Austin Public Health staff to seek more bond money

Austin Public Health facilities are funded through bonds approved by Austin voters – and only through those bonds. If the city health department needs a new facility, it must convince members of a bond advisory committee to put the proposition on a ballot. Then enough voters must be convinced of the need for such a facility to vote for it.

Austin Public Health provides free and low-cost vaccines and screening for a variety of diseases, including tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The department also provides help for new mothers, free diabetes prevention and management classes, and other social services, as well as food assistance. They also provide instruction on how to use naloxone (Narcan) spray to prevent opioid overdoses.

Adrienne Sturrup, director of APH, and Phillip Urbany, the department’s environmental health officer, told members of the city’s Public Health Commission last week about their meager allotment of bond funds during past bond elections. Looking at all the city’s bond elections since 1998, Sturrup said less than 1 percent of bond funding has gone for APH projects, which include health centers of various kinds. That’s a little more than $27 million out of nearly $4 billion on 10 bond ballots.

Sturrup pointed out that there will be another bond election in 2026 and it will be up to a bond advisory committee to select the items put on that ballot. She and Urbany both said staff is not yet allowed to reveal the projects APH would like to see on that ballot. However, they proudly described their work on projects such as the Dove Springs Public Health Facility, which opened in October.

The Dove Springs Public Health Facility was built using the proceeds of bonds approved in 2012 and 2018. In 2020 the city opened the Montopolis Recreation & Public Health Center, also using bonds from 2012 and 2018. She said that was particularly important when the city provided mpox vaccinations and after a recent winter storm.

“In FY 2022, we served 5,000 people,” she said, adding that the number was tripled in FY 2024.

Sturrup also noted that the health department is proud of its work at the Austin Shelter for Women and Children, which is run by the Salvation Army. The city used some of the money from the 2018 bond to fix showers, add beds and do ADA upgrades.

APH also paid for renovations and added 50 additional animal shelter kennels at the Betty Dunkerley Public Health Campus. That campus serves as the home of APH and also houses the city’s animal shelter.

Although they could not say what projects they will be asking for, Sturrup pointed to two areas of the city that are underserved in terms of public health facilities. She said these are areas whose inhabitants generally earn a low income, have less than a high school education and suffer from linguistic isolation and burdensome housing costs. Those areas are Colony Park and Northeast Austin. She showed how long it takes from each of those rather isolated areas to reach public health facilities.

Members of the commission asked a variety of questions, many of them pointing to the inequity between public health bonds and bonds for other projects, such as parks and transportation. Chair Natalie Poindexter wanted to know how Austin’s public health facility bonds compared with those in cities such as Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. However, staff did not have the answers to those questions.

Urbany explained that although staff is not allowed to lobby the bond selection committee, members of the commission and their friends are allowed to do so. It is not clear exactly when the bond committee will be appointed, but it seems likely that members of the Public Health Commission will be doing their part to push for more public health bonds on the 2026 ballot.

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