TAXPAYERS ATTITUDES TOWARD LOCAL ENVIRONMENTAL-HEALTH SPECIALISTS - SALARY LEVELS, EDUCATION LEVELS, AND SERVICES NEEDED

Environmental health specialists (EHSs) working for local health depar tments have reported that the level at which they are paid is too low and should be increased. The problem faced by most local health depart ments is how to provide elected officials with information that suppor ts salary increases. To research taxpayers' opinions about salary incr eases and educational requirements for local EHSs, a mail survey was c onducted in a central Indiana county. The survey results indicated tha t 72.5 percent of the respondents supported an increase in EHS salarie s from a $20,000-$23,000 level to a $23,000-$26,000 level. Approximate ly 60.5 percent of the responses indicated that EHSs should have a fou r-year college degree. Fifty-four percent of the respondents required that additional environmental health services be provided by the local health department. On the part of females, there was significantly mo re demand than on the part of males for local health departments to pr ovide more environmental health services (p<.05). Demand for more envi ronmental health services included demand for stream pollution control , radon testing, hazardous-material cleanup, and lead-paint analysis. In frequency of requests, stream pollution control ranked highest.