Harford County Council hears updates from acting health officer, citizens budget advisory board

May 19—Harford County retained its standing against other jurisdictions in the state's 2022 health rankings, according to acting health officer Marcy Austin, who briefed the County Council on the data at Tuesday's meeting.

The state ranks counties based on a variety of community health indicators. Harford County placed fifth out of the state's 24 jurisdictions for health factors, and 10th for health outcomes — the same rankings as the previous year, according to Austin.

Austin outlined the health indicators for which Harford County ranked better than the rest of the state: a child mortality rate of 30 per 100,000, which is below the state average of 50; nine teen births per 1,000, below the state average of 15; and 5% of residents being uninsured, compared to 7% for the state as a whole.

However, the county lags behind the state in other areas. It has an adult obesity rate of 16%, which is above the state average of 13%, and 16% of its adults smoke, compared to the state average of 13%.

Felicia Hopkins, one of the health department's community health outreach workers, discussed progress that she and her colleague Michelle Peterson have made since being hired in April 2021.

Hopkins said they've addressed public health issues in the Edgewood, Aberdeen, Havre de Grace and Joppa areas, and have provided more than 500 families with resources such as COVID vaccines, gift cards and connections to care-coordination services.

"We look forward to continue to be a vital resource and create more safe spaces for a minority community to address ongoing health and public health," Hopkins said.

Following the presentation, the council voted 5-0 — council members Andre Johnson and Tony Giangiordano were both out sick — to approve the appointment of Jennifer Redding to the Office of Mental Health Core Service Agency of Harford County.

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Andrew Ondish from the citizens budget advisory board delivered the citizen budget advisory report for fiscal year 2023, which begins July 1. He said the budget will bring more revenue to the county, and he commended the 5-cent reduction in the real property tax rate.

"The adoption of the real estate and income tax rates [for] fiscal year 23 would show a conservative approach and a needed decrease in the property tax rates," Ondish said. "Revenue collections have allowed for many departments to receive full funding, which was unheard of even a few short years ago."

The Harford County Sheriff's Office and the Harford Board of Education both received fully-funded budgets for fiscal 2023.

However, the advisory board called for increased funding for entities such as the Harford Center and The Arc "to find highly qualified people to keep these programs and organizations running."

The board also felt as if it reviewed "very little" of the capital budget, Ondish said.

"We continue to ask the county to make projects a priority for the needs of our citizens and to not serve political interest," he said.

The council also approved a bill that defines a cidery and establishes zoning regulations for the areas where a cidery will be permitted.