Laura Hill brought her two-week-old son David in for enrollment in the WIC program at the Douglas County Health Department, while clinic assistant Ginger Salmens, helps examine the child Wednesday.

City Manager David Corliss is all for health, particularly the Lawrence-Douglas County Health Department. But he’s not sure he likes paying twice for it.

But that’s how Corliss and other city leaders are now viewing a longtime cost-sharing arrangement between the city and the county on how the Health Department is funded.

Historically, the county funds 60 percent of the Health Department’s $1.6 million budget, while the city funds 40 percent.

Here’s the catch, though, Corliss says: City residents get both a city and county property tax bill, while everyone else only pays for the Health Department through their county bills.

That’s nothing new, of course, but what is new is that Corliss – completing his first full year as city manager – is making a point to remind county leaders that the vast majority of the county’s tax base comes from Lawrence property owners.

Service reduction?

At the Health Department, Dan Partridge, the department’s director, said he’s concerned a change in funding could cause a reduction in services. He said that’s because he’s not sure the county can afford, or is willing, to pick up the entire amount of funding the city now provides.

“I think this all goes back to whether the city of Lawrence feels like public health is a part of its mission,” Partridge said. “Is that what the citizens want? If the answer is yes, then I think we should remain a city-county funded organization.”

That type of talk has caused some city leaders to cringe. Mayor Sue Hack said it is obvious that Lawrence cares about public health. She pointed to millions of dollars spent on hiking/biking trails, exercise facilities, pedestrian-safety improvements and other efforts designed to promote health and safety.

“I really applaud Dave Corliss’ initiative on this issue,” Hack said. “Sometimes I think we just do things because that’s the way we’ve always done them. But I can tell you, it is inaccurate to say the city is not concerned about the health of its citizens.”

City and county commissioners have agreed to leave the funding arrangements – which also include agreements to jointly fund the dispatch center for police and fire calls, and the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department – unchanged for the 2008 budget. But the two commissions have vowed to have a serious discussion about changing the cost-sharing arrangements for all of the departments as soon as the 2008 budget process is wrapped up, likely in August.

Disagreement already

Whether the discussion will be a healthy one is yet to be seen. Douglas County Administrator Craig Weinaug said he’s open to renegotiating the cost-sharing arrangements, as long as elected leaders agree on a sound policy reason to do so. Absent that, Weinaug said the results of the discussions are predictable.

“All we’re going to do is have a fight, and it is not going to result in anything positive,” Weinaug said.

Thus far, the prenegotiations already have produced some sharp disagreement between the city and county’s top executives. Corliss has argued that county governments in many of the state’s urbanized counties pay the full costs for health department and emergency dispatch services. Weinaug said Corliss has been too selective in his comparisons, and also thinks the city manager is missing a bigger point.

“Yes, Lawrence residents are paying twice,” Weinaug said. “But look at the things we’ve accomplished that we would not have been able to accomplish otherwise. The question that really needs to be asked is: ‘Would the city be better off if those agreements never would have been reached?’ I don’t think so.”

Weinaug points to the emergency dispatch center as an example. He said without the joint funding agreement, it is unlikely that the dispatch center would have as much computer-aided dispatch equipment. He also said that it would cost the city and the county significantly more – millions of dollars more for the city, Weinaug said – to operate separate dispatch centers.

Mostly Lawrence residents

That, though, is not what the city is seeking. Instead, Corliss thinks it is fair that the county take over sole funding responsibilities for some countywide services.

“Does that mean that residents outside of Lawrence may have to pay more to address what may be inequity in funding?” Corliss asked. “That’s possible. But why should the residents of Eudora, for example, pay less for 911 service or Health Department service than the citizens of Lawrence do?”

Weinaug, though, said the political reality may be that it would be difficult for county residents who don’t live in Lawrence to increase their financial funding for departments where the vast majority of service is provided to city residents. About 85 percent of the Health Department’s clients are Lawrence residents, and about 90 percent of the calls handled at the dispatch center come from inside Lawrence city limits.

Weinaug also said he can point to cases where it could be argued that the city isn’t paying its fair share of costs to the county. The Douglas County Jail is an example. The city pays less than half the actual costs to house inmates arrested on Municipal Court charges.

“You can only take Dave’s argument so far,” Weinaug said, “or else you might as well eliminate the city of Lawrence and have all its functions move into the County Courthouse.”