Serino Continues Longstanding Support for Seniors in 2025 Executive Budget

Poughkeepsie, NY … Always an advocate for the needs of older adults, their families and caregivers, Dutchess County Executive Sue Serino has reaffirmed her commitment to seniors in her 2025 Executive Budget, with funding for new programming and expansion of successful existing services that benefit the County’s older residents.

County Executive Serino said, “Older adults have contributed so much to Dutchess County throughout their lives, and they deserve to age gracefully and with dignity. Our seniors are the backbone of our community and the Executive Budget ensures they have the support and resources they need.  We will continue to connect and engage older adults with innovative, fresh services, while expanding the popular programs that our Dutchess County Office for the Aging is renowned for.”

Among County Executive Serino’s initiatives in her Executive Budget aimed at providing socialization, recreation, transportation and wellness opportunities for older adults to remain active and energized:

• In 2025, continuing the Dutchess County Office for the Aging’s (OFA) outreach efforts to build connections with older adults and overcome the barriers that might prevent them from traveling to its main office in Poughkeepsie for services, the OFA will host mobile office hours to make in-person connections with senior residents at various locations around the County, meeting close to where they reside.
• County Executive Serino has expanded funding for site managers at the OFA’s eight Friendship Centers to enhance and tailor the experience for the hundreds of older adults who benefit from the social interaction and activities these centers offer each year.
• Supporting homebound seniors remains a top priority for the County Executive, and her budget includes continued funding for OFA’s Homebound Vaccination Program, ensuring the health and protection of older adults who are unable to leave their homes.
• County Executive Serino has also allocated funds to expand the OFA’s successful “GoGo Grandparent” program, which addresses senior transportation. This service offers registered OFA clients a limited number of free rides to non-emergency medical appointments or to visit family members in hospitals, nursing homes or hospice centers.
• OFA will work in 2025 toward earning the AARP “Age-Friendly Communities” certification, which will induct Dutchess County in a national network known for its safe, walkable streets, improved housing and transportation options, access to essential services and opportunities for residents to engage in community activities, among other benefits.

OFA Director Todd Tancredi said, “Having partnered with County Executive Serino for years, I’ve seen firsthand how she cares for Dutchess County’s older adults, who have helped make our community as vibrant as it is. Her commitment to enhancing services and resources for our seniors demonstrates true leadership and compassion. This investment in our community’s most cherished members will help ensure they can make their golden years the best they can be.”

In her Executive Budget, County Executive Serino also provides support for older adults who wish to “age in place,” living in their home as long as possible. The budget further augments the County’s Senior Citizen Owner-Occupied Property Rehabilitation Program, managed by the Department of Planning & Development, which assists low- and moderate-income senior households with making essential repairs and upgrades to meet housing quality standards or address code violations, helping to ensure they can safely live at home.

These 2025 budget initiatives complement Dutchess County’s robust array of offerings for local older adults that foster seniors’ nutrition and diet, physical activity, social engagement and mental stimulation – from the “Friendly Calls” and Home-Delivered Meals programs, to health insurance counseling, transportation options and connections to home care services, as well as socialization events, including the annual Senior Prom, held earlier this month, the Senior Golden Gathering and Summer Picnic Series.

County Executive Serino said, “From empowering our seniors to live independently as long as possible to providing a full calendar of activities and events for socialization, fitness and engagement; we are working every day to help ensure older adults can live life to its fullest here in Dutchess County.”

County Executive Serino will present her 2025 Executive Budget in the Dutchess County Legislature Chambers on Tuesday, October 29, 2024, at 3 p.m. The County Executive’s Budget Address can be viewed live on the County’s website, dutchessny.gov/budget2025. County Executive Serino will also host a countywide tele-town hall forum at 6:30 p.m. that evening, when residents can participate in a live conversation about the proposed budget, learn key details, ask questions and share feedback.

To learn more about all the Dutchess County Office for the Aging has to offer for older adults, as well as their families and caregivers, call OFA at (845) 486-2555 or visit www.DutchessNY.gov/Aging for resources and information and follow OFA’s Facebook page for happenings, tips and information.