The Finance and Personnel Committee met to discuss the budget Wednesday morning.
Mayor Tom Barrett announced his 2019 proposed budget last month to a group of alderpeople hopeful to put the past mistakes of a troubled Health Department behind them. Among the highlights of budget was a $20 million package devoted to lead poisoning prevention across the city, $7.6 million of which will be available for the Health Department to use to remove lead paint from homes.
The money will also help create a special team focused on the issue, as laid out by officials within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, the majority of the $7.6 million will be used to remove lead and other hazards from homes.
Department Vacancies
The budget will also create funding for 21 new positions in the department, which has received new life after Jeanette Kowalik took over as Health Commissioner last month. The budget creates three more positions in the childhood lead detection program, totaling seven employees working within this program. However, the department still faces a shortage in employees, with 43 current vacancies within its ranks.
Salary is the main reason employees are leaving according to exit interviews conducted by human resources officials within the department. The average salary for employees working in the childhood lead prevention program totals $47,968, according to the 2019 proposed budget. 2017 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the national average for a community health worker is $42,340.
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“If there was an outbreak in 2019, we wouldn’t have the staffing levels to deal with that,” said Commissioner Kowalik, using cryptosporidium, a common infection, as an example. “We have what we have but we need more.”
The proposed total budget for the department is $14.1 million, a 3.2% increase from last year. Of that amount, $7.8 million is for salaries and wages, a 5.1% increase.
Lead Testing
There is currently only one employee in the department who has been taking charge in regard to water testing and filtration handout measures. That individual has almost single handedly overseen approximately 1,200 water testing cases this year.
This official is also focused on handing out water filtration kits to citizens. The Health Department has handed out nearly 1,300 water filtration kits. These kits are designed to remove lead from drinking water. There is a limited supply of free water filter kits available through the department for Milwaukee citizens who live in a home with a lead service line, and who have either a child in the home under the age of 6, a pregnant or breastfeeding woman in the home or a woman who may become pregnant.
However, members of the Finance and Personnel Committee were concerned with the pace the department has been showing regarding homes they have abated, or made safe, regarding lead. Only seven of the 112 properties identified in January as the residences of children reported with elevated blood-lead levels between 2015 and 2017 have been abated, according to the Milwaukee Legislative Reference Bureau.
“I don’t think it’s rocket science to find out where we are right now, and what is our back log,” said Ald. Michael Murphy in a committee meeting Wednesday.
In response, Health Department representative Sarah Zarate explained to the committee why there is a delay. All of the 112 properties have been contacted, and 64 have been inspected. Of the 64 inspected, 28 scopes of work have been completed and five properties were cleared with no hazards found. Zarate said that in some cases they have not been able to connect with the homeowner or landlord, causing them to work with the City Attorney to make a special warrant for those cases.
Shortage in staff and length of paperwork were also blamed for the slow pace. "Those other departments probably did a little heavy lifting because of the transition,” said Ald. Milele Coggs, discussing the resignation of the previous Health Commissioner. “Now with those departments transitioning, some of that heavy lifting will be shifted back to you.”
Kowalik said she couldn’t agree more. “Were it now, it’s time to step up,” she said.
The budget will be considered at a Common Council meeting on November 13. Mayor Barrett has the power to veto any specific items in the budget.
