Jackson County legislators cut in half Frank White’s $10 million coronavirus aid plan
Jackson County legislators plan to pass a coronavirus aid plan that would fund less than half of the $10 million package County Executive Frank White proposed this week.
All nine members of the county legislature co-sponsored the ordinance to authorize spending $4.5 million on health care costs, with nearly all of that going to Truman Medical Centers, the non-profit, public health system serving Kansas City and Jackson County, and the county health department.
Part of that money would cover the costs of testing people for the virus and tracking who else those who test positive might have passed it onto.
The funding is also earmarked for medical supplies, adding hospital beds and unspecified services provided by the county health department.
The county medical examiner would get $200,000 to pay for what the legislation calls “a high-volume X-ray machine” that “will be of critical importance in that office’s response to the emergency.”
White’s much-larger proposal also would have directed more than $4 million to Truman Medical and the health department, but nothing for the medical examiner.
In addition, he had proposed spending $1 million on assistance from other community health providers, $2 million to temporarily house people under quarantine, $1.5 million to deliver them food, as well as $1.5 million to help the county’s cities buy protective equipment and provide extra pay for police officers, firefighters and jail personnel.
Theresa Galvin said White announced his plan prematurely, before he and legislators could identify where the money to pay for it would come from. County Administrator Troy Schulte had said during White’s Facebook Live event Monday afternoon that the $10 million would come from “reserves in our rainy day fund under the argument that it is raining,” but wasn’t specific.
A press release issued at the time of the announcement made no mention of how the county would pay for the plan.
A number of county departments and budgets have contingency funds, but no single pot of money that is unspoken for with $10 million in it.
The legislature’s plan would empty the entire $3.6 million reserve fund required by state law for emergencies, saying that the state or federal government would most likely provide reimbursement.
Another $900,000 would come from undesignated funds in the pot of property tax money collected from the health levy. The county would also hope to be reimbursed for that.
Like White, legislators named their plan the Joe Runions Act in honor of the Democratic state representative from Grandview who was hospitalized recently after contracting COVID-19.
In announcing his proposal, White said he understood that “the ultimate decision on how much funding is made available and who receives it, will be up to the legislature.”
On Friday, his administration issued a statement regarding the legislature’s suggested changes.
“While the County Executive’s original proposal recommended funding come from the County Improvement Fund, where sufficient unencumbered funds currently exist and could be accessed immediately, we were asked by the Legislative Chair to consider alternative sources,” it said. “The Administration is open to utilizing other funding sources, but remain committed to the belief that the Runions Act needs to be both fully funded and acted on immediately, for the safety and welfare of our community.”
Legislator Crystal Williams said in a text message on Thursday that it is “very likely” she and her colleagues might eventually find money to pay for other elements of White’s plans, “depending on how this all plays out.”
But she said it was it important to move ahead now on funding for immediate health care needs and decide on the rest later.
“I absolutely believe we must do whatever we can to help our constituents deal with this disaster,” she said.
