OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Aug. 25, 2023) – The conflict between the Ottawa County Department of Public Health and the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners was taken to a new level on Thursday afternoon.
To comply with a request from County Administrator John Gibbs, the health department did submit a proposed budget for 2024 by the Thursday deadline. However, County Health Officer Adeline Hambley spiced the press release disclosing the spending plan by calling the request, “an attempt to achieve political victory over COVID-19 at the expense of Ottawa County citizens on behalf of (Board Chairman) Joe Moss (R-Hudsonville).”
The budget would be trimmed to $2.5 million, as proposed by the Administrator, which Moss and the Board majority claimed would be back in line with average funding levels prior to the novel coronavirus outbreak of three years ago. However, Hambley, who has a lawsuit against the Board over an attempt to replace her at the first of the year, contends that, “at no point in the last 20 years has the total general fund allocation to Public Health been $2.5 million.” She posted figures to substantiate this claim.
In disclosing this proposal, the department said in a statement, “This amounts to an 88% reduction in general funds available to provide services to the community, which will almost certainly close the health department within weeks of its implementation.”
The request for a 2024 budget from the health department came during the county board’s Finance and Administration Committee meeting on Monday. Moss and Gibbs did not immediately comment publicly on Hambley’s submitted budget and subsequent remarks.
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