Health district passes $3.4 million budget for 2021

MOSES LAKE — Members of the board overseeing the Grant County Health District have approved the district’s $3.4 million budget for 2021, a 35% increase over 2020.

In an online meeting Thursday via Zoom, the board — which is comprised of representatives from most of the county’s cities, as well as the Grant County Commission — unanimously approved the budget, which includes a 1.4% pay increase for health district employees and $30,000 in COVID-19-related supplies to help when the pandemic vaccine arrives in Grant County.

According to GCHD Administrator Theresa Adkinson, $2.7 million, or roughly 73% of the district’s overall expenditures, are salaries and benefits.

As for revenue, roughly 24%, or $825,000, comes from the federal government — much of it pandemic related — with 15% ($501,000) from the Washington State Department of Health, 8% ($303,000) in contributions from Grant County and cities across the county, and 32% (around $1.1 million) from permits and fees for restaurant and food handler inspections, septic tanks, and swimming pools.

Prior to the outbreak of the pandemic in March, the health district was raising its food and septic tank inspection fees to get those programs — which were the bulk of the district’s work prior to the COVID-19 outbreak — paying for themselves.

“We’re working harder to get food and septic programs budget neutral,” Adkinson said.

Adkinson said there will be additional monies for the district as part of federal aid for health districts tracking, tracing and combatting the COVID-19 pandemic. However, she added the governor’s office has not yet freed up the money.

“We’re going to go with what we have,” Adkinson said. “The Department of Health will be allocating state money, so that’s not included, and I don’t know how much it will be.”

As a result, Adkinson said the budget, as passed, has a tiny surplus of $17,000.

“There is a slight budget to be able to work with,” she said. “This is a conservative yet workable operating budget.”

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.