By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
Juab County's financial support of the Central Utah
Public Health Department is down to 5 percent.
In fact, the entire Six County area is low, in fact,
the lowest in the state.
"We are asking for a 50-cent per capita increase which
would bring Juab County up to just under 6 percent," said
Robert Resendes, M.B.A., M.T., Health Officer/Department
Director of the Central Utah Health Department.
Juab County Commissioners agreed to increase the
budget to a comparable amount.
"We will put the increase into this year's budget,"
said Robert Steele, commissioner.
Commissioners are working on the calendar year budget
which runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 each year.
Resendes said that it was expected the percentage of
money paid into to the public health program by individual
counties would need to continue to increase each year for
the next few years.
"We will need to see if we can boost the fund in a
multi-year project," said Resendes.
"The bad news is that we are under-funded but the good
news is that we are very efficient," he said.
If each of the Six County members is willing to pay
the 50-cent increase to the department, it will mean that
the $4 million budget will increase by just $280,000.
The counties in the Six County area are paying much
less, he said, than the average paid to support public
health services throughout the state.
The mission of the Central Utah Public Health
Department is to improve and protect the health of all
citizens in the six-county area by offering services that
enhance the environment, prevent illness and injury, and
promote healthy lifestyles.
The average contribution per county in the state is 30
percent of the department's budget with some counties, like
Salt Lake County, paying approximately 44 percent of the
public health budget set for their area.
"Utah County is at 24 percent," said Wm. Boyd Howarth,
commission chair.
The county will pay just under $39,000 and last year
paid $34,416.
The increase would take the county from $3.95 per
capital to $4.45 per capita.
The Central Utah Public Health Department, CUPHD,
serves six counties (Juab, Millard, Piute, Sanpete, Sevier,
and Wayne), offering a wide variety of clinical services,
educational programs and other specialized services.
"By law, each county has to contribute office space
for the health department," said Resendes.
Howarth asked what figures the state was using to
establish the population for the county. "Are you using the
2000 census figures?" he asked.
Resendes said the population would be determined by
using the previous year's (2003) state budget office figures
for area population. That set the county population as
approximately 8,713.
The 50-cent increase would represent approximately
another $4,360 into the health department budget in
2005.
"Resendes said he was, currently, meeting with all
county commissions in the Six County area and should know by
Thursday if they would all agree to the increase.
"Millard is willing to allow the increase if all the
other counties are agreeable," he said.
There are some advantages to participating, other than
the wide variety of services available through the
program.
"We have three full-time employees in this building,"
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