Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Public Health Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
County health director outlines programs and proposes staffing trims after Health First Indiana cuts
Summary
Elkhart County Health Department presented its service portfolio to commissioners and described a major reduction in Health First Indiana funding. Leaders proposed limited staffing changes and said they had used federal and grant funding to sustain core services.
Melanie Sizemore, director of the Elkhart County Health Department, gave commissioners a program‑by‑program briefing Sept. 11 and said recent reductions in Health First Indiana (HFI) funding required the department to tighten operations.
Sizemore said Health First Indiana funding for the county dropped by roughly 74%, from about $5 million previously to $1.3 million under current allocations. “We got about a 74% cut. So we went from getting about $5,000,000 to 1.3,” she told commissioners.
What the department does: Sizemore reviewed core clinical and environmental services the health department provides, including WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), communicable‑disease case reporting, immunizations via the Vaccine for Children program, lead case management, environmental health inspections (restaurants, pools, wells, septic) and a mobile or fixed‑site dental clinic. On WIC, she said the county program costs about $1.5 million to operate and drives roughly $4 million in grocery store spending countywide.
Proposed trims and flexibility: to help balance the 2026 budget request, department leaders offered discrete options rather than broad service cuts. Sizable near‑term savings staff identified include reducing the local medical officer’s schedule from 15 hours per week to 10 (estimated savings about $38,000), not filling one open registered‑nurse position (about $75,000) and delaying or holding a clinic assistant position (about $43,000). Sizemore described other internal efficiencies and previously earned rollover savings used for building maintenance and one‑time investments.
Grants and internal county investments: Sizemore said the department had used HFI and other grant funds to make one‑time investments and awards to internal county operations: $50,000 for AEDs and other equipment to the sheriff, roughly $10,000 for EMA radios and laptops, $200,000 to the parks department for outdoor exercise equipment and $260,000 total in internal county grants. The department also reported capital investments including a new server and facility repairs.
Why it matters: commissioners pressed for clarity on service levels and where reductions would affect mandated public‑health work. Sizemore emphasized statutory and reporting obligations to the Indiana Department of Health (IDOH) for certain programs and said cuts had been made carefully to avoid losing federally mandated functions. “For 1, we always did all of this stuff. I mean, you guys know from being here forever. But the 1.3 just gets us by by the skin of our teeth,” she said.
Ending: Commissioners asked the department to prioritize required services, to move carefully on personnel decisions and to continue coordinating with county finance staff. Sizemore said the department would provide follow‑up budget detail, and commissioners indicated they would consider the narrower personnel adjustments when finalizing appropriations.
