MOUNT VERNON — Knox Public Health’s 2024 annual budget is projected to generate $13.4 million in revenue appropriations.
Projected expenditures are $13.8 million, with $2.9 projected ending balance. The department started the year off with $3.29 million balance.
This includes 19 categories, ranging from food safety, swimming pool checks, campsite checks and a multitude of grants.
Knox Public Health fiscal director Katie Hunter said there weren’t any new categories for the budget, nor any spikes or dips compared to last year’s budget.
Hunter and health commissioner Zach Green have to balance achieving sustainability within the department with grants encompassing 28% of 2023’s permanent appropriations revenue.
When a grant’s life cycle ends, Green said he can’t guarantee those funds are still going to be available in the future.
For example, the department’s Drug Free Communities grant expires in Fall 2025. It aims “to support the efforts of community coalitions working to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth.”
The permanent appropriations budget expects Creating Healthy Communities, which focuses on improving access to and affordability of healthy food and increasing opportunities for physical activity, to generate $125,000 in revenue in 2024 with $124,700 in expenditures.
Grants pay some employees. Knox Public Health has roughly 100 employees, Green said, noting salaries and benefits are 70% of the department’s budget.
“Keeping a pulse on revenue cycle management is something we’re finding essential for us to continue to operate,” Green said.