Fla. Stat. § 154.02 — Florida Code / Title XI / Chapter 154 / Part I / Section 154.02
154.02 County Health Department Trust Fund.
Status: in_force

(1) To enable counties to provide public health services and maintain public health equipment and facilities, each county in the state with a population exceeding 100,000, according to the last state census, may levy an annual tax not exceeding 0.5 mill; each county in the state with a population exceeding 40,000 and not exceeding 100,000, according to the last state census, may levy an annual tax not exceeding 1 mill; and each county in the state with a population not exceeding 40,000, according to the last state census, may levy an annual tax not exceeding 2 mills, on the dollar on all taxable property in such county, the proceeds of which tax, if so contracted with the state, shall be paid to the Chief Financial Officer. However, the board of county commissioners may elect to pay in 12 equal monthly installments. Such funds in the hands of the Chief Financial Officer shall be placed in the county health department trust funds of the county by which such funds were raised, and such funds shall be expended by the Department of Health solely for the purpose of carrying out the intent and object of the public health contract.

(2) The Chief Financial Officer shall maintain a full-time County Health Department Trust Fund which shall contain all state and local funds to be expended by county health departments. Such funds shall be expended by the Department of Health solely for the purposes of carrying out the intent and purpose of this part. Federal funds may be deposited in the trust fund.

(3) Funds from the County Health Department Trust Fund may be expended by the Department of Health for the respective county health departments in accordance with budgets and plans agreed upon by the county authorities of each county and the Department of Health.

(4) The County Health Department Trust Fund shall be governed as follows: (a) Each county health department shall be accounted for separately within the trust fund; (b) For each participating county, the trust fund shall be divided into three levels of service, one for each type of service to be provided pursuant to s. 154.01(2)(a), (b), and (c); (c) Funds appropriated by the Legislature or any county for the purpose of providing county health department services, as defined in s. 154.01(2), shall be disbursed through the trust fund; (d) Under no circumstances may there be transfers of funds between levels of service without the proper contract amendments unless the county health department director determines that an emergency exists wherein a time delay would endanger the public health and the State Health Officer has approved the transfer. The State Health Officer shall forward written evidence of his or her approval to the county health department within 30 days after the transfer; and (e) Any surplus funds, including fees or accrued interest, remaining in any county health department account at the end of the fiscal year shall be credited to the state or county, as appropriate, in such amounts as may be determined by multiplying the surplus funds remaining in a program account by the percentage of funding provided by each governmental entity for the rendering of the particular health service for which such account was established. Such surplus funds may be applied toward the funding requirements of each participating governmental entity in the following year; however, in each such case, all surplus funds, including fees and accrued interest, shall remain in the trust fund and shall be accounted for in a manner which clearly illustrates the amount which has been credited to each participating governmental entity.

(5) Each fiscal quarter, the Department of Health shall render to each board of county commissioners providing funds to the trust fund, and to each county health department director or administrator, uniform financial statements of county health department account balances. It is the intent of the Legislature that these statements be uniform so that comparability between the same programs in separate county health departments may be enhanced. These uniform statements shall contain all useful and relevant information concerning the operations of the county health departments and shall specifically contain the following information for each county: (a) The amount of funds expended year-to-date for each type of service within each of the three levels of service; (b) The revenue and cash balances year-to-date in each county health department trust fund; (c) The units of service and the number of clients served, where applicable, year-to-date for each type of service in each of the three levels of service; (d) The actual amount of revenue deposited in the trust fund year-to-date by the state and the county, by source, compared to the amount of revenue, by source, from the state and the county that was projected in the contract for the contract year; and (e) The final report for the contract year shall clearly state the amount of funds remaining in each county health department and the percentage of such funds that are credited to the state and the county.

(6) At a minimum, the trust fund shall consist of: (a) An operating reserve, consisting of 8.5 percent of the annual operating budget, maintained to ensure adequate cash flow from nonstate revenue sources. (b) An emergency reserve of $500,000, derived from an annual assessment on county health department funds based upon their proportionate share of state general revenue, maintained for county health departments to respond to public health emergencies such as epidemics and natural disasters. (c) A fixed capital outlay reserve for nonrecurring expenses that are needed for the renovation and expansion of facilities, and for the construction of new and replacement facilities identified by the Department of Health in conjunction with the board of county commissioners in their annual state-county contract and approved by the State Surgeon General. These funds may not be used for construction projects unless there is a specific appropriation included in the General Appropriations Act for this purpose.

History: s. 2, ch. 14906, 1931; CGL 1936 Supp. 2934(23); s. 19, ch. 29615, 1955; s. 2, ch. 61-119; ss. 19, 35, ch. 69-106; s. 1, ch. 72-323; s. 30, ch. 77-147; s. 5, ch. 83-177; s. 2, ch. 86-220; s. 3, ch. 88-294; s. 869, ch. 95-147; s. 14, ch. 96-403; s. 3, ch. 2001-53; s. 150, ch. 2003-261; s. 10, ch. 2008-6; s. 1, ch. 2009-57.