Opinion : BOH and how to increase a budget by 130%

In all the hoopla the last few weeks, it has become clear to me that I have a lot of 'splainin' to do as Lucy would have told Desi...(If you don't get the reference, you're a young thing!)

The Board of Health is responsible for two departments Environmental Health and Public Health. The Board of Health is responsible if there's a pandemic, an outbreak of E. coli, or any other outbreak of illness in the community.

They are also the ones to apply for state and/or federal grants for health services if there is a derecho or tornado that hits Benton County.

The board hired a full-time Public Health administrator and they continue to pay half the wages for the Environmental Health administrator.

Another equation in the mix is that the Board of Health formerly had a contract with Virginia Gay Hospital to provide services to the county. Each year the hospital was paid a little over $90,000 for those services. This was a 3-way contract with the Board of Health, Board of Supervisors and Virginia Gay Hospital. The contract with the hospital was ended effective June 30, 2023.

Things have changed in the world of public health for Benton County this past year. The Board lost an employee who had served the board for 47 years, as well as the contract with Virginia Gay Hospital ended after 28 years.

As the Board readjusted, they had to account for the fact that their money now needed to support wages and benefits for a new county employee as well as find a way to cover what the hospital had been doing.

At September 19th's meeting, the Board of Health approached the Supervisors determining that they needed more help. They had a plan to hire a second full-time employee.

In the October 3rd meeting, the Board of Supervisors approved the funding for this second employee.

In all of this, the Board of Supervisors had a chance to discuss with the Board of Health these plans or to discuss and perhaps come up with an alternate plan. But they didn't. Instead, they approved a budget to accommodate this second employee.

Then they fired the Board of Health.

And that is how the budget increased by 130%.

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All meetings held by the Board of Supervisors can be found on the Benton County YouTube Channel.

Minutes for the Board of Health Meetings can be seen HERE.

Minutes from the Board of Supervisors can be seen HERE.

Iowa State Law concerning the Board of Health, how it's appointed and how it functions.