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SALEM -- The city health department may get a financial boost from council to help cover the expenses associated with the accreditation being required by the state.
The Finance Committee of city council agreed during a recent meeting to recommend an additional appropriation of $24,606 to the health department by increasing the $3 minimum per capita amount to $5 per capita, which means the city from now on will provide $5 per city resident for health department operations.
The number of persons is based on the census data showing a population of 12,303 persons in the city.
If approved by city council, the $24,606 will be combined with the $36,909 already in place for a total appropriation of $61,515 from the city's general fund. The health department also relies on fees and a state subsidy for the yearly budget.
"You are getting a heck of a bargain with the health department," Councilwoman Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey commented from the audience during the meeting last week, especially referring to the registered nurse's wage currently at $19.95 per hour, which is a lot less than most nurses make in the private sector.
City Auditor Betty Brothers explained the need for the increase in appropriations to keep the city health department open and operating and the fact that revenue is supposed to exceed expenses and that won't be the case if there isn't an increase.
"They operate on a shoestring," she said.
Mayor John Berlin said some communities pay $10 per capita for their health departments. He said the city has a great working health department, which is staffed entirely by part-time personnel. He also explained that the food license fees don't really add to the bottom line because they have to be based on the work done for food licences by the sanitarian, who is the environmental director. He said a lot of the additional expense is coming from the accreditation cost, which includes a fee.
Berlin said having a city health department is "still a very reasonable expense."
Other appropriations requested in the appropriations ordinance include three accrued sick leave payouts related to three employees totaling $16,385, and an amount of $16,000 for fees/revenues for recreation teams through the parks department. Apparently the money paid by sports teams for park leagues had been run through the Memorial Building previously.
In other business, the Finance Committee recommended a resolution to thank the Columbiana County Commissioners for the $20,000 reimbursement for the city having one full-time police officer on the Drug Task Force. A wording change in the fringe benefits ordinance will make clear that two people who must possess a commercial driver's license as part of their job are compensated, depending on the type of license they hold. The rates are 35 cents per hour for a class A CDL and 15 cents per hour for a class B CDL.
The committee agreed to recommend the creation of a separate new K-9 fund for any donations the city government may receive for the police dogs. Brothers said the city received two separate checks as donations for the K-9s totaling $235. Instead of a line within the general fund, she thought there should be a completely separate fund.
Dickey asked if someone had talked to the Salem Community Foundation regarding this, asking if it would cause confusion with the donations fund secured through the SCF. She was told the SCF had no problem with the new fund. The SCF K-9 fund is separate from this, which is just a fund to place checks that may be written directly to the city or the police department.
mgreier@salemnews.net