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Gary City committee reviews ordinance reclassifying health department funds after federal grant ended
Summary
The Gary City Ways and Means Committee discussed CPO 2026-25 to reclassify a fund formerly received as a federal grant into regular state stipend funding for the health department; staff outlined year-by-year amounts, eligible uses including lead testing and salaries, and asked for an accounting amendment before the full council meeting.
The Gary City Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday reviewed CPO 2026-25, an ordinance that would revise the 2026 special revenue budget to reclassify health department funding that previously arrived as a federal grant.
Committee Chair Kenneth Whittington, councilman and chair of the Ways and Means Committee, opened the session and said the ordinance is sponsored by Mayor Eddie DeMelton and city controller Shanika Beck. He asked that the ordinance be amended before the item goes to the full council.
Katrina, the health department director, told the committee the federal grant that funded the program ended in 2023 and the state has since provided a stipend-style payment. "It's not a grant anymore," she said, adding the city must record the money in the correct fund and department code. She identified the state account as 22121161.
Katrina gave year-by-year figures for the funds: $833,000 in 2024, $1.6 million in 2025 and $4,430,000 in 2026. She said the state allocates money by demonstrated need and that the city documents need through monthly reports to justify the amounts.
Councilwoman Ivy, who joined the meeting, asked how the funds may be used. Katrina said the stipend can cover salaries and payments to community partners, and cited a maternal health component run with the Northwest Indiana Healthcare Cooperative as an example. She said chronic-disease work is among the top eligible uses and that separate opioid-related dollars cover mental-health services.
The director also described program activities tied to the funding: outreach and risk assessments, school-based lead testing, and home inspections when children test high for lead. She said the department recently acquired an XRF machine to support in-home lead testing and that compiling higher local need figures helped secure larger state support for 2026.
Whittington closed the meeting after confirming the amendment request. The ordinance will be revised to reflect the funding's reclassification and is expected to appear on the council docket with that change.
