The Carroll County Board of Supervisors informally approved proposed changes to a 28E sharing agreement for environmental health services with Crawford County that will maintain services in both counties and protect Carroll County taxpayers. The longstanding partnership has been in place for many years and only came to the board’s attention after they determined the services led to an approximately $40,000 loss for the county over the last five years. Environmental Health Director Carey Kersey and Supervisors Mike Andersen and Cindy Scaturico recently met with Crawford County Supervisor David Muhlbauer to discuss possible solutions for the deficit.
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The 28E agreement hasn’t been updated for around a decade, and the Carroll County supervisors aren’t looking to adjust the partnership. Rather, they want Carroll County not to lose money and Crawford County not to need its own environmental services department. Kersey says that could be a challenging task, as the state controls most of the reimbursement rates for permitting, and those can fluctuate significantly from year to year.
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Because of that, it is difficult to predict revenue and expenses for the annual budget accurately. Board Chair Stephanie Housman says the ideal situation would be for Crawford County to pay for services in arrears.
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Both boards are comfortable with the adjustments, but they will need to act quickly to incorporate them into the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 budget. The supervisors will forward the changes to the county attorney’s office for review. Then, the Carroll and Crawford County Boards of Health will need to approve the changes before they can go into effect.