Caldwell County Board of Health approves fiscal-year budget and fee schedule

The Caldwell County Board of Health on May 7 approved its fiscal-year 25–26 budget and an updated fee schedule and voted to transmit the budget package to the county board of commissioners.

Bridal Ravey, a county finance staff member who presented the reports, summarized the month-ending March fiscal snapshot: "our budget has, 75% elapsed, and we have, our expenditures are at 56%. Revenues at 40, and our county revenue is at 85%," and described a handful of small grant awards that had come in since the packet was prepared. Ravey said some additional grants and ARPA funds were still pending and that certain Medicaid reimbursements now arrive differently following the state’s Medicaid transformation.

The board discussed department-level changes, including a roughly 20% increase in an administration contractual line tied to an Athenahealth electronic medical record consolidation, and an approximate 11% increase in the environmental health budget driven primarily by salary and professional-fee estimates for potential court work. Ravey told the board she expects about $51,000 in CCPN incentive funds to roll into the next fiscal year and said clinic lab-testing fees required small increases because of shipping and manufacturing cost changes.

One board member questioned a 22% reduction proposed for environmental health vehicle fuel, asking whether that cut was realistic given rising gas prices. Finance staff replied the reduction reflected year-to-date spending ("they've spent maybe $5,000 of that budget") and that the line could be adjusted if the board recommended it.

The board moved to approve the fee schedule as presented and then approved the full budget package "as presented tonight." Both actions were carried by voice vote; no opposing votes were recorded in the public transcript.

What happens next: the board transmitted the approved budget to the county board of commissioners as part of the county’s regular budget process. The board also noted several grants and Medicaid-payment timing issues may require later adjustments as funds are received.

Notes: figures and descriptions in this article use the wording and numbers provided in the meeting transcript; at one point staff referenced unallocated revenue in a large figure in the transcript that was unclear in context and therefore is not reported here as a definitive amount.