The Jefferson County Health Department could be a casualty of declining mining revenue in Jefferson County.

The county commissioners are asking the department to consider cutting its budget by $70,000.

However, a group of citizens and health board members agreed at an April 10 health board meeting, attended by the commissioners, to work together on funding, and to consider running a special levy election, if needed.

The health board agreed the first step should be an assessment of needed services for each community. This study would provide guidance on whether services are best provided through a county health department or by contracting them out.

The health department's budget woes are a symptom of a much larger funding problem facing Jefferson County, which has a $170,000 shortfall going into its current 2003-2004 budgeting cycle, said County Commissioner Chuck Notbohm. This funding problem will be further exacerbated by the closure of Golden Sunlight Mine's mill, which is expected in October. The mine provided 10 percent of the county's revenues last year, and the mill's closure is expected to have a substantial impact on the county's $7 million budget.

"Jefferson County, in actuality, is slowly going broke," Notbohm told the group of about 15 attending the meeting. "Mining could end tomorrow and that's a possibility."

Mines are down in revenue by 50 percent or more. In the past six- year period, the value of a mill, a unit used in tax rates, has declined from $25,000 to $19,000 in the county. The county and state are not allowed to run huge deficits. If the county were to raise taxes, he said, it would have to ask the voters to approve it.

The county commissioners have looked at what general fund programs are mandated and those that are not, said Commissioner Tom Lythgoe. "By statute you have to have a health board." But whether the county has to provide a health department is another matter. However, the health board is mandated to oversee a number of services regarding control of disease, said Karan Kunz, health board chair.

Ken Luraas, a resident who attended the meeting, suggested that a possible solution would be asking voters to support a special levy. He also asked the commissioners to consider using metal mines grants to fund the department. At this time, Golden Sunlight metal mines grants are used for projects in the Whitehall area.

Other funding could result from aggressively going after grants. Joan Miles, director of the Lewis and Clark County Health Department, who attended the meeting as a resource person, offered to work cooperatively with Jefferson County.

"It concerns us," she said, "to hear that services may be cut back." Lewis and Clark's health department is impacted when Jefferson County has to make cutbacks, she said.

She suggested that Jefferson County's Health Dept. could contract for grant-writing services with her department. Promising funding possibilities include federal funds to respond to bio-terrorism and tobacco education funds, she said.

The total budget for Health and Sanitation Department is $263,596, according to County Commissioner Sherry Cargill, in a discussion following the meeting.

The county contributes $122,159 in funding toward the public health nursing account, the rest is made up in grants and donations. The county also contributes $44,807 to the department for county sanitation, and $4,893 for the health board.