County Votes To Hand Health Department To City
EL PASO, Tx. – The health ofarea residentswill now be the sole responsibility of the city government.
The City County Health and Environmental District will now be under complete control of the City of El Paso.The decision was made Mondayat a meeting between county commissioners and city representatives where a unanimous vote by the two entities transferred power over to the city.
The City of El Paso and El Paso County previously shared responsibility in managing the district, which overseas everything from vaccination clinics to animal control. The previous arrangement had the City of El Paso supplying roughly 70% of funds for the district, with the county picking up the other 30%.
As a result, the county will now have to pay the city to offer services such as animal control, immunizations and vector control in areas outside the city limits.
El Paso Mayor John Cook tells ABC-7 he acknowledges this is only the beginning of a long and bumpy road. More funds will need to be invested in services such as Animal Control to make them more effective, he said.
“A change in governance does not fix all the problems we had at City-County Health…it isgoing totake more money than what we’ve put into it right now…next year, we’re going to have some real tough decisions to make that have monetary impactson them,” stated Cook.
Socorro Mayor Trini Lopez believes the change is for the best. “Now we’re going to have to deal with one entity, instead of three or four entities,” he said.
County Commissioner Veronica Escobar tells ABC-7 this is not the last word in fixing public health. “I’ve asked if we can look for ways in the future to figure out a way to do regional public health because we really need to move in that direction,” she said.
Cook plans to meet with County Judge Anthony Cobos and the rest of the county’s small-town mayors in mid-September to make plans fornext year’shealthcare budget.
