Some voters may view the Saginaw County Health Department’s first-ever property tax proposal to be a “COVID-19 millage,” but Health Officer Christina Harrington says an ongoing budget pinch would have caused agency leaders to pursue a request, regardless.
The viral pandemic, which by late September had led to 139 countywide deaths among 2,936 cases, merely “amplifies” issues that cause Saginaw to rank 77th among Michigan’s 83 counties in overall public health, she says
County general funds have supported about 10 percent of the Health Department’s $10 million annual budget, The remainder comes from federal and state revenue sharing that have declined sharply since the turn of the millennium. A new tax would provide $2.43 million the first year, a boost near 25 percent.
Property owners would pay 24 cents for each $1,000 of a home’s sales value (double the taxable value, or SEV, on your latest statement from the courthouse). For example, that’s $4.80 for a $20,000 market value, or $14.20 for a $60,000 value, or $24 for a $100,000 value.
Health Department administrators say the added funds would help pay for:
- Sustained operation of one or possibly two mobile units, returning services to out county areas and enhancing services countywide, beyond the main headquarters on North Michigan Avenue, a mile from the courthouse.
- A full-time epidemiologist to delve into Saginaw County’s higher-than-average rates of cancer, asthma, heart disease, and infant mortality.
- Instead of a single overworked nurse, a team of nurses for disease surveillance and investigation of more than 100 diseases including influenza, Hepatitis A, and now, COVID-19.
- New equipment and increased testing capacity for the public health laboratory.
- Enhanced public communications for reliable health information and education.
Examples of people who would benefit include restaurant diners, outdoors enthusiasts, households served by well, essential employees in work places, visitors to public buildings and residents who face natural disasters or emergencies.
School children would receive hearing and vision screenings, immunizations, and communicable disease prevention.
“The Health Department safeguards Saginaw from COVID-19 and all other diseases,” Harrington says. “We work to make sure that our air, water, food, schools, businesses, stores, salons, restaurants, and neighborhoods are safe. While they are much more visible now during the pandemic, they are always behind the scenes protecting the community from disease.”
She adds: “Beyond the obvious impact of COVID-19 and other emerging infectious diseases, Saginaw is suffering from poor health outcomes. Obesity, inactivity, alcohol consumption, smoking and food inequities are contributing factors. So are higher than average rates of infant mortality, cancer, heart disease, and sexually transmitted infections than the rest of our state and nation. These aren’t problems that hospitals or doctors fix. These are public health problems. They impact our community’s quality of life. Solutions require adequate numbers of public health experts and better mobility to reach people countywide, and better technology and more robust data to investigate, analyze and understand how and why these problems are occurring.”
An epidemiologist is defined as a “public health professional who investigates patterns and causes of diseases.” The hiree would team with Dr. Delicia Pruitt, a family physician who serves part-time as the Health Department’s medical director though a recently developed partnership with Central Michigan University Health. Evidence of CMU’s growing presence is seen in the construction project on the north section of Covenant Medical Center’s campus.
“Dr. Pruitt’s clinical expertise,” says Harrington, “has helped us provide reliable, trustworthy guidance to health care providers, hospitals, nursing homes, businesses, schools, restaurants, gyms, banquet centers, municipalities, congregate living centers, and more — not only during COVID but also for the recent flooding and the current West Nile virus/EEE situation. The health department’s only ‘epidemiology capacity” has been graduate school interns who worked on special projects.”
A millage support group, Yes to Public Health, and the Saginaw County Health Department have established Facebook pages and a web site, saginawpublichealth.org. Placement of yard signs is slated for October.
Chris Harrington and Dr. Delisha Pruitt answer COVID-19 questions and debunk myths about the virus: https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=538332736867344&ref=watch_permalink
