The transition process has started with the beginning of a new fiscal year for the Greene County Public Health Department.

Last year, the Greene County Medical Center and the Greene County Board of Supervisors  discussed having the Supervisors pay more toward providing public health services so that the hospital wasn’t paying a majority of it. By Iowa law, the Supervisors are required to provide public health services. The Supervisors were paying $150,000 in the 2017 fiscal year, then it increased to $200,000 in the 2018 fiscal year and is now $300,000 for the current 2019 fiscal year. The project 2018 fiscal year budget for public health was $920,000, which $600,000 was made up of direct costs and were mostly covered by public health through generated revenues. The remaining $311,000 in the 2018 fiscal year budget was covered jointly by the hospital and the County.

A discussion had previously taken place about a three-year phase-in process where the Supervisors would eventually take over the majority of those indirect costs, since public health is housed in the medical center. However, while a complete resolution hasn’t been settled yet, Supervisor Vice-Chair Dawn Rudolph believes as conversations continue, the Board’s education level will also continue to grow in public health.

“And we feel that it’s best that public health stay where they are and things continue as they are as far as where they are housed and where they are based out of. Because there is a good working relationship there between the hospital  and public health and so we just feel that that’s the best place for them to be. And we will just continue to keep working on so we can fund that and make it operate as smooth as possible.”

Public Health Director Becky Wolf is appreciative of the Supervisors increased payment to her department to continue to provide as many services as they do.

“I think it’s a partnership between the hospital and the County Supervisors to help support public health in whatever we do to improve the health and wellbeing of everybody in the county.”

The 2019 fiscal year started on July 1st.