Dozens of Oklahoma counties and the state health department are working to settle a billing dispute.
In all, 51 counties now receiving their third quarterly invoices from the state have been advised not to pay. The health department’s Tina Johnson said those invoices cover record systems and related IT costs county health departments use.
"When a client comes into Pontotoc County Health Department and has been seen in Comanche County Health Department, the clerk is able to pull that information up, continue that service without interruption," Johnson said.
The state health department used to cover those costs.
"We've had an approximately 30 percent cut in our state tax base since 2009, and we were trying to work with the state dollars so that we could still continue to provide what we needed to provide to the counties," Johnson said.
Most of the 51 counties paid the first two invoices but have been advised by the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma not to pay the third, as county funds can’t legally be used to subsidize state agency operations.
"We just want to make sure that the law has been followed and that the money that is collected on the local level goes for local impacted services," said ACCO Director Gene Wallace.
The state health department said counties are paying for costs they incur, and they are not asking counties for money from funds not designated for their health departments.
Tulsa and Oklahoma counties are not among the 51 counties because their health departments are independent of the state’s. Another 17 counties were determined unable to pay the state health department invoices, and seven counties don't have health departments.
In the 68 counties with county-state health departments, workers are state employees; however, their salaries are largely paid out of county property tax revenues designated for health department operations.
