Shawnee County Health Department seeks modest increase while awaiting state grant decisions

Teresa Fisher, director of the Shawnee County Health Department, presented a proposed 2026 budget showing a 3.4% overall increase driven by personnel and benefits, and said the department is monitoring late state grant awards that could materially change the county’s financial exposure.

Fisher said the department’s proposed increase “is crafted in part largely by some of the division managers” and that the budget request “allows the clerk's office the ability to remain fiscally responsible while modernizing staff.” (Presenter used similar wording to describe departmental staffing and modernization goals.)

The department requested just under $111,000 more in total, with salaries and benefits up about 6% but operating expenses down roughly 3% after line-item efficiencies. Fisher told commissioners the health department currently has 67 full-time-equivalent (FTE) positions and is actively recruiting for five vacancies, two of which had advanced toward offer at the time of the hearing.

Why it matters: Fisher warned that the department had not yet received multiple state “aid to local” grant awards and that some awards arrived only in part or not at all. The department built the proposed budget on prior-year funding levels, she said, but cautioned “our financial picture could look vastly different depending on what happens with our aid to local grants as they come in or they don't.”

Fisher highlighted three near-term budget items: copier lease costs and equipment leases, a 4% contract increase for a physician who provides tuberculosis oversight, and a required cash match for the Nurse-Family Partnership early-childhood program. She also noted the Capital Improvement Program item for 2026 is replacement flooring at the JP Lewis facility.

During Q&A, a commissioner asked whether contingency funding or program cuts would be needed if expected state grant awards were reduced. Fisher said the department is in “standby mode” while awaiting state decisions and that the first quarter of the state fiscal year will be decisive; she acknowledged that contingency could be needed and that “we may need to come back and readjust what our ask is.”

Clarifying details: Fisher gave the department totals (67 FTEs), described the 3.4% increase (just under $111,000) and identified equipment lease and contractual increases (e.g., copier, Adobe Pro subscriptions) that account for higher operating costs even as some lines fell. She said immunizations are the department’s largest revenue source and that immunization season (back-to-school) remains a revenue driver.

Next steps: The health director said staff will continue to track state grant awards and will return with an amended request if necessary; commissioners signaled they may consider budget amendments if state funding information arrives prior to the county’s public hearing deadlines.