LIBERTY – The Union County Public Health Clinic received $25,199 from the Union County Council this week, money that came with a warning: Don’t ask for any more.
The council has appropriated money for the clinic several times this year, but until Thursday the funds were monies the clinic had collected but couldn’t use until the council agreed.
This time, the health department didn’t have any money to use for the clinic, so Auditor Gene Sanford said the council could tap its Riverboat Gambling Fund in order to keep the clinic afloat.
The gambling funds, which are awarded to counties by the state, previously were used to pay a portion of the ambulance service contract. Ambulance service now is paid from the Economic Development Income Tax Fund, Sanford said.
The council, which had only five members present Thursday, was divided on giving money to the clinic. Councilmen Jim Hensley, Russel Rude and Burke Thomas voted in favor of the motion to award $25,200 to the clinic, while Councilman Dannie Witter was opposed and Councilman Richard Blank abstained.
Because the vote didn’t get a majority of the council, it appeared to have failed, Rude said. Hensley then offered to change the amount in his motion by a dollar and that motion passed 4-1, with Witter opposed.