Senior Center facing doubled food costs

South Big Horn County Senior Center has seen a huge jump in food costs while relying on a special district supported by property taxes, which were recently cut by Wyoming legislators. 

Director Cynthia Johnson shared that a high food bill for the center used to be $10,000 a month. Now, they can regularly expect a $20,000 bill. This has been fueled by higher food costs and more seniors signing up for service. The senior center is just getting back to its pre-COVID pandemic numbers and is tasked with delivering meals to residents of the Basin and Greybull area. 

The center has been operating beyond its food budget for 1.5 months now and will have to continue to pull money from the special district fund through September to cover costs.

Last year, the special district provided $136,000 to the senior center. The budget had estimated it would be $200,000 and the center actually spent $110,000. 

“I expect that’s going to be more this year, because they’ve never had to pay food costs before,” Johnson said. 

Johnson said she was currently unsure exactly how much the senior center’s property-tax based funds would be cut, but that number changes from year to year regardless. She expected they would be able to apply for grant money to help cover the difference. Money in reserve will help cover anything else. Programming is expected to continue as usual for now. 

“We’re just trying to keep our head above water,” Johnson said. She thanked voters for supporting the special district in the past.