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Health department presents 2024 budget snapshot to Board of Health; fees up as COVID-era billing rebounds
Summary
The Summit County Health Department presented a 2024 budget-to-actual snapshot showing higher fee revenue driven by COVID-era clinic billing and lower-than-budgeted grant and property tax receipts; staff warned the board to expect federal funding declines going forward.
The Summit County Health Department presented a 2024 budget snapshot to the Board of Health showing differences between budgeted and actual revenue and expenditures and explaining causes for the variances.
Business manager Jennifer Morrill said revenue from fee-for-service rose substantially in 2024 while federal and state grant revenue and county property-tax contributions were below budget. Morrill explained that fee revenue was boosted by nearly $300,000 in COVID-era clinic claims and by new contracts with insurers such as UnitedHealthcare and Aetna; she also noted 2024 was the first full year on an updated fee schedule.
Morrill presented detailed budget comparisons: she said salaries-and-benefits were budgeted at about $4.9 million and actual spending was about $4.6 million in 2024; operating expenses were budgeted at about $3.6 million and actual spending was roughly $2.9 million. She said the preparedness line exceeded budget because the department was asked to spend carryover federal preparedness funds during a five-year grant cycle, with those costs later reimbursed.
Why it matters: staff said differences between budgeted and actual revenue reflect timing mismatches between calendar-year county accounting and state/federal fiscal years, grant renegotiations (including mental health and substance-use contracts), and an intentional budgeting “cushion” to allow staff to accept unexpected grants without requesting a formal county budget adjustment.
Morrill told the board the department is beginning internal budget work for the next cycle, noted that state audits have resumed for local health departments, and said staff are adapting to declines in federal funding. The department said these revenue and timing changes will be a factor in the 2026 budget planning process.
Board members asked clarifying questions about the fiscal calendars and the impacts of the COVID funding clawbacks; staff said the pandemic funds were held in a separate emergency/pandemic fund and the county accounting system runs on a calendar year while some grants follow state (July–June) or federal (October–September) fiscal years.
The presentation closed with staff noting an upcoming department-wide state audit in late summer and committing to begin the next internal budget cycle within weeks.
