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Board warned federal grant cuts are starting to hit Marquette County public-health programs
Summary
Health Officer Jayme Sopha told the Marquette County Board of Health that five federal public-health grants have been cut and that the department has temporarily continued spending under a multi-state lawsuit; she said the cuts affect ELC, COVID/flu testing and the immunization supplement grant.
Health Officer/Director Jayme Sopha told the Marquette County Board of Health on May 6 that recent federal funding cuts are beginning to affect local services and that the department is monitoring legal developments.
"We have been seeing cuts at the federal level, and we're beginning to see them trickle down to the local level," Jayme Sopha said, describing five public-health grants that the department has been tracking. She identified the impacted programs as the Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) grant, COVID/flu testing funding and the immunization supplement grant. Sopha said a lawsuit filed by several states, including Wisconsin, has temporarily allowed continued use of some of those funds while the courts consider the case.
Sopha emphasized that the cuts do not require repayment of funds already spent but do constrain future spending: "It does not mean we have to pay back the money we have gotten from these grants but rather stop spending it on the date they say," she told board members.
The board received the report during the meeting's program updates and did not take a separate vote on spending changes; Sopha did not provide a final date when spending must stop and said the department is awaiting further legal and administrative guidance. Board members asked questions during the presentation; the meeting minutes record that Sopha answered board questions but do not provide a timeline for program changes if the court outcome does not change.
The board approved the department's 2024 Annual Report at the same meeting and will forward it to the County Board. No formal budget action related to the grant cuts was recorded in the minutes.
Next steps: the department will continue to monitor the lawsuit and notify the board if and when spending deadlines or program operations must change.
