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Public Health requests $1.7M for data, vector control and expansions to HEART and RISE programs
Summary
Harris County Public Health told the court it faces a net $9M grant reduction for FY27 and proposed $1.7M in core enhancements (data/IT, wastewater surveillance, spay/neuter expansion, mosquito pesticide funding) plus expansion of HEART alternative-response teams and RISE violence-interruption teams.
Leah Barton, executive director of Harris County Public Health, briefed commissioners on an accelerating grant-rolloff problem and a set of enhancements tied to public-health infrastructure. Barton said federal and state grant changes will produce a net $9M decline in grant funding for FY27 and asked the court to preserve ARPA continuation funding of $6.1M for maternal and child health, chronic-disease prevention, reentry and food-nutrition programs.
Public Health identified $1.7M in top-priority enhancements: funding for data and application developers to modernize surveillance and dashboards; $500,000 to expand spay-and-neuter capacity (from roughly 6,000 surgeries/year closer to ~8,400); wastewater surveillance to detect pathogens and an additional $200,000 for adulticide/larvicide pesticide inflation; and staffing to expand HEART alternative response teams countywide and reach a full RISE team in Cloverleaf and another hospital. Barton argued that these investments preserve disease intelligence, violence-intervention capacity and food-security programs that yield high return on public-safety and health outcomes.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about ARPA reallocation proposals, measurable outcomes for HEART/RISE and the role of wastewater surveillance; Barton said preliminary data shows HEART reduces repeat 911 calls for engaged high-volume users and that wastewater surveillance now tests for 1,000+ targets and serves as an early-warning input.
