WHEATLAND – Though patrons of Platte County’s senior centers have expressed dissatisfaction with the removal of dessert on the menu for congregate meals, they may be fortunate to have the center at all.
There have been several changes made in the last few months in the operation of Services for Seniors, Inc. following a thorough combing of the accounting books at the organization which provides meals, activities and transportation services for the senior populations of Guernsey, Wheatland, Glendo and Chugwater.
In July 2024, Community Action of Laramie County (CALC), a privately owned non-profit 501c3 charity operating out of Cheyenne, was approached by the Services for Seniors, Inc. (SFS) board of directors to assist them in understanding financial difficulties they were experiencing.
“We already provide the Community Service Block Grant of $20,000 to Platte County to SFS to pay for meals and in-home services. As we talked, we decided both parties would enter into a management contract where we would take over the personnel and financial aspect of the center and take care of payroll and pay the bills, with the understanding SFS funding transfers to us to pay bills,” explained Tim Ernst, CEO of CALC.
To be clear, CALC has not taken a dime of funds from Platte County, the board and management believing strongly in their mission of “reducing poverty by empowering people to achieve self-sufficiency through promoting access to healthcare, education, and advocacy with a network of community partnerships.”
Ernst said he and board believe Platte County is an important partner for the organization, and the programs they have contributed to the county over the past few years in connection with the CDBG grant have had encouraging success.
Last year, the CDBG grant administrator (CALC) expanded its relationship with the county to administer funds kicking off the Platte County Family Resource Center, overseen by Platte Co. Public Health. The decision to partner with SFS was out of a desire to further assist needy populations within Platte County.
The CALC and SFS partnership began at the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2024. CALC paid bills as they came in while they waited for the financial books to arrive (a month later), which they then started to analyze, Ernst shared. “At that point we looked in depth and saw a bigger problem than the board of Services for Seniors, Inc. realized. Looking at the financials of past years, they were running a deficit of $45,000 to $47,000 per year for several years. Much of the issue has been because of increased costs, without adjusting purchases.
In 2012, SFS had net assets of over $300,000 with a predominantly cash balance of just over $200,000. In fiscal yar 2019-2020 they experienced their last surplus, ending the year with $21,550 on the books. The last four years have shown more and more of a deficit.
While attempting to unravel the financial situation of SFS, and with their agreement to pay bills, the CALC board of directors chose to use their own line of credit to the tune of over $175,000 to help get SFS current with invoices and pay employees.

Platte County clerk Malcolm Ervin is one of two representatives from Platte County on the 14-member CALC board. He confirmed, SFS would not have made payroll in November if CALC had not been willing to assist. CALC has also helped resolve several issues which were threatening grant funds the senior service provider relies on.
“SFS is on track – if they follow the plan set up by CALC – to show a small surplus at the end of the fiscal year, and even be able to work on a plan to pay CALC back for the line of credit they extended,” Ervin said.
CALC and SFS boards have worked together over the last few months to come up with a way to become solvent, which has included tough decisions to cut some jobs, including two part time and two full time positions, and reducing two full-time positions in Glendo and Chugwater centers to part-time since it is hard to justify a full-time employee to serve an average of 7 to 14 meals.
“It’s nobody’s fault. I want to make that very clear. We are just working on what we see right now. There are too many staff for this size of senior center. To put it into perspective, CALC as an agency covers four counties and employs 18 full-time employees. SFS has 25 employees,” Ernst said. “All employees are valuable, and we appreciate them, but there was a consistent drain of funding.”
He also said there was a dollar increase in the cost of meals (now $5 for seniors 60+ and $9 for guests), in addition to much-needed cuts to monthly food purchases. The cooks have also been challenged to make more homemade meals, and the dietitian who is required to approve the menu said the dessert needed to be cut to remain within the calorie intake per day as set by the Wyoming Department of Health’s Aging Division.
Just making those changes reduced food costs from $30,000 or $35,000 per month to between $21,000 and $23,000.
Add to that approximately $50,000 to $55,000 per month for payroll, rent, gas, and leases such as for the copy machine and computers.
“When the overhead is extremely high, trying to provide good service and quality service becomes very difficult. That’s why the board of directors asked us to see what we can do to help streamline center. Unfortunately, we have a difficult time addressing everything. Nobody wants to lose a job or let anyone go,” Ernst said. “And I don’t want to close sites – that’s the last thing we want to do, so we’re looking at what we can do to reduce cost in other places: that is our challenge moving forward.”
The state and federal income for the private, non-profit organization, Services for Seniors, Inc. to provide services in Glendo, Chugwater, Guernsey, and Wheatland is as follows: Multiple grants from Wyoming Department of Health Aging Division: $74,000 for B1, and $55,000 for C1, $80,000 for C2, and $55,500 for home delivered meals. A WYDOT grant provides $71,000 for transportation costs, and the Wyoming Senior Service Board gives $156,500 per year to the center. The 2-mill property tax levy overseen by the county’s Senior Citizens Service District board, provides up to $504,000. each year.
In total, there is just over $300,000 that can be budgeted by SFS.
Ernst emphasized, without changes, there is simply not enough money from state and federal funding to last more than four or five months.
“The whole intent is for us to help services for seniors get into a better place. It’s very hard, because I have a soft place in my heart for Platte County. I’ve worked for this county forever and worked with the SFS board of directors a lot. We have not failed them, but uncovered a lot of stuff we were unable to handle, but we’re not going to give up,” Ernst said.
He explained, he and the SFS board of directors have been discussing the contract, and a decision may be made to end the management contract. “Either way we go, we will still offer to consult, Ernst said. He added, there are a lot of funds on the chopping block right now for both agencies, because of the state of the economy, the new administration in D.C., and potential changes from the Wyoming legislature.
“Everybody is feeling it,” he said, adding CALC can no longer extend itself financially to SFS and maintain its own long-term stability. But, he said, the question is, “How do we continue services as-is with less money when everything is going up?”
“Ideally we need volunteers,” Ernst said. “Finding volunteers can be hard, but it is the only way to make things work.”
SFS district manager Jeni DeSmith said anyone with questions is welcome to visit with her or call the office at 322-3424. She admits she doesn’t know everything but is trying to find answers as best as she can to the questions people have concerning the changes at the center. “People’s emotions are high, and I understand, I’ll be glad to reach out.”
DeSmith said while there will be more changes as needed in the coming weeks and months at the senior centers in Platte County, there will remain some constants. There will be hot congregate meals provided during the week, and home delivered meals in each community. There will continue to be transportation provided (it is funded by a WYDOT grant), and though there have been rumors to the contrary, the Wheatland activities center does not look to be on the chopping block either. There is very little overhead and there is a lot of participation by the seniors to justify its existence.
“There will be challenges, but we can face the challenges as they come and make changes that need to be made,” DeSmith said. “No one is happy with the layoff, but things are going smoother. Things are streamlined in the kitchen and we all chip in to help. I’m not adverse to maintaining my own space and helping out as much as possible.”
“It’s going to be hard, but I’m very confident, with the help of community, good leadership, and good communication, we will see some improvements,” Ernst said. “We start with the budgets, and by living within our means and putting in a realistic budget. All the boards of directors also need to be upfront and very transparent.”
As an aside, since Platte County directly benefits from some of the CALC funds donated through the CDBG grant, the people of Platte County are invited to attend the CALC annual fundraiser at the Atlas Theater in downtown Cheyenne on April 12. For more information, go to www.calc.net or www.calc.betterworld.org.