Date: Fri 02-May-1997

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

health-district-budget

Full Text:

State Cuts May Hike Local Health District Costs

B Y K AAREN V ALENTA

Costs to local taxpayers for health services could rise significantly if

proposed cuts in state revenue are approved by the legislature, Newtown Health

District Director Mark A.R. Cooper warned Wednesday evening.

Speaking at a public hearing called to answer questions about the Newtown

Health District's proposed 1997-98 budget, Mr Cooper said the district budget

may have to be increased if state funding is cut.

Although health districts don't know what their 1997-98 state revenue will be,

the state Department of Health and Addiction Services has directed local

health directors to submit their budgets this week.

The Newtown Health District's proposed budget is $320,443, up $8,820 from this

year largely because Mr Cooper recommended that $10,300 be put into

contingency account. Operating costs aren't expected to increase next year, he

said, but some additional funds will be needed for salary increases. Contract

negotiations still are taking place with the unions that represent the

district employees.

The legislature's Appropriations Committee has passed a proposed budget which

would cut $1 of the $1.52 per capita paid by the state to local health

districts. In the current fiscal year, the Newtown Health District received

$32,348 in its state per capita grant.

The proposed state cutbacks also would make districts pay for environmental

testing done by the state lab, a service which is currently provided by the

state.

"Newtown had nearly $70,000 in testing done last year for public health issues

like water quality, rabies, lead, and asbestos," Mr Cooper said. "Urban health

departments spend amounts up to $600,000 just on lead testing. This is an

enormous amount for the legislature to expect local budgets to absorb in one

year. It will result in significant cutbacks in public health services."

Mr Cooper said the proposed cutbacks were the main topic of a meeting earlier

Wednesday in Wethersfield involving the directors of local health departments,

health districts and state Commissioner of Public Health Stephen Harriman.

Much of the water quality testing submitted by Newtown to the state lab

involved neighborhoods like Dodgingtown, where a gasoline tanker crashed last

October, and in the Apple Blossom Lane area, where traces of the chemical PCE

have been found in private wells. The gasoline tanker's insurance company

ultimately will pay for the testing of the Dodgingtown wells; testing in the

Apple Blossom area is being done under a consent order funded by a special

state grant.

No action was taken on the proposed 1997-98 health district budget Wednesday

night because a special meeting scheduled to be held immediately after the

public hearing could not be held due to lack of a quorum. Board Chairman Jim

Smith explained that board members Joan Crick and Audrey Grasso were unable to

attend because of illness and their alternates also were not available. The

special meeting will be rescheduled, he said.