With Tarrant County commissioners set to approve a new budget for the 2025 fiscal year, the county public health department could reduce its funding by millions of dollars.
The public health department has requested approximately $18.5 million for the upcoming year, which is roughly $4.5 million less than the recommended: $23 million.
Over the past fiscal year, county officials appropriated more than $26 million to public health department needs. Dr. William Brian Byrd, , attributes the lower request to a reduction in positions within the department.
There will be 11 grant-funded positions within that will not continue past September, said Byrd. Data informatics handles the collection of public health data from hospitals and clinics across the county and disperses the information for community use.
The department will also eliminate the deputy director, compliance program director and two administrative assistants, according to the 2025 budget.
鈥淲e remove positions, not people,鈥� said Byrd. 鈥淭here were some positions that were no longer needed that were grant-funded.鈥�
The public health department is responsible for overseeing services like family health programs, immunizations, and disease control and prevention.
Tarrant County Public Health was one of a few county departments that requested less than recommended.
The 2025 budget request comes almost three weeks after Tarrant County Public Health confirmed to the Report it was evaluating about two dozen positions for due to diminishing grant funds.
Bill Hanna, the county鈥檚 public information officer, previously said the public health department could request additional funding from the Tarrant County Commissioners Court during the 2025 fiscal year budget process or identify another grant source to fund the positions.
鈥淒r. Byrd assures these budget considerations will not affect Tarrant County Public Health鈥檚 core functions in any way,鈥� Hanna previously said in a statement.
Tarrant County Public Health has earned headlines in recent months following of longtime director Veerinder 鈥淰inny鈥� Taneja in February. In July, the county released an audit report revealing some of the department鈥檚 with its administration of federal and state grant funds in recent years.
Tarrant County Commissioners Court will hold a public hearing and vote to approve all department budgets Sept. 17.
David Moreno is the health reporter for the Fort Worth Report. His position is supported by a grant from Texas Health Resources. Contact him at david.moreno@fortworthreport.org or .
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