County Department Not Healthy-UPDATE
The County Commission authorized the transfer of about $175,000 from the general fund over to the County Health Department today. They didn't have much choice. State law requires government budgets to be balanced.
The imbalance came in key programs that either did not get the state grant they expected or generate the billing they were supposed to collect.
This should clean up the financial issues that have plagued this department for some time. Manager Scott Derickson says this shouldn't happen again.
It shouldn't have happened this time.
For some reason I certainly don't understand, this particular department is treated differently from other county departments. It is, again for some reason I don't get at all, heavily protected
unlike all other departments that don't have the latitude to stray nearly this far from budget.
Can you imagine the D.A. or the Sheriff's department showing up at the end of the fiscal year with a $175,000 deficit?
If this had been the D.A. coming back to this commission saying he went over this far many people would be looking for his head on a platter. Not so the Health Department.
There is another way to look at this. Annually Clatsop County doles out about $15,000 to local
non-profit agencies that serve our citizens most in need. The overrun in the health department was caused by losses in serving this same population in various programs like WIC and healthy babies.
Maybe it really does cost over $175,000 to keep those in need at some level of comfort.
UPDATE:
In a related bit of business the County Commission today considered an agreement with Clatsop Economic Development Resources (CEDR). That agreement adds the requirement that CEDR will undertake at least one community-wide fund-raiser to raise additional bucks for distribution to other non-profits that provide direct benefits to citizens like CASA, the Women's Crisis Service and food banks. The County agrees to kick in the $15,000 they would normally dole out each year to those same non-profits as seed money for the fundraiser CEDR would agree to do. This would happen in the second year of the two year agreement. Not a bad idea! CEDR would develop and administer the program to distribute any money raised. Slick way for the commission to get out from under deciding who gets how much.
3 comments:
I need some comparisons before I judge this. What is the H. Department's budget compared to other counties our size? Was it very lean to begin with? I know they have been laying off a lot of people the last few years.
If you compare the DA's to other counties our size it's very bloated to begin with, so there is no reason why he should have a shortfall at the end.
Could it be an immediate call for a State of Oregon Audit might appropriate for this Public, Tax Funded agency as well?
I believe it is important to note where the majority of revenues come from when discussing the Health and Human Services dept. For the upcoming year, the total budget for all the funds under HHS is $4,424,190. Of that total, only $615,500 (13.91%) is funded by the general fund. The rest of the revenue is funded by the State, grants, and fees paid by users. The general fund subsidy is a reduction of $19,100 from the current year's original budget.
By comparison, in the upcoming year the District Attorney dept has a total budget of $1,470,200. Of that total, $1,200,400 (85.65%) is funded out of the general fund. The general fund subsidy is an increase of $56,800 from the current year's original budget.
This is important because of the reliance on pass-through funding for HHS. If the funding doesn't materialize, it is a major issue since the majority of their budget relies on those monies. Action has been taken in this current year to address the issue of not receiving enough monies to cover the expenditures. This unfortunately included several layoffs of employees.
I don't have a comparison with other counties throughout the state. I can reiterate how lucky we are compared to the vast majority of other counties throughout the state that rely heavily on the federal payments program that is disappearing. Those counties are in dire straights with some of them on the brink of bankruptcy. We are fortunate because of the current status of our general fund and being able to transfer funds into HHS this year to make up the difference between revenue and spending. Our long term financial plan is crucial with instances like this. Rest assured, much attention will be placed on this department in the coming months. An operational audit will help identify the areas that need addressed. We will continue to look for additional opportunities of funding for the department as well as look at ways of increasing efficiencies. I certainly do not want to see us in this situation at this time next year and will be closely working with staff to make sure we are't.
As far as an audit from the state is concerned, the state is currently doing a comprehensive audit of HHS. We are expecting the results of that audit in the near future.
As an ending, it is also important to note that $175,000 was spent on services to those that needed these programs the most.
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