ThisWeek CW 10/16/2014
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/10/13/city-likely-to-pay-more-for-public-health-services.html
Canal Winchester will pay more for public health services next year if city council approves a proposal from Franklin County Public Health.
City Finance Director Amanda Jackson said the new cost figures represent a significant increase over what Canal Winchester currently pays but ultimately do not have much effect on the city budget.
The per-capita cost for services in 2014 was $6.11; that will increase to $7.16 per capita in 2015, for a total cost of $52,471.74 based on 7,326 city residents. The cost of the current contract is $43,753.71, Jackson said.
“The annual cost for 2015 is about $52,000, which is a 17-percent increase over last year,” she said at the Oct. 6 council meeting. “In dollars, this is less than a $10,000 increase over 2014.”
In 2013, Canal Winchester signed a new contract for public health services with Franklin County after receiving bids from all three available providers: Franklin County Public Health, the Fairfield County Board of Health and Columbus Public Health.
Mayor Michael Ebert reminded council that the decision to go with Franklin County was made due to a combination of services offered and price.
“We looked at Columbus and Fairfield County’s board of health closely, but Fairfield County didn’t have nearly the services we require that Franklin County offers and Columbus was at least twice as much, pricewise,” Ebert said.
Jackson and Ebert said they had met with Franklin County officials recently and anticipated the increase. They also said it is likely there will be another significant increase next year.
Council asked if there were any options available to cap the rate of increases, but Ebert said he believes the higher costs are out of the hands of both the city and the county agency.
“This is still a bargain compared to everything else,” he said. “There’s more accreditation that has to be met statewide by public health providers by 2018, so the chance of this staying the same is unlikely.”
Councilwoman Bobbie Mershon asked if the new services required for accreditation would mean Fairfield County would begin offering the services required by Canal Winchester.
Ebert said that may become an option in the future.
“Right now, Columbus Public Health is about three times what we pay and I don’t expect that to change,” Ebert said. “It’s possible Fairfield will have what we need by then, but we’ll have to look at it then.”