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MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF HEALTH March 22, 2007 Board of Health Minutes Transcription completed by Anne Miles Cassell 3 March 22, 2007 The 2007-2008 budget request includes revenues, new position requests, capital operating requests, capital vehicles, and informational technology requests and has minimal operational cost increases. Rosemary Summers explained the requests and changes from the previous year. The main increase is in personnel costs for additional staff in environmental health and personal health primary care services as detailed at the February meeting. Tim Carey asked whether the personnel would only be available in Chapel Hill for primary care. It was noted that currently there is only the clinician in the Chapel Hill office and this is where an additional team is needed. The Hillsborough facility is too small for additional clinical teams. Sharon Van Horn asked how referrals were made to the department for nutrition care. Letitia Burns explained that the substantial cost increase in interpreter services is due to an increased demand for services in ten different languages. Orange County has become an international community and interpreter services are mandated through Title VI. The state only provides 4% of public health funding across the state however, the state mandates 80% of the services, and these are funded locally either through fees, reimbursements or tax dollars. Orange County is below the median among counties in terms of per capita funding for public health services. After the Board of Health approves the Health Department’s budget request it will be submitted to the county budget office that compiles the entire county budget for the manager’s consideration. The County Manager will send a budget request to the County Commissioners for consideration. Motion to approve the 2007-2008 budget request for the Health Department and forward to the Board of Commissioners for approval was made by Jim Stefanadis, seconded by Chris Harlan, and carried without dissent. B. Proposed Fee Adjustments for 2007-2008 There are substantial increases in fees proposed in the 2007-2008 Budget primarily to support the newly mandated requirements in the well program. The increase in fees will support the additional positions needed to perform the work of this state mandated service. If the staffing is not approved, there will likely be delays in services of 6 – 8 weeks. Services in dental health and personal health have applied the standard increase of the consumer price index (2.5%) to all fees in their structure in accordance with the Board adopted policy on fee and eligibility. Included are a few new fees for additional services primarily in primary care. The new fees have been used to calculate the revenue projections for the 2007- 2008 Budget. The final step in the approval of fees is with the Board of County Commissioners who approve