The Tooele County Health Department spent nearly $500,000 less than anticipated last year, saving the department from having to dip into its rainy day funds as much as expected.
Jeff Coombs, health department director, said because of funding cuts from Tooele County over the years, the department expected to use some of its reserve funds in order to continue operating in 2014 without cutting staff or services.
However, the department spent $470,00 less than anticipated last year and brought in $150,000 more income than expected through contracts and fees for services, which reduced the department’s operating deficit by nearly $630,000.
In fact, the health department was within $300,000 of a 2014 surplus even before funding from the county is taken into account.
The department still had to take some money out of its reserves to maintain staff and services, Coombs said, but the amount wasn’t large.
“Basically, by being under budget, we didn’t have to tap into the reserves we already had,” he said.
Rather than downsizing, Coombs said the department found a $1.2 million grant that allowed the health department to bring on additional staff and introduce more programs and services.
Despite their success, Coombs said, he still plans to petition the county for more stable funding. At the current budgeted rate of deficit spending, he said, the health department would run out of funds in a few years.
“In theory, if we had used the full allocated budget, and had used reserve funds, that would last us two to maybe three years,” he said. “Then our reserves would be gone.”
Tooele County Commissioner Myron Bateman, former health department director and now the commission’s liaison to the Tooele County Board of Health, said he planned to push for more funding for the health department.
“We can’t continue to operate on our reserve funds year after year,” he said.