||| FROM BILL WATSON |||
I read Katherine Ingman Bryant’s goals to improve health care services in San Juan County and was struck by one glaring omission: How much will all of this cost—and where will the money come from?
San Juan County is facing a serious budget crisis. Health Services have already been cut to the bone, and 2028 is expected to bring even deeper cuts. Against that backdrop, promising expanded health care services without explaining the price tag isn’t a plan. It’s a wish list.
And the price tag could be enormous—potentially far exceeding the cost of the levy that voters rejected last spring.
There’s another fundamental issue: Does she understand what the County Council can actually do? A councilmember has one seat—and one voice—on the Board of Health. The council does not have unilateral authority over county health services.
The Board of Health meetings are public. They’re recorded. They’re a pretty good place to start for anyone proposing major changes to county health care.
Big promises are easy. Paying for them—and understanding how county government actually works—is the hard part.
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Interesting…when I have heard Katherine speak on these topics she has shown an intricate and nuanced understanding of how grant funds flow from the state to the county for Health and Human Services. This did not surprise me as she led the negotiations to bring SeaMar to Lopez Island when UW pulled out. That and her work leading the scaling up of the Lopez food bank during COVID from a grab n go shelf to an operation feeding 600 people per week prove her grasp of intergovernmental funding and advocacy. Big dreams require big political skills, and she’s got ‘em!