Several years ago Allen County approved a 1-mill levy to its budget to benefit the Southeast Kansas Multi-County Health Department. The 1 mill back in 2006 was the equivalent of $79,000.
Since then, the health department has come back each year asking for the same dollar support.
Jean Barber, a health department board member and former county commissioner, wants that to change. Barber told commissioners Tuesday the department would like to have a full mill of support instead, which this year would be about $96,000.
Commission Chairman Dick Works said the greater support of a full mill would be considered.
The health agency serves Allen, Anderson, Bourbon and Woodson counties, with each sending support.
“We’re having trouble with finances,” Barber said, particularly since a new management team of Dee Dee Martin, chief nursing officer, and Sara Frederick, chief financial officer, took the helm last year. “We’re trying to do more things, do new things and do them better.”
Among services the local department wants to offer is Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Food and Nutrition Services.
“It’s offered here through the Pittsburg” health department, said Barber. “We’d like to do it ourselves in Allen and Woodson counties.”
WIC provides federal grants for supplemental food, health care referrals and nutrition education for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding postpartum women, and to infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk.
“I understand things are tight,” Barber told commissioners, “but if we don’t ask for more, we won’t get more.”
For this year’s budget the health department received $254,750 from the four counties, including $80,850 from Bourbon, $67,000 from Anderson, $28,000 from Woodson in addition to Allen’s $79,000 support.
Barber pointed out that if each county’s support had been a full mill, the department would have received nearly $41,000 more. That would permit much more to be done for families living in the four counties, she observed.
Health dept. seeks more county funds
