After turning the money down last year, Johnson County officials are reevaluating opting into a new source of local health funding.
Johnson County was one of six counties in the state to turn down funding from the Health First Indiana initiative enacted in Senate Enrolled Act 4 of 2023. The law added $75 million in funding for local health departments for 2024, followed by $150 million in 2025.
Funds were split between all the counties that opted in for a share of the money. If officials had opted in, Johnson County would have been eligible for between $1.5 million and $2.1 million for 2024 and between $3.1 million and $4.2 million in 2025, according to the Indiana Department of Health.
A condition of the funding is that health departments provide enhanced public health services and comply with reporting and metrics requirements. The legislation was in response to Indiana’s generally poor public health spending rating when compared to states across the country.
Why it was turned down
County officials said last year the local health department doesn’t need the extra cash, nor the strings attached to it. This was a collective decision made by the Johnson County Board of Commissioners and Johnson County Health Department officials.
SEA 4 provides a list of “core public health services” to be provided by local health departments, including communicable disease prevention, sanitary inspections, tobacco prevention programs, access to immunizations, testing for STDs and STIs, child fatality reviews, partnerships with schools, different health screenings and more.
“Our health department is already running 95% of what is required within this new bill,” Commissioner Kevin Walls said at the time. “So that’s one of the reasons we dropped out.”
The Johnson County Health Department is already a “very efficient” and professional public health department, Dr. Jefferson Qualls, county health officer, said last year. With current funding, the health department already provides the services this bill intends to expand, he said.
Some areas funding could improve, such as mental health, are already in the works, both within the health department and in partnerships with Johnson Memorial Health. The county is currently building a behavioral health wing at Johnson Memorial Hospital with funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
Officials emphasized at the time, the funding was being turned down because the county doesn’t need it as much as other counties do. Saying “no” is not an indication the county doesn’t take public health seriously, they said.
“We’re not greedy. I mean, I just think the consensus is we don’t need it. So why should we take it?” Walls said at the time. “… It could be better utilized someplace else. That’s kind of the bottom line.”
Why they’re reconsidering
After making the decision to turn down the funding, the commissioners received a lot of calls, Commissioner Ron West said this week. Many constituents understood why the money was turned down but not everyone West spoke to did, he said.
Greenwood City Council member David Hopper, who is the director of local health department outreach for the Indiana Department of Health, took issue with county officials’ justification for not opting in during a city council meeting last August, including comments that the county health department already provides many of the services required by the bill. He said there were numerous other ways the county could’ve used the money, and encouraged people to reach out to the county.
When asked for a comment in response to Hopper, Walls said he had no comment other than that officials should “let the plan roll out and see how it rolls out.”
Recently, West brought up the idea of reconsidering after a constituent reached out and asked the county to consider opting in for 2025 funding, he said. After speaking with the constituent, who is a retired doctor, West started the process of organizing a conversation between county officials and IDOH to learn more about SEA 4 and the funding.
This conversation will take place during a special commissioner meeting set for around 11 a.m. Monday. State and county officials will gather for a roundtable discussion in the commissioner’s meeting room in the Johnson County West Annex, 18 W. Jefferson St., Franklin. The meeting is public, as all three commissioners are expected to attend.
The commissioners have invited many county public health stakeholders including county council members, health department leaders, hospital leaders, and others to come together to talk about the funding with state officials during the discussion, West said.
The discussion may or may not result in the county opting in, but officials are willing to hear IDOH out, West said.
Editor’s note: This story previously contained outdated information regarding the number of counties that opted out.
