Fiscal Note
The proposed resolution amends the Public Health Budget to accept a grant from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and creates a 1.0 FTE limited-term Data Analyst Project Position for the Epidemiology & Data Science Team. The grant is for $51,556 annually for the next five years and will partially support a Data Analyst position focused on monitoring respiratory and other viral pathogens. Public Health plans to use this funding in combination with funds from the COVID Immunization Supplemental grant and DHS Public Health Infrastructure Grant to fully fund the position as outlined in the body of the resolution.
Title
Amending the Public Health Budget to Accept Grant Funds from University of Wisconsin and Create a 1.0 Data Analyst Project Position for the Epidemiology & Data Science Team
Body
WHEREAS, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is allocating $51,556 annually for the next five years to Public Health Madison & Dane County (Public Health) to partially support a Data Analyst position focused on monitoring respiratory and other viral pathogens; and
WHEREAS, Public Health plans to use this funding in combination with funds (see table below) from the COVID Immunization Supplemental grant and DHS Public Health Infrastructure Grant to fund this position; and
WHEREAS, The position will support data management related to the public Dane County respiratory illness dashboard, including the maintenance, analysis, and evaluation of data flowing into the dashboard. The position will optimize workflows, processes, and data handling to continuously improve the dashboard’s mission to inform the public of the local respiratory illness landscape. The position will convene and co-host the Dane County Respiratory Pathogens Collaborative, a group of clinical, lab, data, and other partners, that shares information pertinent to the impact of the respiratory illness season on the Dane County community. Finally, the position will serve as a public health liaison to the UW-Madison team studying the feasibility and public health applications of wastewater pathogen detection using metagenomic techniques; and
WHEREAS, The funding streams contributing to this position (salary and benefits, factoring 2.5% increase in salary each year) are as follows:
2025
• COVID Immunization grant - $44,290 (44%)
• UW-Madison - $51,556 (51%)
• Public Health Infrastructure grant - $5,874 (6%)
2026
• UW-Madison - $51,556 (38%)
• Existing grant funds - $83,827 (62%)
2027 (through November 30)
• UW-Madison - $51,556 (37%)
• Existing grant funds - $68,657 (50%)
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that Public Health will receive $51,556 annually, for the next five years, for a total of $257,781 via University of Wisconsin-Madison starting March 1, 2025, and ending November 30, 2029; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this funding will be designated to a 1.0 FTE Data Analyst-Project position starting March 1, 2025 through November 30, 2027; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the continuation of the 1.0 Data Analyst-Project position will be contingent upon identifying additional grant funding after November 30, 2027; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that per the Intergovernmental Agreement between the City of Madison and Dane County, Public Health employees are employees of Dane County; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Director of Public Health Madison & Dane County is authorized to sign the agreement for the amount and purpose outlined above; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that upon adoption of this resolution and approval from the Common Council and Dane County Board, a 1.0 FTE Data Analyst Project Position (P10) will be created in the Public Health Madison & Dane County 2025 Operating Budget, and the position will be noted in subsequent Operating Budgets to reflect that the continuation of the position is contingent upon continued grant funding.