The Archuleta County Board of Public Health (BoH) unanimously approved its budget during a special meeting held on Friday, Aug. 15.
The budget was presented by Public Health Director Ashley Wilson, who explained there were “some relatively significant changes” from the initial budget presentation to the BoH given during the board’s regular meeting held on July 17, noting the changes are mainly due to the reformation of the budget for detention center nursing staff.
Wilson noted the budget now shows a total of $78,770 over, explaining, “that is due to the reformatting of the budget for the detention center nursing staff.”
She explained the original budget was based on the nurses not being actual county staff, but instead as temporary employees for the first five months of the year. That change became permanent in May, which included benefits to be given for those nurses, Wilson explained.
“So, that has increased that budget relatively significantly,” she added.
Wilson also explained that based on discussions held during the commissioners’ work session, the on-call amount being paid for the nurses will now be equal to the on-call amount period for other county employees,“which increased the budget about $7,000 for those services.”
Wilson noted the detention center medical deficit is at $37,327 over what was budgeted last year, indicating that equates to a 17 percent increase and that a typical maximum increase is 6 percent.
“So, those are just conversations we’ll have to have,” she said, adding the “basic premise to the board is that we have debt that will have to be covered outside public health funds.”
BoH President John Bruss asked where the funds to cover the detention center nursing staff usually sits, either in the public health department budget or in the sheriff’s budget, with Wilson explaining that it is in the sheriff’s budget.
She noted that when the county created its own public health department, separate from San Juan Basin Public Health, “there were a handful of things, because the moving pieces had to move so quickly, that we did not necessarily account for [on] either side. So we knew that the budget wasn’t necessarily going to look the same.”
In response to a question from Warren Brown, BoH member and county commissioner, Wilson explained that initial conversations that led to contracting with an agency out of state to provide those services was “less than desired” for the staff at the jail.
She also explained that a large increase was being proposed and indicated the sheriff’s office is not willing to pay, noting that increase was around “several thousand dollars a month.”
Wilson mentioned that more conversations determined it would be better if “everything stays local.”
BoH member Stacey Foss commented that the deficit “looks large,” also noting that this will not be a program that is maintained “unless the sheriff’s office is able to come in and pay for the service.”
Wilson noted the current public health department deficit is $41,433, explaining the public health department is unable to absorb the deficit from the sheriff’s office.
She also clarified that out of the approximate $78,000 deficit, about half, or roughly $37,000, is from the sheriff’s office and about $41,000 is from the public health department.
“Most of our deficit is personnel cost,” she added.
Wilson provided some other information on potential grants and other forms of funding the public health department may receive from the state or federal government, indicating that if all of those things come in the way they should, “that’s $35,744 towards our overall deficit.”
She noted that would bring the public health department deficit down to approximately $7,000.
“I’m erring on the side of extreme caution to ensure that we are not overestimating how much money might come in,” Wilson said.
She went on to mention, “We do have reserves,” explaining that the BoH could choose to allow to cover the deficit with reserve funds up to a certain amount, or look at other options such as changing staffing options, “in order to make up the potential deficit.”
Wilson explained that the “hope” is that the public health deficit is only about $7,000 after receiving all potential funds, in which case her suggestion is to use reserves to cover that, while also looking to reduce costs in areas like travel and training.
Brown noted that the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) cannot approve an unbalanced budget.
Wilson explained that the transfer would be shown in the budget, but that the funds would only be transferred when it is required.
She mentioned again that other ways to look at covering the deficit could include reducing staff hours.
Wilson indicated that there is “a little over” $239,000 in the public health department’s reserve funds, suggesting the BoCC could designate using $41,000 of that to cover this year’s deficit.
She also noted that if each public health department employee took one unpaid furlough day per month until the end of the year, that would save the department approximately $30,000.
Bruss commented that he liked the idea of using reserve funds to cover the deficit while seeing what other monies might come in that would reduce the deficit.
Brown noted that some of the services the public health department provides are not required by the state, suggesting those are the areas he would look to reduce spending first.
Brown also expressed that he doesn’t want to send the message of the initial solution to be layoffs.
“I don’t feel that we are at that point,” he said, noting he wants to be “cognizant” of the reserves.
“Layoffs are not an option, in my mind,” said Veronica Medina, BoH member and county commissioner, suggesting that reserves could be used to cover the deficit.
BoH member Jessica Cox also expressed support for using reserve funds, stating, “I feel like this is what our reserves are for,” and that currently looking at altering staff is “not my first choice, either.”
Bruss mentioned that part of the reserve funds currently on hand are due in part to the transition away from San Juan Basin Public Health, noting there were a lot of uncertainties the county went through in creating its own health department.
“We’re getting through that transition,” Bruss said, expressing that it would be “appropriate” at this point to use reserves to cover the deficit.
Bruss added that he may feel differently about the situation if the county’s public health department were 10 years old at this point.
Wilson indicated that she is “relatively confident we won’t actually have to dip into reserves,” and that the actual deficit will be closer to $7,000, instead of $41,000.
Brown motioned to approve balancing the budget by using up to $45,000 of reserves, which was unanimously approved by the BoH.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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