Tuscarawas County Health Department officials were blindsided by a recall of 250-thousand dollars in federal funding and are bracing for more cuts.
Health commissioner Katie Seward says the future cuts are expected as DOGE scales back federal spending. However, she was not anticipating cuts to money already awarded and already allocated to upgrades to drive-up services and an unreliable nearly 50-year-old HVAC system.
“We’re hoping that we can still bill for some of the project that’s already been started but without doubt because we’re under contract if for some reason we’re unable to bill that $300,000 then the loss to our local health department is going to be much higher than the $250,000 that I had mentioned in the letter. It would be closer to $700,000.”
Seward says it’s a little misleading to call the federal funds COVID relief money. She says the pandemic identified shortcomings in public health, and the funds were meant to make improvements so health departments are ready for future emergencies.
“The other thing that I want to mention that I think is a misconception is that the monies that were recalled by the federal government were in some way connected to COVID immunizations. In fact, those funds were exclusive, meaning that we could not do anything COVID immunizations or immunizations in general, promotion or education, with those dollars.”
Seward put her thoughts on federal cuts in a letter addressed to the Tuscarawas County community. She said she wants to make residents aware of upcoming impacts to local health services and hopes if they have concerns they share them with elected officials.
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