Health Dept. asks for funding restored

“Of the nine counties in our regional district, we are definitely the lowest funded from the county government,” Health Department Administrator Lee Fowler told the Morgan County Commission last Thursday.

Fowler asked the commissioners at their May 20 meeting to reconsider the amount of money budgeted for the Health Department in the next fiscal year.
The department asked for $60,000 from the commissioners last year, but only received $35,000.

For the fiscal year starting July 1, the department is only budgeted to receive $25,000 in county funds.

“At $1.53 cents per person, which is what $25,000 actually gives us, we are the lowest. The second lowest would then be Hampshire County, and they fund their health department at $2.95 per person,” Fowler said.

Services may be cut
Without the missing $10,000, the department will have to cut essential services, Fowler said.

Among the services likely to be cut are the in-kind work provided to the Sleepy Creek Watershed Project, which has repaired or replaced 50 failing septic systems in the Sleepy Creek area, he said.

Immunization clinics at schools, county offices and in distant areas of the county would also be on the cut list.

Fowler said the department made six trips to Paw Paw to hold immunization clinics this year, and during the H1N1 flu season immunized 3,000 county residents.

There would also be a reduction of training opportunities, with the staff only doing training required by the state, he said.

“I want to know basically from this county commission why for years we have been treated as a second class citizen. And why for years our county health department has not been allowed to advance because of poor funding,” Fowler said.

“I have been bending over backwards with this county,” he said. “When the planning commission calls me to be at a meeting, I am there. When Morgan County Partnership says they want me as a full partner, I am there. When the drug task force of this county wants me involved, I am there. For our thanks, we get less funding than we got the year before, and the year before funding was solely inadequate.”

Fowler acknowledged he knew the county had budget problems, but said he asked for $35,000 because he felt it was a fair amount.

“Not a penny is spent up there until it goes in front of my desk and I approve it,” he said. “There have been many pennies I have said absolutely no to because I didn’t see the benefits to Morgan County. Everything I have approved has been for the citizens of Morgan County to provide them with the health services they need.”

Commission President Brenda Hutchinson said because of the swine flu funding, the commission thought the health department was okay, “but I guess that was a mistake.”

The county is trying to maintain a balance between keeping services and keeping taxpayers’ costs down, she said.

Will take another look
“Certainly in light of what you have just told us, I am in favor of taking a look at it,” Hutchinson said.

The commissioners will revisit the budget at the end of the fiscal year in June, she said.

Commissioner Tommy Swaim said he took offense to Fowler’s statement that they were being treated like second class citizens.

“I have always been a supporter of the Health Department. In fact on two occasions, I brought my men in here when I was in the construction business and did substantial changes in the offices up there,” Swaim said.
“I never intended to offend you, and so I take that remark back,” Fowler said.

“I have only been here for a year and a half and am not familiar with what happened with the Health Department in the past, but we had to make some really hard decisions when we did the budget this year,” Commissioner Stacy Dugan said.

Dugan said that as a health care professional, she understood the problems facing the Health Department and is also willing to look at funding again in June.

“Thank you for reconsidering. I really think it would be a wise decision for the people of the county,” Fowler said.