Thursday, April 19, 2007

Shortfall in state, federal money felt in county health department

by Kenneth Lassiter

A decrease in federal funding for a program offered by the county health department has led department director Eileen Filbert to do some shifting of work time for at least one department employee, as she told county commissioners Monday.

Filbert said the county gets state funding for two programs for senior citizens and federal funding for a three-pronged program for senior citizens. She pointed out that the county’s reimbursement rate on one of the state programs has not risen in 20 years while the other state program has dropped 85 percent in state funding aid over the last three years. Now, the federal program, which is funded through the Older Americans Act, has been affected.

The program consists of three separate parts – the “IIIb” program for in home care for adults over the age of 60; the “IIId” program to educate senior citizens on such topics as maintaining health and preventing illness; and the “IIIe” program, which provides respite for caregivers for senior citizens once a week.

Filbert said the IIIb program is what has been reduced in funding. She said Jayhawk Area Agency on Aging officials were informed last fall of what funding could be expected for the program, only to find out last week the funding level had been reduced. Filbert said the agency studied the programs in the region and Jefferson County would not be one of the programs to receive a cut in funding, although similar programs in Shawnee and Douglas counties did receive cuts.

“I think that speaks well for us,” Filbert told commissioners.

Filbert said one caveat in the deal was that people using the IIIb program couldn’t also use the state-funded programs or the other federal programs. She said the reduced number of in-home services the county would therefore provide would drop by one person’s workload one day a week.

Filbert said the county wasn’t slated to receive a cut in the funding next year, either. In order to help one of the four nurses that serve the program maintain full-time status because of the reduction in workload, Filbert said she planned to ask one of the aide staff to take over the cleaning of the health department building’s interior.

The change would have a local impact, Filbert said, as 20 percent of the county’s population is over the age of 60. She said the department’s senior programs help save an estimated $5 million a year in tax revenues from keeping senior citizens at home rather than in care that might cost public Medicare money.

Commissioners pointed out Filbert didn’t seem to have any option in the matter, so they approved Filbert’s request for the changes by consensus. Commissioner Francis Grollmes asked if any cause was stated for the cut. Filbert said no cause was given that she knew of.

Commissioners also discussed the county’s Amber Alert program with Capt. Tim Byers of the sheriff’s department. Byers said the county’s program was started in 2000 and was the 23rd such program in the nation. Amber Alerts are issued in missing persons’ cases as a first response. The county’s Amber Alert program has been used as a model nationwide for small communities, Byers said, and he had a new idea to run by commissioners.

Byers said in 2003 the county expanded its program to include notifying volunteer firefighters in the case of an Amber Alert, which to his knowledge was an unprecedented move. He said another way he wanted to get the alert information spread quicker was by including county employees who have band radios available, including road and bridge, appraiser’s office and noxious weed personnel. He said that way those employees in the field would be able to be on watch for the vehicle in question while on the job.

Byers said he wanted to receive the commissioners’ “blessing” for the idea before putting it into action and commissioners quickly granted their consent. Byers said he and other county officials, including Sheriff Roy Dunnaway, plan to meet with state officials Friday in regard to the Amber Alert program and he wanted to present the idea there as well. He said the inclusion of volunteer firefighters in the alert is not something that has caught on statewide and he planned to bring that up at Friday’s meeting as well.

In other business Monday, the commission:

• Approved vouchers, tax change orders, a shared leave donation form, a purchase card request, road crossing permits and the books recording the final election results.

• Heard an update from Jennifer Marquette of planning and zoning. Commissioners approved a conditional use permit for Robert Linton and Ellen Saling for a bed and breakfast along 46th Street just west of Perry Lake with conditions that a water source be established in conformance with state requirements and that verification of such is provided to the planning and zoning office before any permits are issued.

• Honored local students elected to state office in the Kansas Future Business Leaders of America organization. Dillon Robbins, junior at Oskaloosa High School, was recognized for being elected as state FBLA treasurer and junior Callie Barnett and Talsa Hutchinson of Jefferson County North High School were honored for being elected as state FBLA historian and executive vice-president, respectively. All three students received a county certificate of achievement.

• Heard an update from George Pogge, road and bridge superintendent. Pogge updated commissioners on department projects.

• Met with Pogge and Jan Hayes, county counselor in executive session for 10 minutes to discuss matters of non-elected personnel.

• Heard an update from Filbert.

• Heard an update from Doug Schmitt, emergency management director. Schmitt reported on meetings he attended in his first two months on the job and other departmental issues.

• Heard from Linda Buttron, county clerk, who announced that a refund of insurance premium in the amount of $14,282 had been received from the worker’s compensation insurance vendor for audited payroll from 2007 being less than was estimated in 2006.

• Gave public notice that all three commissioners may be attending the Kansas County Commissioners conference May 9-11 in Hutchinson.