From the Fort Worth Report:
Tarrant County Public Health has laid off 63 people whose positions were impacted by nationwide cuts to federal grants, officials announced Wednesday.
The positions were eliminated throughout March and were tied to four programs that have lost grant funding. The county has identified 21 additional public health programs that are similarly funded by federal grants and could see the same fate, according to an April 2 presentation to county commissioners.
“There’s certainly no guarantee that any of that previously authorized multiyear grant funding may continue to be available,” County Administrator Chandler Merritt told commissioners.
Including the public health programs, 70 federal grant programs could see cuts in the coming weeks, potentially affecting up to 350 full-time county staff, Merritt said. So far, only the four public health programs have seen layoffs, although other departments have already implemented hiring freezes.
The news comes as health departments in North Texas and nationwide are scrambling to realign budgets without expected federal support.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has pulled back over $11 billion in grant funding, NBC News reported. The funds were previously allocated to state and community health departments to support health initiatives like disease research, testing, vaccinations and pandemic recovery — items the CDC had reviewed and deemed “programs that were no longer needed.”
Most federal grants are distributed through reimbursement, meaning local entities like Tarrant County incur expenses, then are reimbursed by the federal government.
The county is anticipating coming up $15.4 million short of what was expected from federal grants, and it will need to spend $1.2 million to close out the operations. As of April 1, the county faces $8.4 million in unreimbursed grant expenses.
Just over half of Tarrant County’s laid-off staff held positions tied to the CDC’s immunization cooperative agreement, which aimed to assist communities in immunizing people against vaccine-preventable diseases like measles, tetanus and influenza.
Texas is currently at the center of a measles outbreak, with more than 400 cases reported statewide. Dozens of free vaccination clinics have closed as a result of the cuts.
Tarrant County also prematurely ended 11 positions tied to a pandemic-era grant aiming to address COVID-19 health disparities among high-risk, rural and underserved communities. The county had already received over 98% of this funding, and the 11 positions were expected to end in May, according to previous reporting.
Some of these employees have moved to other divisions within the public health department, Dr. Brian Byrd, director for Tarrant County Public Health, told the Report April 1.
Eleven more layoffs were positions in Tarrant County’s refugee clinic, which shut down March 14. The clinic worked with the national resettlement group U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants to provide incoming displaced persons from around the world with screenings for general health, nutrition and tuberculosis, according to a county webpage.
The federal government froze some funding for the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants while officials conducted “a program integrity review” process that began Feb. 3, according to a March 12 court filing by Andrew Gradison, acting assistant secretary for children and families for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The remaining five cut public health positions were tied to the CDC’s epidemiology and laboratory capacity program, which funded local health departments to do research detecting, preventing and responding to infectious disease outbreaks.
Tarrant County Public Health’s operating costs this year total about $24 million, Helen Giese, director of budget and risk management, told commissioners. The department does not have room in its budget to keep the furloughed employees.
“Even though there is cash (on hand), it is obligated to the operational endeavors of public health,” she said.
The county Sheriff’s Office and HIV Administrative Agency have both seen hiring freezes for open positions that are tied to grants that might not be refilled.
“Because of the fact of the uncertainty of what may happen with other grants, we did not want to incur costs that we would not be able to reimburse ourselves,” Merritt said.
Laid-off staff could be reinstated if funding for their positions returns, Merritt said, and officials are working with them to identify potential new jobs in and around Tarrant County. The county is also working to identify other programs that provide similar services that they can redirect the public to, he said.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Roderick Miles Jr. stressed the importance of helping laid-off employees find jobs with industry partners.
“These people have dedicated their lives and their time to working for the county and supporting public health,” Miles said. “They’re already a trained and skilled workforce.”
Precinct 4 Commissioner Manny Ramirez said he knows it’s not easy for the county to get rid of programs tied to federal funds.
“I appreciate the human element of this,” Ramirez said during the meeting. “Whether employees were hired on as temporary and knew it was grant-funded, or whether they expect to be here long term and they’re seeking other opportunities in the county, it is personal for a lot of our employees.”
Impact of federal funding loss in North Texas
The Texas Department of State Health Services notified public health departments of the federal government’s plans March 25, The Texas Tribune reported.
Dallas County Health and Human Services lost two federal grants totaling $70 million for immunizations and immunization research, according to FOX 4. Dallas County notified staff on March 28 of potential layoffs for as many as 80 employees.
Other organizations have also been rocked by federal funding moves. Catholic Charities Fort Worth, which operates the statewide Texas Office for Refugees, sued the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in early March over frozen funds that had led to hundreds of layoffs across the state.
The nonprofit received the funds, amounting to over $47 million, about two weeks later.
Drew Shaw is a government accountability reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at drew.shaw@fortworthreport.org or @shawlings601.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
This article first appeared on Fort Worth Report and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.