioners approved the proclamation by voice vote and signed it before gathering for photographs.
The meeting also included a decision affecting overtime eligibility at the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
Commissioners approved a handbook addendum allowing eligible commissioned and corrections personnel on the schedules discussed to receive approved overtime even when they use vacation, personal or compensatory time during the same pay period.
The explanation centered on employees who take a scheduled day off and are later asked to cover an additional shift. Under the existing policy, using leave could prevent those employees from receiving overtime pay for the extra work.
The change is intended to address that problem and make covering additional shifts more practical. It does not make every extra shift payable as overtime: the sheriff’s office retains responsibility for authorizing the expense and managing its budget. Holiday hours remain excluded from the calculation described during the meeting.
Much of the earlier discussion concerned the county’s water project, with Cochran Engineering presenting options for treatment-plant placement and water-main routes.
One option would retain the current proposed treatment-plant location and bring water from potential well sites near Foley. Another would move the treatment plant closer to those sites and change the balance between the lines carrying untreated water and those distributing treated water.
Engineers discussed possible construction and expansion savings, access to electrical service and the need to account for flood elevations.
They emphasized that the alternatives were still being evaluated. Moving the treatment plant was not being recommended at this stage, and the final well locations had not been determined.
Additional water testing remains central to those decisions.
An initial chloride result was reported at 18 milligrams per liter, while broader testing was still pending. Engineers also discussed drilling additional sampling points at other potential well sites to compare conditions.
Commissioners indicated support for proceeding with that investigation, with a formal change order expected to return at a subsequent meeting.
The discussion left the larger location and design decisions open until more information is available. Engineers said they would continue following up on testing and working toward a recommendation.
Commissioners also approved minutes from the October 6, October 8 and October 13 meetings.
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