Facing a dire financial outlook, Carroll County Health Department unexpectedly locates a grant to make it through 2018.
CARROLLTON It looked bleak for the Carroll County Health Department a few months ago.
County voters, in November, rejected a request to approve a 0.3-of-a-mill property tax for the agency. The tax would have provided $280,365 annually for a department that was not guaranteed it had sufficient money to keep up its level of service into 2018.
Things were to the point late in 2017 where county Health Department officials appealed to the county commissioners for financial assistance.
But as fortune would have it, a look into a county Health Department spreadsheet revealed a tab that referenced a grant that had gone unnoticed.
"They were able to uncover about $400,000 in grant funds," Carroll County Commissioner Robert Wirkner said. "The money had been there. They were not aware it was there. They are good through 2018. So they have enough funds that they won't need a tax issue, not for this year. They were going to cut health insurance benefits, trim personnel or hours. They had planned on cutting back services. They can't cut back core services. Core services are mandated."
Grants from sources such as the Ohio Department of Health are a funding stream for public health departments. Consequently, county commissioners canceled an earlier decision to forward $48,000 to the department for this year. However, concerns remain about the financial well being of the Health Department going into 2019.
Accreditation
And this year, money is probably more crucial than in recent years. The health department anticipates having to spend money to train staff and prepare the office to obtain accreditation from the Public Health Accreditation Board. Public health departments in Ohio are expected to apply for this accreditation by July. And the Ohio Department of Health is requiring public health departments to obtained PHAB accreditation by 2020.
"We have started off 2018 with a solid game plan to finalize our efforts to become a PHAB accredited health department," Carroll County Health Commissioner Leann Cline wrote in an email. "With a tight budget in our general fund, we are continuously looking for new areas of opportunity to bring in revenue to help offset the accreditation expense. As a reminder, this is an unfunded state mandate, so CCGHD (Carroll County General Health District) must achieve accreditation if the residents of Carroll County want to continue to have a local board of health and a local health department. We are working tirelessly to become PHAB accredited in order to provide local services to our residents."
Public Health Accreditation Board is a nonprofit organization based in Alexandria, Va., with a mission of advancing improvements of public health departments.
Explaining the unexpected discovery of the grant, Cline further stated in her email, "in the process of submitting the department's 2018 budget to the (county) auditor by the Dec. 1 deadline, we had some miscommunication internally that led to not all of our current grant revenue to be accounted for in the overall budget. When the error was caught, we were able to balance our budget without needing additional funding from the Carroll County commissioners. We have placed safeguards to ensure these errors do not occur again."
Working toward the goal
Accreditation assesses the performance of a public health department against a set of nationally recognized standards. So far, 18 public health departments in Ohio have obtained PHAB accreditation. One of those is Stark County Health Department.
"There is an expense to it," Stark County Health Commissioner Kirk Norris said. "It is an entire process. It was about a three-year journey for us."
The process of obtaining accreditation will involve a site visit by representatives of the Public Health Accreditation Board.
Regarding the consequence of failing to obtain accreditation, "they really haven't laid it out yet," Norris said. "What they have alluded to is if you aren't accredited by 2020, all state funding that runs through the state Department of Health may not be granted to public health departments."
The Carroll County Health Department's preparation for the accreditation process in 2017 cost about $30,000 in additional funds, according to Cline's email. She said the department anticipates spending about as much in additional salary expense this year along with another $14,000 for the fee to apply for accreditation.
Departments that do not meet the accreditation standards may find ways to continue operating by joining forces with neighboring agencies.
"We expect all health departments to get accredited by themselves," said Melanie Amato, public relations officer for the Ohio Department of Health. "Or they can partner with other health departments."
Reach Malcolm at 330-580-8305
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