Health board budget shows cuts in programs

By Timothy Pratt

Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

The Clark County Board of Health was to vote today whether to approve its revised budget for fiscal year 2002-2003, a month later than usual due to a series of unforeseen fiscal setbacks.

The revised budget comes in at slightly more than $47 million, or $1.1 million more than an earlier version approved by the board in June. But the increase is mostly due to a $3 million federal grant to study the impacts of bioterrorism, so the revised budget actually reflects losses of funds and unexpected costs totaling $1.87 million.

The fiscal setbacks led to cuts in a series of programs, including a heroin addiction program cut in June, a home visit nursing program phased out over several months that shut down Oct. 1 and a North Las Vegas program to give restaurant and day care workers health cards that will shut down by the end of November.

The savings projected by shutting down these programs is $350,000, said Karl Munninger, director of administrative services for the district. These and other cutbacks were needed to offset such unexpected costs as a $70,000 repair to the district's Las Vegas health center and the loss of $831,189 in state funds after Gov. Kenny Guinn's September announcement of a 3 percent budget cut in most state agencies.

The programs chosen for the cutbacks were all low in demand, Munninger said, citing as an example the health card program, which served only 200 people a month in North Las Vegas, compared to the 7,500 a month served at the Las Vegas office.

"We have done everything we could to minimize the effect to the average person," he said.