63 Tarrant County employees furloughed after federal grants suspended
Tarrant County has furloughed 63 employees in health-related programs after the federal government stopped funding four grants.
County Administrator Chandler Merritt told county commissioners on Wednesday that the federal government funds 70 grants and 350 positions. The county applies for the grants and is reimbursed for the work it does, he said. As of April 1, the county was awaiting reimbursement of $8.4 million across the 70 grants.
The cuts were in the Refugee Clinic, epidemiology, immunization cooperative agreements and COVID-19 studies, a project to address health disparities related to the coronavirus.
Merritt said that if funds are found that can support the eliminated programs, the county will reinstate those positions for the affected 63 employees.
“Our HR department, I believe, has done a great job at making sure that all of those employees know what’s available to them, what benefits are owed to them,” Merritt said. “We’re trying to make sure that if there are other opportunities within the county, of which, they may be the best qualified applicant, we’re trying to make sure they’re aware of those opportunities, if they’re out there.”
Merritt said the county would look to other agencies that provide similar services and steer the public toward those services.
“As an example, the Refugee Clinic, one of the primary focuses that they did outside of physicals was they looked at a lot of immunizations and things like that. Well, we have other grants that have that have the ability to give immunizations.”
On Tuesday, 23 states and Washington, D.C., sued U.S. Health and Human Services and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the department’s $12 billion cut public health funding.
The Democratic attorneys general seek a temporary restraining order and are asking the court to immediately stop the administration’s funding cuts.
This story was originally published April 2, 2025 at 5:42 PM.