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Mesa County asks the governor for more state funding for senior services

County commissioners approved a letter asking Gov. Jared Polis to increase funding for senior services in the upcoming state budget, citing three ombudsmen for 34 care facilities and 87 seniors waiting for Meals on Wheels.

Anna Moreau Western Slope correspondent 2026-10-20

GRAND JUNCTION

Independence Monument at Colorado National Monument, west of Grand Junction, with the Grand Valley in the distance, in a file photograph from November 2012. One in four Mesa County residents is 60 or older, according to the county.
Independence Monument at Colorado National Monument, west of Grand Junction, with the Grand Valley in the distance, in a file photograph from November 2012. One in four Mesa County residents is 60 or older, according to the county.Gordon Leggett, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The Board of Mesa County Commissioners approved a letter asking Gov. Jared Polis to add money for senior services when the state writes its next annual budget, the county announced on October 19. The commissioners framed the request around Colorado's age profile, which the county described as one of the fastest-aging states in the nation.

Statewide, one in five Colorado residents is aged 60 or older, according to the county. In Mesa County the share is higher, at one in four residents. The letter asks the state to put more money behind senior services, and the commissioners stressed, in the county's summary of the letter, that older Coloradans should be able to grow old with dignity, in good health and on their own terms, despite the state's fiscal challenges.

A Grand Valley Transit bus on a downtown Grand Junction street in 2022, in a file photograph. Mesa County's commissioners approved their senior services funding letter on October 19.
A Grand Valley Transit bus on a downtown Grand Junction street in 2022, in a file photograph. Mesa County's commissioners approved their senior services funding letter on October 19.David Wilson, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The county's figures describe a thin local safety net. Three Long-Term Care Ombudsmen cover as many as 34 care facilities in Mesa County, potentially assisting 1,781 residents, according to the county. The county presented the ratio of three ombudsmen to 34 facilities as a measure of how stretched that protection is on the Western Slope.

The waiting list for home-delivered meals tells the same story in smaller numbers. Eighty-seven seniors are on the waiting list for the Meals on Wheels program in Mesa County, among them a 95-year-old amputee veteran, according to the county. The commissioners described the program in the letter as a vital service, and the request to the governor asks the state to weigh cases like those on the list when the next budget is written.

Monument Canyon in Colorado National Monument, in Mesa County west of Grand Junction, in a file photograph. The county says one in four of its residents is 60 or older, against one in five statewide.
Monument Canyon in Colorado National Monument, in Mesa County west of Grand Junction, in a file photograph. The county says one in four of its residents is 60 or older, against one in five statewide.Kognos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

The funding letter was the county's second senior care intervention in a single day. Also on October 19, the commissioners announced they had written to Colorado's congressional delegation opposing a proposed federal nursing home staffing rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, warning that a uniform staffing mandate could leave nursing homes turning away new residents or, at worst, closing altogether. In that letter, the county said, the commissioners argued for funding and programs that help nursing homes recruit and retain workers instead of new mandates, pointing to facilities in Grand Junction and Palisade, including La Villa Grande Care Center and Eagle Ridge Post Acute Care, that serve a broad Western Colorado population.

Taken together, the two letters put Mesa County's position in writing at both levels of government: more state money for the services seniors use at home, and a federal approach to nursing home staffing that the county says rural facilities can actually meet. The state funding request now goes to the governor as the administration prepares its upcoming fiscal year budget proposal. The county did not publish a specific dollar figure for the increase it is seeking.

The St. Mary's Medical Center tower in Grand Junction, in a file photograph. Three Long-Term Care Ombudsmen cover as many as 34 care facilities across Mesa County, according to the commissioners.
The St. Mary's Medical Center tower in Grand Junction, in a file photograph. Three Long-Term Care Ombudsmen cover as many as 34 care facilities across Mesa County, according to the commissioners.Jeffrey Beall, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · Source

mesa county grand junction senior services state budget jared polis

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