Public health asks include IT security, environmental health staff additions tied to fee increases

Utah County public-health officials asked the commission on Oct. 14 to approve funding for IT security and for new positions in environmental health and emissions control that staff say will be covered by projected fee increases over the next several years.

Public-health presenters said the department's largest single new ask for 2026 is $285,000 to cover increased IT-security costs. Separately, environmental health and air-emissions programs requested positions to meet service demands; staff said the positions would be supported as the department gradually increases permit fees over several years.

Health department staff said they are funded roughly 25% to 30% by fee revenue (building permits and similar charges) and that recent internal cost analyses show many fees have been underpriced. Rather than proposing a single large fee jump, officials said they plan a multi-year incremental approach to align fee revenue with true program costs.

Staff told commissioners that environmental health's proposed new positions (including an environmental health scientist and emissions-compliance specialist) would be paid from fee revenue once the incremental fee increases are implemented; department leaders said the programs are currently covering costs but will need higher fees to support planned staff additions. The presenters also asked for a pool-sampling vehicle and time-limited assistance for summer field work.

Commissioners asked clarifying questions about fund balances and how IT-security costs had been allocated; budget staff said IT-security requests were already factored into departmental budgets for the items presented and that they would reflect any final decisions in the budget documents.