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Public Health urges commissioners to fund Access Harris cohorts as grants roll off
Summary
Interim Public Health Director Leah Barton asked Commissioners Court to consider up to $2.5M in additional funding to sustain the Access Harris wraparound cohorts and urged $500K for epidemiology and surveillance positions as COVID and other grant funding expires.
Interim Director Leah Barton told Commissioners Court the department faces about $4 million in headwinds (budget tasking, inflation and new grant‑policy indirect cost transfers) and presented three funding options for the Access Harris wraparound initiative: maintain current baseline services, an intermediate option (+$1.8M) with limited cohort support, or the full model (+$2.5M) that sustains comprehensive case management for enrolled cohorts. "Out of all of our budget requests...the other one that I would highlight is $500,000 for surveillance and epidemiology," Barton said, citing ongoing RSV, TB and wastewater monitoring needs.
Commissioners pressed Public Health on sustainability, churn in cohort enrollment and evaluation metrics; staff said enrollment decisions may be curtailed if county funding cannot sustain the program and that a formal program evaluation is forthcoming to measure self‑sufficiency outcomes and cohort‑specific impacts. The department said grant funding (SAMHSA and others) is crucial and that some grants expire next year, increasing the urgency for decisions.
