Kent County Health Department requests $1.27 million for FY26; asks county to cover COMAR match and Lynchburg Street rent

Kent County Health Officer Bill Webb told the commissioners the health department’s FY26 submission requests $1,267,989 and asks the county to provide the COMAR-mandated local match and to continue covering the department’s rent for its Lynchburg Street facility.

Webb said the FY26 request represents roughly a 14–15% increase over last year and reflects state funding changes in FY24–FY25 that increased grant dollars to local health departments and thus increased the required local match. Webb said the health department had previously accepted county help — the county covered the building rent in previous years and subsidized some services such as mental-health coverage at the detention center and mosquito control — and that the department is again asking the county to pick up the Lynchburg Street rent in FY26.

Why it matters: Webb told commissioners the department faced a 10.7% cut in core state funding in FY25 and that state-level discussions about limiting core funds to non-payroll items could affect future years. He emphasized that the FY26 request is largely a continuation of prior-year needs plus the COMAR-required local match, and asked the commissioners to consider maintaining the prior county support for rent and other subsidies.

Clarifying details and numbers: Webb stated the FY26 request as $1,267,989 in the workshop. A county official asked about the rent amount; the transcript records the rent figure read aloud as about "a hundred and $71.02 50" (interpreted in the transcript as approximately $171,250). The transcript also records that county rent for the building was voluntarily covered by the county for two years in the recent past and that rent increases follow a 3% annual escalation as described in the conversation.

Discussion vs. decision: Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the rent line and which school-health or detention-center services the department would continue to subsidize. No formal vote was recorded; commissioners and staff discussed options including invoicing the county for mosquito control and continuing some mental-health supports for the detention center. Webb asked the body to consider the FY26 match and rent as part of the department’s requested total.

Ending: Commissioners thanked Webb for the briefing and said they would consider the department’s request as part of the overall FY26 budget review and continuing conversations about state match requirements and future-year impacts.