LORAIN — The city is not legally obligated to appropriate funds to cover the Lorain City Health Department’s annual budget, Law Director Patrick Riley said in a letter Wednesday to department Director Terrence Tomaszewski.

The Health Department has a budgetary shortfall of $204,000 for 2010.

“It’s tough all around,” Lorain Mayor Tony Krasienko said. “Whether you’re a citizen or a government trying to provide services to citizens, you have to work with the revenue you have.”

The letter was a response to a request by Tomaszewski to review a legal opinion issued on Aug. 27, 2009, that stated City Council is not required to pass an appropriation to meet a budget adopted by the Health Department.

One of the biggest problems is that, after switching to a four-day work week in 2009 to save money and cutting employee pay 20 percent, the budget the Health Department sent to Council re-established an 80-hour work week in 2010. The city budgeted $300,000 for the Health Department, leaving it $204,000 in the hole.

City Auditor Ron Mantini said during a Council Finance Committee meeting on Feb. 22 that he will withhold paychecks if the Health Department — and any other department — goes over its budget.

Krasienko said that the Health Department is a critical service, as evidenced by its response to the H1N1 flu threat.

“They are our first line of defense against potential epidemics or pandemics,” he said.

But every city department has had to make significant cuts, Krasienko said.

Krasienko said he will contact Tomaszewski today to set up a meeting before next Wednesday to take the first steps in reconciling the budget with the revenue.

Contact Melissa Hebert at 329-7129 or mhebert@chroniclet.com.

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