The Long Beach Health Department is planning to lay off or reassign up to 40 people in a retraction caused by the end of some programs and swift federal cuts announced earlier this year. The department currently employs about 300 people.
As of this week, five people have been laid off, while one resigned and another accepted a part-time position. Fifteen people are pending reassignment, while nine more have been placed elsewhere in the city — mostly somewhere else in the health department.
Nine positions are on the bubble and could be retained if grant or city funding is secured, according to a Health Department spokesperson.
Nearly half of the affected jobs are tied to federal funding, and involve health education, HIV-prevention and racial equity programs. Others were a part of a temporary program scheduled to conclude between now and the end of the year. They said announcements about which programs are ending will come later this year.
The looming cuts were announced during a budget presentation by Health Director Alison King, who informed the City Council that the department has seen nearly $4 million clawed back by the federal government since the start of the year.
King warned the reductions will stymie the department’s ability to test and prevent the spread of infection, including HIV and AIDS, as well as childhood immunizations and how swiftly it may respond to public health emergencies.
How impactful this will be remains unclear, said Health Department Deputy Director Erica Valencia-Adachi.
It comes as the department faced up to an $11 million deficit this year, fueled by rising labor costs, inconsistent state funding and expensive citywide emergencies for homelessness and disease outbreaks. The department also faces a 28% vacancy rate, King added.
“Beyond legislative pressures, our health fund faces persisting, compounding cost drivers that strain every program,” King said.
The department has also struggled to cover a ballooning cost in administrative overhead on some grant-funded projects — about 50% of which officials say cannot be reimbursed.
These are charges that come indirectly with the rollout of a grant program, and can span anything from the cost of electricity and plumbing at a facility, equipment needed to be purchased and the hourly costs of having city accountants file required paperwork.
Health officials say any staffers losing their jobs will be helped with courtesy review of resumes, interview coaching and internal transfers where possible.