Hamilton County commissioners will vote Wednesday on Mayor Weston Wamp’s plan to shift $250,000 budgeted for the county Health Department to help fund a private medical provider’s new dental clinic for underserved Latino children.
When the idea came up at last week’s meeting, some commissioners questioned the shift of public funds to support a private medical practice.
“Just because the county hasn’t done this frequently before in no way means it’s not the right way to do business,” Wamp said in a phone interview Tuesday. “In fact, I would argue that a lot of the county’s budgeting practices have been on autopilot for some time.”
Wamp noted that he and the current set of commissioners were not yet in office when the 2023 fiscal year budget was approved and implemented.
Because the Health Department has not been able to fill numerous budgeted positions, he said there are county funds sitting unused that could support a one-time allocation toward Clínica Médicos’ plans to begin offering pediatric dental care by 2024.