County to give WATCH $110K
By Steve Herring
Published in News on June 3, 2015 1:47 PM
Wayne County commissioners Tuesday afternoon reversed course on defunding WATCH (Wayne Action Teams for Community Health), voting unanimously instead to cut its funding request in half to $110,000.
But the funding came with a warning: WATCH should not count on future county assistance and should seek other funding sources.
"Very likely that funding will not continue, but at least it gives WATCH an opportunity to adjust their budget over the course of a year," Commissioner Joe Daughtery said. "I think what happened here, a lot of emotions got involved.
"We had our arguments. They had their arguments, but then you get the emotion into, and we tried to take the emotion out of it."
The $220,000 the agency had requested represents nearly a third of the WATCH budget, said Dr. Clark Gaither, the agency's medical director.
"Well of course I would have preferred if they had fully funded our request, but I am appreciative of what they did give us," Dr. Gaither said. "It's certainly much better than the zero amount that (County Manager) Mr. (George) Wood had recommended. As far as the future is concerned, time will tell. We will have to do some scrambling to see if we can make up this shortfall from somewhere else.
"It also gives us an opportunity to maybe make a better case to commissioners for next year. If there is an application process, we will certainly submit an application same as usual. But maybe between now and then we can make a better case."
Dr. Gaither said does not think commissioners fully understand what WATCH does.
"I would like to get them in there and let them see what we do face to face," he said. "So all is not lost certainly. We will work with what we have to work with."
Six of the 10 people who spoke during the board's budget hearing addressed the funding of WATCH.
Only one, Bob Jackson, opposed the funding.
Pleading their case for funding were Dr. Gaither, Murray Porter, who helped found WATCH, agency board members Jimmy Ford and Susan McCall, and William Samuel McAliley II, a former patient, who said the program had saved his life.
"I could go on and on about the benefits this program has provided the county," Dr. Gaither said during the public hearing. "If we can't make up the difference, we will have to curtail our services that we provide in our three free clinics.
"I implore you to consider the impact that this decision will have on the care of the patients that we see in our clinics."
All of the care and labs are free and many of the medications are provided at no charge.
"We provide these patients with ongoing management of their chronic medical problems," he said. "We do this at no charge so it is a very unique program."
He urged commissioners to seek out patients in their districts to see what the program has meant to them.
Porter, a retired banker, voiced concerns that a lack of county funding could hurt the agency's ability to raise funds from other sources.
"They ask me if county is involved," he said. "Is the city involved?"
Ms. McCall pointed out that WATCH is more than just health care.
"We are involved in teen pregnancy (programs) in the high schools," she said. "Check those statistics. We have made a big impact in that area."
The county has funded $1.2 million to WATCH over the years while WATCH Director Sissy Lee-Elmore has raised more than $2.6 million in grants that can be used in ways other than just health care, she said.
Jackson said he did not think anyone would find directives or mandates that the board must fund nonprofits.
Jackson said he understood the hospital was responsible for indigent care, but that the hospital could farm it out to WATCH or bring it in house and do it through the emergency room.
During the afternoon budget workshop, Daughtery said the community has expressed a great deal of interest in WATCH over the past several years.
"That said I wish we had had a little bit more harmonious discussions over this issue," he said. "I wish that the (WATCH) board had come to us and recognized this is a voluntary contribution on the part of commissioners in funding WATCH and found a way to work with us for us to remove ourselves from funding that agency.
"That should be a private entity raising their funds other than the county. That said WATCH, I supposed I have been misunderstood. WATCH is a great program and provides a great deal of services to those in much need. I do not want to unduly harm WATCH and cause them in any way to have to move to close down."
In that interest, Daughtery said he was making a motion to fund $100,000 for fiscal year 2015-16 with the understanding that WATCH seek funding elsewhere.
"There has been some communications the last several days as some of you commissioners are aware of," Commissioner Ray Mayo said. "You know what the shame is? The shame is we could have done this five or six months ago."
Commissioners have good intentions and support WATCH, he said.
Mayo said he understands that legally the county is in the right not to provide the funding. But he said he did not want to see the county defund WATCH all at one time.
Mayo said he supported the motion, but suggested funding half, or $110,000, of the amount WATCH requested.
Daughtery agreed and amended his motion to fund $110,000.
Commissioner Joe Gurley said the communication should continue over the coming months to ensure that the board is "doing the right thing for our citizens."
"I have received so many calls about this WATCH situation," Commissioner John Bell said.
Some calls even carried what Bell said he took to be political threats. But those have not affected how he would make a decision, he said.
"I think it is a good idea we do something," he said.