Funding for Healthy Howard, a new health-care program designed for county residents with no health insurance, was the only point of contention Monday as the council held its final hearing and work session on County Executive Kenneth Ulman’s proposed 2010 fiscal year budget.

The council is expected to pass the budget Wednesday, and it takes effect July 1.

Ulman’s $1.4 billion operating budget includes layoffs for nine county employees and mandatory furloughs in December for most other county workers. Elected officials are being encouraged by Ulman to donate a week’s portion of their pay to a special fund that probably will go to community service organizations, county Budget Director Raymond Wacks said.

County Council member Gregory Fox, the council’s sole Republican, submitted an amendment to the budget that would have cut funding for Healthy Howard from $500,000 to $250,000 and shifted the money to the budget for the Association of Community Services of Howard County, the umbrella organization that pays for Healthy Howard and other non-profit groups.

Because Healthy Howard has fewer participants than initially predicted, Fox argued , it should receive less money.

“Healthy Howard is asking to do less with more and I guess I’m a little bit perplexed by that,” Fox said.

Although the council took no formal vote on Fox' amendment earlier this week, all of the other members indicated they would not support it.

Council vice chairwoman Jennifer Terrasa defended the program, saying it only began treating patients in January and should be given a full year to show whether it works.

“I for one think we should give them the benefit of the doubt here,” she said. “I don’t understand why you’re going after this project.”

The program originally was expected to have 2,000 participants by the end of 2009, but Dr. Peter Beilenson, the county’s health officer, said more recently that he is hoping to have about 900 participants by the end of June 2010.

Beilenson said he blamed himself for the unmet expectations, because he put  too much emphasis on numbers in the early months of the program.

Healthy Howard, which began taking applications in October, currently has 200 participants and about 300 applications pending. The program, which is not insurance, gives residents health coverage and a “health coach” to offer them guidance, for a set monthly fee.

Beilenson said he thinks a large portion of uninsured residents in the county remain unaware of the program and could benefit from it, but the number of participants is only one way to measure whether it is working.

Council member Courtney Watson said she did not want to be blamed for the program’s failure by denying it money now, and denied an accusation by Fox that council members were giving Ulman a “blank check.”

“I would like to give it an opportunity to see if it can succeed,” she said.

Other issues, meanwhile, were resolved in the final days of council budget discussions.

Council chairwoman Mary Kay Sigaty said Ulman has agreed to look for state grants that could pay for an alternative sentencing program that was cut in next year’s budget. The program, currently in the sheriff’s department, had offenders doing community service work and was supposed to support itself through fees paid by defendants.

The program, if salvaged, probably would be moved under another county agency but not receive county money, Sigaty said.
Council members also decided against giving an additional $4.7 million to the school system for capital projects, instead asking school officials to shift the money from other sources. Sigaty said the school system gained some additional funds by cutting money earmarked for planning future projects.

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