Board of Supervisors allocates one-time funds to save programs

 

How the county’s revised budget will affect the community-based organizations that are contracted to provide mental health programs is yet to be determined, according to Mike Foley, executive director of Casa Esperanza, a non-profit homeless shelter. “The county has extended all existing Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services contracts through the month of July,” Foley said.

“They are not cutting any programs yet,” said William Boyer, Communications Director for Santa Barbara County.

 “The Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services department is working on specifically how those non-profit groups under contract will be affected in providing services to adult mental patients. That’s now up to the department head, Ann Detrick, to decide,” said Boyer.

 

The prediction before the final decisions were made was that the new budget would cut 60 percent of funding for ADMHS programs administered by community-based organizations, according to a petition issued by savementalhealth.org. Now, as of June 18, the website reads, “Eighty-seven percent of budget restored! Thank you Santa Barbara County!”

The board pulled $4.1 million out of strategic reserves to keep many programs in place and redirected funding sources, in the end allocating  $4.4 million to ADMHS.

An audit reserve of $846,000 was also allocated and set aside to cover any costs associated with an ADHS periodic true-up analyses conducted by the state of California which audits charges billed by counties to the states to provide state-mandated programs.

Redirected funding sources included funds from the Tobacco Settlement and redirection of the fiscal year 2009 contribution to the litigation designation fund.  States make individual determinations of how tobacco settlement funds are used. California allocated the state’s entire share of settlement funds to healthcare and expanded coverage under Medi-Cal.

 

Other programs that were granted one-time use funds were: jail-sewer main repair, $523,000; district attorney-public defender ratio preservation, $400,000;  public health geriatric assessment, $121,000; public health HIV/AIDS, $50,000; Santa Barbara Visitors and Conference Bureau Film Commission, $95,000; Agricultural Commissioner Oak Tree Specialist, $107,000; Agricultural Commissioner Ag Advisory Committee, $100,000; Public Health Environmental Health Fee Waiver, $107,000; Planning and Development Ag Planner, $119,000; Public Health/Cuyama Clinic, $92,000; District Attorney Truancy Intervention Program, $50,000; and Fire Mapping, $40,000.

Programs that were suggested but did not receive any portion of one-time use funds were the Children’s Health Initiative, $300,000; Social Services Adult Aging Network, $85,000; Planning and Development Zoning Code Enforcement, $29,000; Strategic Reserve, $1 million; Treasurer Financial Systems Analyst, $129,000; and Multi Purpose Senior Service Program, $107,000.

 

In April, the Valley Journal reported Ann Detrick, director of Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Services, said, “The reality is that there is not enough money to support current programs.” The only party forced to deal with this forecasted reality so far was the board of supervisors as it worked to keep as much funding as possible for ADMHS and other programs before approving the budget June 13. There has been no trickle down effect — yet.