Date: Fri 13-Mar-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: KAAREN

Quick Words:

health-bd-council-budget

Full Text:

Council Members Try To Get Acquainted With Health Bd

BY KAAREN VALENTA

No member of the public came to the Newtown Health District's public hearing

Wednesday evening on its proposed $327,723 budget for 1998-99, but three

members of Legislative Council showed up to discuss the lack of communication

between the two boards.

"We really don't know what the health district does," said council member

Karen Blawie, explaining why her administrative subcommittee had opted last

month not to approve a requested $6,500 increase in the amount of money the

town would pay to support the health district's proposed budget.

"The information we received [from the health district] was not useful

information for budget-making purposes," Mrs Blawie said. "We need something

-- even a `laundry list' of what you do -- to give us an understanding of why

you need an increase."

Mrs Blawie said she has received nothing from the board, not even minutes of

its meetings, although she was appointed as alternate member of the board.

Council member Will Rogers asked the health board to provide a breakdown of

its budget into functions performed by the district and the costs associated

with each function.

But Council Chairman Pierre Rochman said a question being asked by some

members of the council is whether there should be a health district at all.

"We're talking about $6,500, but the bigger question which we need to address

later is can we do all the same things without a health district?"

The health district was created in June 1994 by the town and the borough,

partly as a way of getting more state revenue. The state has been encouraging

the formation of health districts, and because of this, districts have more

clout with the state on issues that impact local municipalities, said Health

District Director Mark A.R. Cooper.

As an independent agency, the health district is not controlled by the town.

However, two of its three board members were appointed by the town, and one

was appointed by the borough.

Mr Cooper said the health district was instrumental in obtaining more than

$2.2 million in state and federal funds for Newtown last year. This included

$1.2 million for the Appleblossom Road water main extension, $660,000 for the

Sewer Repair Program, $244,890 for the cleanup of the Batchelder property on

Swamp Road, $53,640 in testing at state laboratories, $32,348 in state per

capita funding, and a $3,592 in a federal block grant.

The health district had asked the town for $205,564 in funding next year, a

$6,500 increase over the current year. The proposed budget is up $7,280, or

about 2.3 percent, mostly due to increases in salaries for health-district

personnel.

"This would be our first increase (in requested town revenue) in three years,"

Mr Cooper said.

Dr Thomas F. Draper, the district's medical adviser, said the public hears

little about the health district because the district is doing a good job.

"People don't see what the district does unless they have a problem," he

explained. "Our intention is to have the best qualified people and the skills

necessary to protect the health of the community. The state says this can be

done better on the local level than by state personnel, and it is prepared to

invest in local districts to provide those services."

Mr Rochman said the requested increase in the health district budget would be

reconsidered at the council's budget meeting on Thursday evening, March 12,

(after publication of this week's Bee. )