News Photo by Reagan Voetberg The District Health Department No. 4 met in the Commissioners room in the Presque Isle Co. building for a special meeting on Friday.

ROGERS CITY — On Friday, the District Health Department No. 4 (DHD4) board voted to eliminate three positions and other measures to help solve its approximately $500,000 budget deficit.

At their Jan. 20 regular meeting, Michelle Konwinski, DHD4 financial officer, said that DHD4 is operating on a budget deficit for fiscal year 2026. The agency does not have enough money set aside to cover that deficit, she said.

Konwinski explained that in prior years, the health department has operated with a budget deficit “as much as” $1.1 to $1.2 million dollars per the prior audits.”

On Friday, the special meeting agenda listed a closed session, but that agenda was amended at the start of the meeting to omit that session.

The board added administration and finance recommendations as new business to the agenda.

The first item of discussion was a resolution for enhanced financial transparency and fiscal oversight.

Mary Hardies, DHD4 health board chair, said she recommended that the resolution be reviewed by counsel before making a motion to approve. Details about what is written in the resolution were not discussed in depth.

The board voted in favor of a motion to send the resolution to counsel for best practices.

The board then discussed the elimination of one Information Technology (IT) position.

“We had originally proposed eliminating our IT… department as a whole,” Chelsea Engle, DHD4 administrative health officer, said.

In that scenario, the County of Alpena would have provided IT services for the health district in place of the DHD4 IT department.

Engle said she changed the plan to propose elimination of one IT position with one other IT position reduced from supervisory pay, saving around $66,000.

The board voted in favor of the new proposal to eliminate one IT position.

The board passed a motion to eliminate two environmental health positions as well. Due to union regulations, the department had to eliminate two positions from Cheboygan County, as they were the latest hires, Konwinski said.

The total reduced as a result from eliminating the IT and environmental health positions is a little over $197,000, bringing the deficit to around $302,800.

Next, the board looked at changes to their fee schedule. The fee schedule lays out what DHD4 charges for the services the department offers.

“It’s been several years since we’ve made any kind of more than $10 increase in our fees,” Konwinski said.

One of Konwinski’s team members contacted other health departments to see what they were charging and reported back that in some cases, DHD4 is charging only 25% of what other health departments charge.

“This puts us more in line… with where we should be,” Konwinski said about the proposed fee schedule.

The board passed a motion to adopt the fee schedule and subject it to annual review.

Konwinski proposed increasing appropriations from Alpena, Cheboygan, Presque Isle, and Montmorency counties by 5%.

The board passed a motion to request an increase in appropriations from each of their individual counties.

If all county boards approve the payment increase, it will generate $18,745 additional revenue, Konwinski said. That will bring the deficit down to around $238,000.

Board representatives from Alpena, Cheboygan, and Presque Isle will also ask for rent reductions from their respective counties for the individual health department buildings.

The rent reduction will be based on market rates, Konwinski said. For the building in Cheboygan County, rent will be reduced by about half from $4,851 to $2,250 per month.

Board Member Lucille Bray said Alpena is looking at reducing rent by 50%.

The board passed a motion to have staff pursue rent reduction and bring back a recommendation to the board.

Konwinski said that the department should save about $15,000 on their next audit for FY 2025. The FY 2024 audit cost around $40,000 due to items on the balance sheet being “way off”, she said. Auditors give a cost range for their services depending on how much extra work needs to be done.

DHD4 could also earn more money once Konwinski completes the district’s medicaid reimbursement reports for FY 2022, FY 2023, and FY 2024. Those reports were not completed by the previous financial officer. Konwinski said that the FY 2022 and 2023 reports will be done by the board’s next regular meeting in February. The FY 2024 report will be done later, “way before June,” Konwinski said.

Medicaid funding will be turned back on once those reports are complete, although she cannot be sure how much the department will earn from that.

The board passed a motion to acquire Intuit Quickbooks online advanced, saving $21,000.

The board passed a motion to terminate their contract with Hillman schools wellness program. Another entity is interested in picking up the program, Hardies said. The DHD4 will run the program until at least April when the handoff to the other entity can be made.

The board passed a motion to create a clinical administrative position, in lieu of hiring another nursing director. It will give one of the health department’s internal employees an opportunity to move up, and give them a modest salary increase, Engle said.

Konwinski also reported that the department received a harm reduction grant and that the department will be receiving another $15,000 grant from the state. Those grants have also helped reduce the budget deficit.

If rent reductions and increased appropriations are approved by the counties, that will bring the deficit down to around $97,000. The meeting ended with that amount still on the table.

“Michelle has put in an excessive amount of hours in order for these to be in front of you today,” Engle said about the budget cut plans. “Every scenario, every option, because we want our health department to be here and we do not want the state to come and rip it away.”

“(Michelle) is constantly trying to dig us out of a hole created by the previous administration…We are transparent and will continue to be,” Engle said.

Reagan Voetberg. News Staff Writer. rvoetberg@TheAlpenaNews.com.