OTTAWA COUNTY — Ottawa County’s budget for 2025 was approved Tuesday, Sept. 24, but not without a last-minute change.
Prior to voting on the budget resolution Tuesday, commissioners had a spirited debate about a grant included in the health department’s budget. After 45 minutes of discussion, a recess and another 10 minutes of discussion, the board voted to remove the $900,000 grant.
The vote passed 6-4, with members of the board's Ottawa Impact faction voting in favor. Chair Joe Moss, Vice Chair Sylvia Rhodea and Commissioners Gretchen Cosby, Allison Miedema, Roger Belknap and Kendra Wenzel voted yes. Commissioners Roger Bergman, Jacob Bonnema, Chris Kleinjans and Doug Zylstra voted no. Commissioner Rebekah Curran was absent.
No positions are tied to the grant, which would have allocated $900,000 for emergency communicable disease response. After the amendment to remove the grant, the budget passed 9-1, with Bonnema voting against.
The board held several meetings on the budget before Tuesday, including a public hearing Sept. 10 that saw no comments. The grant was not discussed during those meetings, but was mentioned during a health and human services committee meeting on Sept. 17.
During that meeting, Moss asked Health Officer Adeline Hambley if there was a “new or changing infection prevention grant” in this year’s budget. Hambley said yes, adding the grant was once specific to COVID-19, but has expanded to cover general infection prevention.
“It’s not specified for COVID, it’s any sort of infection, disease response,” she said.
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Hambley said staff time used to respond to infectious diseases, such as norovirus, could be billed against the grant. When asked if the grant would have any positions tied to it, Hambley said no, adding it would offset time for existing staff.
Immediately after that meeting, the board's finance and administration committee met and approved the budget unanimously, grant included. Moss said at that meeting the budget was “looking pretty good.”
It seemed the budget might pass with little fanfare this year, after a highly public battle between the board and OCDPH last year.
In 2023, proposed cuts to OCDPH led to protests, public arguments and the scheduling of a termination hearing for Hambley. That hearing concluded without a determination and Hambley kept her job.
This year, until Tuesday, had been a stark contrast. A public hearing on the proposed budget came and went in seconds, with no opinions offered. There were fewer concerns shared both by members of the public and the county government.
Tuesday’s conversation, though, was reminiscent of those that took place last August and September.
Moss, who throughout the night referred to the grant as a COVID grant, said he felt it exists because “the state wants to incentivize spending money on COVID grants." He told Miedema the item went through the normal budget process, but later bemoaned that “information was not brought about this earlier.”
The board rejected a similar grant, along with several others, for the department last year. At that time, it was specific to COVID-19 response.
Several commissioners expressed concern about making the change so late in the process. Those that voted against the motion to remove the grant suggested approving the budget as presented, then revisiting the grant later, if necessary.
“I want to make an informed decision tonight,” Bonnema said. “It’s hard to sit here and vote on this in 11th hour when there’s no emergency preventing us from making this decision after we’ve had a little bit of time to collaborate with some of our other peers ... I’m purely asking that we pass it as is and then we revisit this issue in the coming weeks. We have time to do that.”
Zylstra felt it didn’t “make much sense” to reject the funds and instead rely on general fund contingencies for a potential emergency. Moss said he’s not planning on there being an emergency to need the funds.
After a back-and-forth with Zylstra, Moss spoke about the “reign of tyranny” from OCDPH during the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I do not expect any COVID emergencies or any similar emergencies with communicable diseases. I think it would be safe and prudent to reject the grant and not pre-plan ahead to use it for an emergency,” Moss said.
During discussions, Cosby said she’s been “asking (OCDPH) for disease reports for 20 months” without receiving data. OCDPH posts a monthly communicable disease report on its website.
Moss and Rhodea said if the health department needs funds for emergency response — Moss gave the “example” of hiring employees for contact tracing and implementing social distancing in schools — they should come before the board to explain why it’s needed.
Fiscal Services Director Karen Karasinski said the board could opt to move the $900,000 to the general fund reserves, giving the board authority over when those dollars are used. Several commissioners, Moss included, said it was a good compromise, but he still wasn’t interested.
“It’s a great suggestion,” he said. “(But) I’m personally opposed to accepting any COVID grants.
“I would rather not accept it and set an example for other counties in Michigan to say, ‘Please, stop accepting all this federal money if you don’t have to.’ Especially the COVID money. They’re just going to keep pouring it in, year after year, pushing a specific type of agenda. That’s what grants are used for.”
After 45 minutes, the board took a recess to review the language of the grant and to seek information about deadlines.
Karasinski spoke to Hambley during the break and relayed the money is part of a contract with the state that goes into effect Oct. 1. She said the money “may or may not” be available if the board were to reject it, then change its mind later. Ottawa Impact is set to lose the board majority in January, after losing key positions in the primary.
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Even after the recess, commissioners were still of differing opinions.
When casting their votes to remove the grant, both Cosby and Rhodea indicated they’d like to review it at a future meeting to potentially re-add it to the budget.
Karasinski said there is a finance committee meeting scheduled for Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year, and noted the committee could possibly make a change then.
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The resolution presented, prior to the amendment, called for $284,763,654 in appropriations, including $121,673,924 from the general fund; $151,005,602 from various special revenue funds, including the health department and parks and recreation; $6,307,495 in the debt service fund; and $5,776,633 in capital projects.
The county's total revenues across all funds totaled $280,779,727 before the amendment. To balance the budget, $2,246,987 in reserves will be used from the general fund, along with $978,519 in reserves from special revenue funds.
— Contact reporter Mitchell Boatman at mboatman@hollandsentinel.com .
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Ottawa County approves new budget — after removing $900K health department grant
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