BY LISA STAYTON
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — The Martin County Public Health District board’s quarterly meeting on June 18 ended after 8 minutes and 45 seconds, leaving agenda items unfinished.
Board member Ed Daniels left the meeting early to attend an Inez City special meeting, resulting in the lack of a quorum. Before Daniels departed, the board approved the district’s 2025 budget, a state Department for Local Government (DLG) report, and a solar panel installation project.
Martin County Health Department director Eric Mills clarified Daniels’ early departure.
“Mr. Mayor has to leave for a city commission meeting soon,” Mills said. “We will continue the discussion after his departure, so we have to vote while he is still here for a quorum. I want to be real clear: if anyone is uncomfortable or we’re going too fast, we can have another meeting. So let’s not be feeling like there’s too much pressure here.”
Mills presented the Martin County Health Department 2025 Budget summary, showing revenue of $1,669,104, expenses of $1,652,704, and a net surplus of $16,400.
“We are reinvesting all the money that we receive in revenue into the community, into the services as best we can, into all these different programs that we offer,” Mills said.
He noted that the 2025 budget is a substantial increase over the 2024 budget of $1.2 million, attributing this to the addition of new programs like tobacco control, family planning, diabetes education and harm reduction.
“When you add more services and do more things, the state will give you more money to do those things with,” Mills remarked. “In many cases we’ve also had grant funds. For example, Johnson County applied for tobacco money and didn’t get it. We got $75,000 a year for two years to go to the schools and talk about vaping and smoking cessation. Those are the things we’re trying to be much more aggressive about.”
Revenue was categorized as state receipts of $658,159, federal receipts of $553,888, local $109,477, and service fees of $347,580.
State receipts included restricted funds of $258,990, retirement subsidy of $171,941, and public health transformation funds of $227,228.
Federal receipts included Title V MCH Block Grant of $34,473, Title X Family Planning of $10,000, Preventive Service Block Grant of $4,000, Coronavirus Response & Relief of $56,000, American Rescue Plan of $68,482, and Federal Grant Department Public Health of $380,933.
Local receipts were from property tax totaling $109,477.
Service fees included Medicare Clinic of $7,500, Medicaid HANDS of $338,570, and a carry-over of $1,510.
Expenses included full-time employee salaries and leave totaling $717,614, personal service contract and part-time employee salaries of $48,806, fringe benefits of $594,193, independent contracts of $1,500, travel expenses of $14,765, space occupancy expenses of $50,500, office operating expenses of $77,678, medical supply expenses of $3,800, automotive expenses of $9,605, and other operating expenses of $134,243.
“We do have the details of this if you’re interested in it,” commented Mills. “This is the budget summary and it has quite a bit of detail in it already.”
Seemingly satisfied with the summary, the board members gave the budget the green light of approval.
Mills presented a separate “taxing district” budget summary due at the DLG on July 15, which all board members approved. This report shows the public health district will receive $191,980 from taxes and $2,400 in intergovernmental revenue, with a carry-over of $951,372 in fiscal year 2025. Of the $1.1 million available, $109,477 will go toward the district’s operating budget (1.8% of the total budget), Mills said, while the remainder will stay in the “taxing district” account.
The board voted unanimously in favor of a $485,524 solar panel installation project, which Mills said would cost $87,000 in local taxes after grants and tax incentives.
“That equates to less than four years of our electric bill,” remarked Mills. Funding for the solar panel installation included a Federal Energy Tax Credit refund of $194,210, Public Health Preparedness funds totaling $25,000, a Mountain Association grant of $50,000, and a Solar Finance Fund grant in the amount of $128,813.
At this point Daniels made his departure and the board adjourned without approving the KY Hears lease agreement listed on the agenda. They also did not address the fiscal year 2024 financial report or a two-page operations and service report attached to the agenda.
Following the regular meeting, board members remained on-site to partake in food and refreshments. Discussions during that assembly remain unknown.
Board members who attended the regular meeting, in addition to Daniels, include Tegan Maynard, Dwayne Mills, Ruthie Mann, Dewey Ward, BJ Slone and county employee Eric Phelps, as a proxy for Martin County Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty.
The board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is Sept. 17 at 5:30 p.m.