Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Health Department Budgets topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Ad-hoc committee presents comparative review showing Barry Eaton District Health Department is larger and carries higher per-resident general fund cost
Summary
A Barry County special ad-hoc committee presented comparative budget and staffing data for Ionia, Shiawassee, Tuscola and the Barry Eaton District Health Department, noting Barry Eaton’s larger district population, higher total budget and a higher general-fund cost per resident than the single-county peers.
A special ad-hoc committee of the Barry County Board presented a comparative review of local public health budgets and services, showing that the Barry Eaton District Health Department serves a larger population and receives higher general-fund support per resident than three single-county peers.
The committee — introduced on the slide deck as Heather Wing (County Board Chair), Jon Smelker (County Commissioner) and Dan Parker (County Commissioner) — said it studied the Ionia, Shiawassee and Tuscola county health departments, interviewed county health officers and reviewed budgets and audits to determine minimum requirements for a public health department and to report findings back to the Board of Commissioners.
The slide deck listed key quantitative comparisons. Ionia County (population 64,291) reported a health department budget of $1,837,556, a general fund appropriation of $60,000, an employee census of 21 full-time equivalents (24 staff) and a general-fund cost per resident of $0.93. Shiawassee County (population 68,446) reported a budget of $2,581,615, a general fund appropriation of $245,625, 33 FTEs (36 staff) and a general-fund cost per resident of $3.59. Tuscola County (population 52,764) reported a net health department budget of $3,122,335 (noting a $2,475,000 pension bond payment excluded), a general fund appropriation of $333,600, 26.11 FTEs and a general-fund cost per resident of $6.32.
By contrast, the Barry Eaton District Health Department (district population 169,613; Barry 60,586; Eaton 109,027) listed a FY 2018–19 budget of $6,991,089, total general fund appropriations of $1,163,302 ($447,502 for Barry County; $715,800 for Eaton County), 58 FTEs, a health department fund balance of $1,363,757 and general-fund cost per resident figures of $7.39 in Barry and $6.57 in Eaton.
The committee’s materials catalogued the range of services provided by the departments studied. Ionia and the others listed core personal-health programs such as immunizations, maternal and infant services, communicable disease control and WIC. The Barry Eaton district’s slide set additionally enumerated a broad environmental health portfolio — groundwater and wastewater management, food-service audits, vector control, outbreak investigations and swimming-pool oversight — and cited Medicaid outreach and enrollment assistance.
The slide deck documents and interview dates cited by the committee indicate the review drew on county budgets and audits and interviews conducted in January–March 2019; the slide set includes a March 4, 2019 memorandum from Colette Scrimger of the Barry Eaton District Health Department. The slides do not record any formal motions, votes or final recommendations; the committee stated its charge is to determine minimum requirements and to report findings to the Board of Commissioners.
