The Carroll County Board of Health announced Wednesday that the staff of the Carroll County Health Department and Carroll County Environmental Health will be furloughed one day a month beginning in February. All staff members will take one day per month off of work without pay until further notice.

To best serve clients, the health department and environmental health offices will close on the last Friday of each month while employees are furloughed. The first furlough day will be Friday, Feb. 27. The decision to begin furloughing employees was made by a vote of the board of health at its Jan. 14 meeting.

Furloughs were recommended because state budget cuts and declining local revenues left a deficit of approximately $69,000 in the $2 million budget. Health department staff worked hard to decrease operating expenses and increase billing as much as possible, but were unable to reduce the deficit any further without a furlough or reduction in staff. Furloughs will be eliminated as soon as it is clear that the budget is improving to the point of solvency.

“I am very proud of the staff working in Carroll County,” said Michael Brackett, M.D., health director for District 4. “This staff, in coordination with the Carroll County BOH members have struggled diligently with the difficult task of suddenly reducing their budget mid-year. They streamlined delivery of services and are working more efficiently. Unfortunately, that alone was not going to be enough to overcome this sudden budget crisis. In the near future, there are other opportunities that are being studied that offer new cutting edge services to the community, but these models take time to evaluate and develop. So survival is the plan right now, but excellence is the long-range goal. It is our hope that in the next few years, using resolve and creative design models, Carroll County will be viewed as among the most progressive and effective Health Departments in the state.”

The health department and environmental health offices will be closed on the following dates in 2009: Friday, Feb. 27, Friday, March 27, Friday, April 24, Friday, May 29, and Friday, June 26.