THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994 TAG: 9406080146
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: 940610 LENGTH: Medium
This year, the agency's $1.2 million budget has fallen short. Because of stagnant funding, declining Medicaid revenue and other problems, the city's health department and others in southeastern Virginia are cutting positions and services.
{REST} In this city, the health department will save more than $100,000 by eliminating its social worker, health educator, outreach worker, dentist and dental hygienist, director Dr. Nancy W. Welch said.
Also slated to be cut are the maternity and dental clinics, but that work will be contracted out to private providers, Welch said.
The cuts mean Chesapeake will no longer be able to provide CPR classes and preventive programs on heart disease and cholesterol. A resource program for teenage mothers may not continue.
Health department workers privately said the announcement has been demoralizing. Many are worried whether they will become the next victims of the budget ax.
Welch is blaming the state for her department's woes. The state has no needs-based formula for distributing funds for local health departments, though it uses formulas for school and library systems.
The state has studied a needs-based formula that considers population, poverty and disease levels in each community. But the proposal hasn't made it to the state budget because there isn't enough money available to guarantee that other communities won't lose funding.
State funds for local health departments has increased just 1.2 percent to $65.2 million over the last two fiscal years. Local health departments may get a bigger hike - 4.2 percent - for fiscal year 1995.
The figures, however, aren't as high as they seem. What appears to be an increase often is due to cost-of-living adjustments and incentive pay. Most of the increases are slated for salaries or certain programs.
While state health officials acknowledge that state funding has been flat, they disagree it forced regional health departments into their current situation.
Greenhill has said the health department in this region might be spending too much money.
``I wouldn't be able to argue that revenue is their problem,'' she said. ``They're trying to support a level of service they don't have the money for.''
Welch disagrees that her department is overspending. She also believes legislators from large cities receiving more than a fair share of state funding are preventing the formula from getting passed in the Virginia General Assembly.
``There are political components to it,'' she said. ``If you look at those districts . . . they are long-established, politically strong localities.''
The failure to implement the needs-based formula is unfair to many cities in southeastern Virginia that already have made heavy cuts, she said.
Chesapeake's agency has suffered because of the increasing needs of its booming population. More residents means more restaurants to inspect, more communicable disease prevention and more education, among others.
``These are the localities who've had the misfortune to grow when there isn't a surplus of money in the state's coffers,'' Welch said.
Chesapeake's health department isn't the only one with funding problems. With the exception of Norfolk, local health departments in the Hampton Roads area are making cuts. Population growth, poverty increases and scant resources also have been factors, depending on the locality.
With the formula, local health departments in southeastern Virginia would benefit the most, officials said.
{KEYWORDS} BUDGET HEALTH DEPARTMENT
by CNB