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Boyle County health official reports steady tax rate, warns of new drug threats and rising Narcan needs
Summary
A Boyle County health official told the fiscal court the local tax rate will remain at 3.6% and described rising demands on overdose response and harm-reduction services as new drugs appear in the supply. He also summarized the department's long-term retirement liability and recent COVID-related spending.
Brent Lehi, a health department staff member, told the Boyle County Fiscal Court on April 22 that the county's property tax rate will remain unchanged at 3.6 percent and gave an update on local public-health finances and harm-reduction work.
Lehi said the department carries roughly a $4.5 million liability to the Kentucky Retirement System that will persist over the next 27'28 years and that the department maintains a surplus to cover future retirement obligations for current and future staff. He also told the court the state allocated approximately $77,000 of COVID-related funding to the health department this year, money the department expects may disappear in future budgets.
The core of Lehi's presentation focused on overdose response and new substances appearing in the local drug supply. He listed fentanyl and xylazine and warned about a more potent sedative he called nidazine. "If they're gonna use, I'd rather do that than show up at our door with the Xylazine literally with their skin coming off their bone," Lehi said, describing severe wounds clinicians have seen. He outlined harm-reduction steps the department is taking, including distribution of test strips and naloxone (Narcan).
Lehi said naloxone remains effective when an overdose is opioid-based, but that current cases often require multiple doses. "Now it's not uncommon you get up 3, 4, 5 doses that it's taking for somebody just for it to keep them functioning till EMS can get to them," he said, adding that local supplies have become cheaper per dose but remain dependent on an outside program run by the University of Kentucky for a large share of the free product the county distributes.
Lehi also described a local hotel-room program that used COVID funding to shelter symptomatic people for short stays. "That money is gone. We used every bit of it," he said, noting the program helped get people into contact with harm-reduction staff and, in some cases, into treatment.
Court members asked practical questions about naloxone storage and expiration and whether test strips are distributed directly to people who use drugs; Lehi confirmed distribution is intended to reach people who use drugs. He also recommended local officials carry multiple doses in cars and patrol cars given the frequency of high-dose responses.
Lehi closed by noting the department is tracking about 100 reportable diseases and urged continued investment in public-health capacity.
Ending: The Fiscal Court took Lehi's report as informational; no court action was taken on the health department budget numbers during the session.
