Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 10, 1994 TAG: 9405100135
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dr. Molly Rutledge, medical director for the Alleghany Health District, is asking for $90,000 from Roanoke and Botetourt counties and the city of Salem to continue a program that provides preventive dental care to indigent children. The program is one of two that could be cut to compensate for a shortfall in state funds.
Neither the children's dental program nor a pharmacy assistance program is mandated by the state, Rutledge said, leaving them vulnerable to cuts as she tries to balance next year's budget.
She's hoping to leave both programs intact, but said she can't do so without dipping deeper into local government coffers.
With localities trying to cover a growing list of unfunded state mandates, Rutledge said she almost hates to ask.
"They're in a bind," she said. "Year after year, somebody's dumping another program in their laps."
To make up for tighter budgets this year, local health departments should increase their Medicaid caseload (thereby increasing federal reimbursements), apply for more federal and private grants and ask local governments for more money, said Dr. Suzanne Dandoy, the state's deputy commissioner for public health programs.
"All districts had their budgets reduced," she said.
Dandoy placed the Alleghany District's shortfall at $43,000. That's significantly lower than Rutledge's estimate of $160,000. But Dandoy concedes that Rutledge may have problems the state doesn't know about.
Rutledge said one reason the numbers are so far apart is that Dandoy looked only at the state's portion of the district's budget. Localities match state dollars, meaning a $43,000 state reduction translates into $86,000 less for her total budget.
Dandoy also made her projections based on the Alleghany District's budget for last year, she said, where Rutledge used actual expenditures.
Dandoy also didn't take into account all the budget changes that affected the district, Rutledge said. For example, a state merit pay program sets guidelines for giving out salary increases, then fails to provide enough money to cover them.
Rutledge said she'll also have to cover a 5 percent decrease in the agency's travel budget. And she'll take in less money than expected because an increase in septic fees passed by the General Assembly this year was lower than anticipated. The Alleghany District depends on those fees for part of its funding.
Rutledge said she'll be able to make up the rest of the shortfall by not filling job vacancies and by applying for other grants, as long as Roanoke and Botetourt counties and Salem start covering 100 percent of the cost of the dental program.
That amounts to $37,800 for Roanoke County, about $36,000 for Botetourt County, and $16,200 for Salem.
None of the localities has promised Rutledge the money, but at least one has said it will do its best to come up with it.
Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge said the county Board of Supervisors would decide by its May 24 meeting whether to fund the program.
"It's a high priority for them, and it is for me, too," he said. "If there's a way to fund it, we certainly want to."
Supervisor Harry Nickens said he hoped Roanoke County could take the lead in supporting the dental program and encourage the other localities to do the same.
"As one government gets involved, there tend to be others that follow," he said.
Botetourt County, which passed its budget more than a week ago, will consider making an additional appropriation after it receives a formal request from the Health Department, County Administrator Gerald Burgess said.
Salem City Manager Randy Smith did not return phone calls Monday. Salem was scheduled to begin work on its budget Monday night.
Rutledge, who also is acting director for Roanoke's Health Department, said the city didn't have the same problem as the Alleghany District because it was able to save money by not having to pay a full-time director.
She said that if local governments fully cover the dental program, she'll also be able to save the pharmacy assistance program, which gets only a small part of its money from the general fund.
by CNB