Commissioners approve plans to take over the health district
On Monday, Galveston County commissioners unanimously passed an agreement to take over the management of the Galveston County Health District. The county provided the health agency with money each year, but leaders said they discovered there were ways to save funds if they took over.
The agreement shows the county would take over several areas, including accounting, IT, and HR. By doing so, documents show, "Positions that duplicate existing County roles, create unnecessary overlap, or do not support the administrative functions transferred under this Agreement may be eliminated without replacement."
By doing this, Commissioner Hank Dugie told ABC13 it'll save taxpayers $500,000 a year. ABC13 asked how many employees could be impacted.
Dugie couldn't say, adding that some of the positions that'll be eliminated are currently vacant.
Some health district employees reached out to ABC13, concerned about losing tenure and benefits. Dugie couldn't say how the transition would work, and referred ABC13 to the HR department.
Commissioner Robin Armstrong told ABC13 in a statement, "Our employee retirement pension plan is also better than the health district plan - they will appreciate that!"
Armstrong went on to say, "There is always an adjustment time when changes are being made, but this change will be better for health district employees and the citizens they serve. No change in services, but I suspect increased services due to the financial savings."
What does this mean for services?
During Monday's meeting, commissioners said this won't impact services. Health district documents show two years ago, the agency reached tens of thousands of Galveston County neighbors through a variety of programs including health visits, vaccines, and ambulance rides.
While leaders said services won't be impacted, former county employee Kenneth Williams isn't so sure. He said he's heard from several health district employees.
"If they plan on saving wages, they've got to cut something," Williams said. "I just hope they don't cut the services that these folks rely on, and I hope it doesn't interfere with any federal funding."
Dugie told ABC13 federal funding won't be impacted. Williams told commissioners on Monday that they should delay this vote and provide more information to neighbors and employees.
"Just table this," Williams said. "Let us try to figure out what's going on. See if it's going to affect anything. I know a lot of people; from my understanding, there's a number of them that will lose their jobs, but we just don't know how the finances are going to work yet."
This isn't a done deal. The health district's board is holding a special meeting on Thursday to vote on this. On Monday, we reached out to the health district about the commissioner's court meeting, but we didn't receive a response.