Loretta Eastwood, director of the Grand Center (which houses senior services and a community center), presented the center’s proposed 2026 budget to the Grand County Budget Advisory Board on Sept. 26, 2025, emphasizing constrained requests and preservation of mandated services.

Eastwood told the board she tried to “not ask for anything this year” and trimmed discretionary lines where allowable while maintaining staffing, SOUTHEASTERN Utah Association of Local Governments (SUTA/SERT*)-mandated nutrition services, and vehicle-related costs. She noted certain categories are restricted by state reporting requirements for senior programs; the grant-driven senior nutrition program and home-delivery services, for example, require specific accounting and staffing allocations.

Why it matters: The Grand Center provides meals and social services to homebound seniors and hosts community events. Changes to the center’s budget affect daily meal delivery and on-site senior lunches that many residents depend on.

Attendance and service numbers

Eastwood provided operational context for the board: “Home delivery serves about somewhere between 75. I think right now we're at 82,” she said when the board asked for counts; she said on-site lunch attendance averages around 60 per day but varies by weekday. The director emphasized that for many homebound clients the meal delivery driver is “the only people they see in a day.”

Funding structure and key line items

- Senior program accounting: Eastwood explained the budget is split into two general-fund categories — one labeled for senior services and the other for the community center — because state grant reporting to the Southeastern Utah Association of Local Governments requires separate tracking of nutrition and building-related costs.

- Vehicle lease and purchase: The board and staff clarified that the recently purchased transport van was paid for from accumulated senior program funds (donations and suggested lunch contributions) and that the older bus remains under lease and shows in the budget’s lease-payment lines.

- Food and operations: Eastwood said the center’s suggested donation for lunches is the lowest in the state and suggested the board consider whether raising the suggested donation should be studied to help sustain the program.

Capital needs and facility maintenance

Eastwood described several building needs including HVAC units that are approximately 17 years old, worn carpeting, and dim or insufficient lighting in the back parking lot — issues she said should be cataloged and prioritized in a countywide capital plan. She recommended either moving facility capital items to a centralized capital fund for easier tracking or having departments submit five-year capital lists to the county for prioritization and funding.

Board questions and clarifications

Board members pressed for details about vehicle payments, fuel reimbursements, and whether some senior program costs (such as cook wages) were partially reimbursed by SUTA/SERT. Eastwood said the county absorbed a portion of cook wages in a prior year when the contracted provider could not hire at the funded rate.

Ending

The board and staff agreed to work on a consolidated capital-needs list across county departments. Eastwood said the center will continue to prioritize mandated nutrition services and home-delivery programs while seeking to limit discretionary spending under the 2026 budget request.