Tri County Health warns of federal funding uncertainty, discusses local health priorities and wastewater constraints

Tri County Health representatives briefed the Daggett County Commission on the health district's annual finances and local programs and warned that potential reductions in federal grant funding could force continued staffing reductions and narrower services.

Kurt, a Tri County Health representative, told commissioners that "our revenue is primarily federal grants that are passed through through the state" and that the department provides further transparency under its interlocal agreement so counties can "understand what we're doing and what it's costing our taxpayers." He said salaries and benefits are the district's largest expense and that the agency has reduced staff since peaking during the COVID-19 response in 2021.

The presentation described programs funded by the department, including an annual allocation of small tobacco-prevention grants. Kurt said the health district typically makes about $100,000 available each year for evidence-based local projects, and cited the Students Working Against Tobacco (SWAT) program and scholarships previously awarded through Duchesne County School District as examples.

Kurt summarized the district's priority health concerns for younger age groups in the Tri County area: unintentional injury (including vehicular accidents and drug poisoning), suicide and drug overdose. "When you look at people in working age or in children ... overdoses, suicide, start to become some of the bigger issues that we are currently facing," he said. He also said the district has for several years ranked at or near the top of Utah health districts for teen pregnancy rates and that those rates correlate with worse neonatal outcomes and higher rates of smoking or drug use during pregnancy.

Commissioners and health staff discussed partnerships and local delivery of services. Kurt noted ongoing collaboration with Northeast Counseling for QPR suicide-prevention training and said the department refers clients to that partner while offering complementary in‑school or point-of-contact training. He also said the department can help explore options for home health or other services but does not currently employ staff with direct home-health expertise.

A substantial portion of the discussion focused on environmental health and onsite wastewater (septic) technologies and how those rules affect development, especially at the large Taylor Flats subdivision in Daggett County. Participants discussed the state administrative rule framework: new onsite wastewater technologies must be reviewed by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality and added to state rules before local health departments may permit them. Kurt described alternative systems such as mounds and packed‑bed media, noting they can reduce footprint but often require active maintenance, electricity and higher upfront and ongoing costs.

Commissioners and staff emphasized constraints created by potable-well protection zones under state rules, including a roughly 100-foot protection radius around drinking water wells that affects allowable placement of wastewater systems on small lots. Commissioners noted many Taylor Flats lots are approximately 100 feet by 100 feet (about a quarter acre), which limits where a shared well or septic could be located without consolidating lots or creating shared systems. Commissioners and health staff agreed that shared culinary water and consolidated wastewater systems could enable more single-lot development, but that organizing property owners and funding (including potential USDA or CIB grants) remain challenges. The county has a placeholder for a culinary water project on its 2–5 year CIB list and said it could be moved sooner with demonstrable progress.

Kurt told the commission the health district is willing to provide information, support education for property owners, and partner on feasibility work; he encouraged local property owners to coalesce around solutions. Commissioners and staff said they want to help educate owners about options, noting that a relatively small number of owners control large shares of lots in Taylor Flats, which could make consolidation or shared systems more feasible.

No formal motions or votes related to Tri County Health's report were recorded during the exchange. Commissioners recessed afterward for a separate municipal building authority meeting.

The discussion included technical clarifications about septic and well spacing, the trade-offs of newer technologies (cost and maintenance vs. reduced footprint), and the district's programmatic focus on prevention and community education to address teen pregnancy, substance use and suicide.