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Analysts urge clearer treatment of salaries in Maryland core public health formula; MDH agrees
Summary
At a Feb. 7 Health and Human Services Subcommittee hearing, a Department of Legislative Services analyst recommended separating salary-related cost increases from the statutory core public health services formula. Maryland Department of Health officials concurred and said regulations to cap local match growth are planned within months.
An analyst from the Department of Legislative Services told the Health and Human Services Subcommittee on Feb. 7 that Maryland’s statutory formula for core public health services is applied inconsistently and can inflate funding when salary adjustments are also included.
"The state is required by statute to support local health departments with core public health services funding," Naomi Camaro, a budget analyst with the Department of Legislative Services, said during the subcommittee’s budget readout on the Maryland Department of Health’s Public Health Administration (PHA) budget. Camaro told the committee the fiscal 2026 allowance for PHA is $320,600,000 and that DLS has concerns about how formula growth and salary increases are both being applied to the annual appropriation.
The DLS analysis cited a $12 million reduction for core public health services authorized by the Board of Public Works in July 2024 and noted a one-time, $25 million ARPA enhancement in fiscal 2025. DLS said the fiscal 2026 allowance increases core public health services funding to $113.5 million — up $9.7 million from fiscal 2025 — and that part of that…
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