Board of Health - June 22, 2017 Minutes
Regular Meeting: Friday, June 22, 2017
Present: Chris Anderson, MD; Vern Bennett, Dinah Goldenberg, Chelsey Matter, John Strand, and Mike Thorstad
Others Present: Larry Anenson, John Baird, MD; Jan Eliassen, Desi Fleming, Grant Larson, Melissa Perala, and Ruth Roman
Dinah Goldberg, Chair called the meeting to order.
Announcements: Street Alive is in Fargo this year on Sunday. Broadway will be closed down and there will be wellness and family activities.
Approve minutes from May 19, 2017: Mike Thorstad made a motion to approve the May 19, 2017 meeting minutes. Chris Anderson seconded and motion carried.
2018 Budget: Ruth had a meeting with the City of Fargo finance team (Kent Costin, Mayor Mahoney, City Administrator and Assistant, and Commissioner Strand) about how everything was moving forward with our proposed budget. The direction was given to hold operating expenses even. Currently, we have 146 employees, 124 FTE’s with part time staff. We are working on emergency issues and have several staff on the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Addiction who have applied for grants. In the past, we had seen a decrease in federal and state grants but we have reversed that this year to an increase in state and federal. Insurance revenue continues to increase. We will continue accreditation for 2017 through 2018. State Aid funding will be down slightly.
Revenue: First pie chart circulated was the actual budget for each division. Ruth explained all the revenue sources in detail. Mike Thorstad had a question about future federal aid but vast majority of funding is secure. Second pie chart circulated was 2018 proposed. Revenue was up $551,362.
Expenses: Distributed 2016 actual, 2017 budgeted, 2017 Year to Date, and 2018 projected with a summary of proposed budget expense changes by division. Increase of $495,416 not including salaries. Almost 80 percent of our budget is in salary and benefits and we know that our biggest asset is our staff. Vern Bennett commented that it looks good for 2018 but looking ahead, the two big areas of revenue that he felt could have potential to drop was tobacco and Ryan White. There are several years left of tobacco funding and Ruth explained Ryan White funding. Most of that funding is pass-through and we would be able to retain our staff.
Cass County and Jail Budget: the budget will be presented to Cass County Commission mid to late July. Discussed cost of living, market adjustment, and salary steps. Asking from Cass County a $781,394, 1.9 percent increase. On the jail budget talked about staff requests, electronic health records, and differential pay for evenings and weekends. John Strand asked about pharmacy costs and opiate treatment issues. Chris Anderson said from a medical perspective opiate withdrawal is generally not life threatening but alcohol withdrawal is truly life threatening. Discussion regarding who is responsible for the cost of medications in the jail setting, increase in jail population the last five years as well as the increase in level of care needed. The Board encouraged us to ask for additional nursing staff in the Jail budget if this is needed.
Mike Thorstad made a motion to support the proposed budget. John Stand seconded with the disclaimer on the results of Ruth’s work on the jail and motion carried.
Next Meeting: August 18, 2017