The state budget director told lawmakers Friday he had redirected funds to cover a nearly $10 million funding gap that put senior meal providers across Kentucky in a panic.
In September, Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration told Kentucky’s 15 area development districts, who manage senior meal programs, that they would not be able to provide any more funding to support the programs.
The senior meals program began expanding under Beshear’s direction during the pandemic. Specifically, he directed development districts to eliminate waitlists for meals using COVID-era funding. Then, with little warning, development districts were told in a letter last month that the money they had gotten thus far was all they’d be receiving for the rest of the fiscal year.
GOP Sen. Greg Elkins of Winchester called on Beshear earlier this week to solve the funding issue, or call a special session so lawmakers could address it themselves. On Friday, he applauded the decision, although he said it was “long overdue.”
“For more than a month, the Governor offered no plan to remedy this problem, and only after continued pressure from lawmakers has the administration finally identified one,” Elkins said in a statement. “From the start, my colleagues and I made it clear that the executive branch already had the authority and the flexibility to move existing funds to meet this need.”
Scottie Ellis, spokesperson for the governor’s office, said in a statement that they would have more information on the senior meals program next week.
“Gov. Beshear and his team have been discussing options with the General Assembly and hope to finalize a plan after talking to Area Development Districts on Monday,” Ellis said.
Some senior centers had been counting on that funding to continue serving meals and in some extreme situations, were set to run out of funds within the month. Some districts cut down their senior meal programs, going from five meals a week to two or three. Others had to put many of those they served onto a waitlist. Some were able to rely on local funding sources to make up the shortfall, at least in the short-term.
The Beshear administration originally cited an estimated $300-million budget shortfall and the end of COVID federal funds.
Now in a letter to the Interim Joint Committee on Appropriations and Revenue, State Budget Director John Hicks wrote his office had reallocated $9.1 million from Medicaid benefits to cover the shortfall, saying the money is “available from the $25 million that was contingent on approval of a proposal by the General Assembly that did not occur in the 2025 Regular Session.”
It is unclear how quickly the new funds will be available to allow senior centers across the state or which proposal the letter is referring to. Spokespeople for the governor and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services did not immediately answer questions.
The General Assembly gave the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services $10 million per year to support the senior meal program, which is in addition to federal funding this year. The development districts initially asked for more money from the two-year budget crafted in 2024, but the Department for Aging and Independent Living asked for the lower estimate — another element which frustrated lawmakers.
“The Department for Aging and Independent Living must move swiftly, communicate clearly, and provide accurate information ahead of the 2026 session in coordination with the program's advocates and area development district directors,” Sen. Elkins said in the statement.
