As he prepares to conclude nearly 40 years at the helm of Calvert County’s Health Department, Dr. David Rogers predicted the rough economy could compromise the agency’s efforts to address public health needs.

“There are going to be some very serious budgetary challenges,” said Rogers, who began his service as Calvert County health officer during the early 1970s. He will retire July 1. Rogers provided the Calvert County Commissioners, who convened as the Board of Health for Calvert County, with a funding analysis for fiscal year (FY) 2012 during the panel’s May 22 meeting.

The department’s total funding for FY 2012 was nearly $11 million, with $5.3 million allocated by the state, $3.4 million from the county and $1.7 million in collections. An unspecified amount of state funding comes in the form of grants.

According to Marla Behrens, the local health department’s fiscal services chief, funding figures for FY 2013, “have been pretty flat.’

Calvert Commissioners’ President Gerald W. “Jerry” Clark [R] indicated the county’s FY 2013 allocation to the health department is virtually the same amount as for the current fiscal year.

Rogers said the health department has two missions—serving the healthcare system and serving the public health system. The latter component, Rogers indicated, should appropriately be funded with public money. “The services need to be provided by the government, not the private sector,” he said. Those public health services include disease surveillance and response and “risk communication.”

Rogers noted that despite Calvert’s population nearly tripling during his tenure as health officer, the health department has not grown very much in terms of personnel.

“We’re close to the edge,” said Rogers, who advised the commissioners to not compromise public health and safety by cutting funding.

One program that Rogers effusively praised was Crisis Intervention, which aids domestic violence victims and works to break the cycle of violence. “This is an excellent program,” said Rogers. In FY 2012, Crisis Intervention received $320,200 in state and grant funding and was allocated $139,039 by the county. The Safe Harbor