BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) - With Texas being hit with a measles outbreak and a deadly natural disaster, local leaders are looking ahead at public health funding.
Fred Brown, a member of the Brazos County Commissioners Court and the Brazos County Public Health District Board, says recent state and federal funding cuts to public health have led to layoffs.
“This is like the most critical time of the year for the health department,” said Brown. “We have young children that need to be immunized before they go back to school. We’ve already had to lay off one epidemiologist.”
Public health resources aren’t just for vaccination and food drives. In light of what happened with severe flooding in Central Texas, Bob Yancy, College Station Councilman and Chairman of the Brazos County Public Health District Board, says he wants to be prepared for anything.
“I would prefer that we in Brazos County do our best to ensure that we are as prepared as we can be for any such tragedies or pandemics or illnesses or public health emergencies that might befall us,” explained Yancy.
College Station did vote on Wednesday to increase funding for the Public Health District by $100,000. That’s on top of the $478,000 they already approved. That additional $100,000 is contingent upon the city of Bryan and Brazos County following suit.
Bryan City Councilmember and another member of the Brazos County Public Health District Board, James Edge, says it’s something they’re looking at.
“We’re obviously in budget season, so we’re going to be talking about different things relating to the budget,” said Edge. “I anticipate that the health district would come to the cities for additional funding requests because of the situation they are in right now.”
College Station Mayor John Nichols and Councilmember William Wright voted against the $100,00 increase to the health district’s budget in a 5-2 vote.
Both councilmembers told KBTX that the district didn’t ask for an increase, so they didn’t vote for it.
“We didn’t do this for any other organization. I didn’t believe it was appropriate spending public money on something I did not understand how it would be used. And given the organization didn’t ask for it, I can’t understand why we would do that.”
Copyright 2025 KBTX. All rights reserved.
English (US) ·