June 1, 2023 Dena Jensen

Here’s some information relevant to funding for recommended actions related to behavioral health services and facilities, among other things, in the draft Justice Project Implementation Plan. (Link to the draft plan: https://www.whatcomcounty.us/…/Implementation-Plan… ) Whatcom County’s Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force is seeking feedback from community members about the draft implementation plan, now through June 11, 2023.

I am looking at this, because in the chart from the draft plan (which is attached to this post), there are 15 items that anticipate funding from an existing Behavioral Health Fund that is provided by a dedicated 1/10 of 1% local sales tax. Additionally, there are three items that anticipate funding from North Sound Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization.

So it’s important to know what programs these funds are already fueling and to understand if there is and will remain any capacity to fund all of these additional items proposed in the draft plan. It’s my impression that there’s plenty of need for these funds outside of the new proposed projects and that we should be insisting that the Justice Sales Tax measure the County Council will probably bring forward should have most of the revenue it generates going towards services and facilities to address mental health, behavioral health, substance use disorder and housing services and facilities, many of which are proposed in the draft Justice Project Implementation plan.

Also included in the screenshots attached to this post there is a Whatcom County Behavioral Health Funds annual report showing what those funds were paying for in 2021. According to the 2021 report, out of $6,407,00 in revenue, $4,048,00 were being used. I don’t know the reasons the surplus of funds was not being spent, since we surely had and have needs for those resources.

During the May 15, 2023 Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force meeting, Perry Mowery, a Task Force member who has been serving as Supervisor for Whatcom County’s Health Department Human Services Division, described what the funding sources listed above currently fund related to our behavioral health programs:

“Relative to the Behavioral Health 1/10th of one percent fund. Obviously, there’s a couple of different funds that are out there. Currently, our 1/10th of one percent fund supports – with some blended funding from our BH-ASO [Behavioral Health Administrative Services Organization], North Sound Regional ASO uses blended funding – to support the mental health and re-entry staff that are providing services that were referenced and just expanded by Mr. Schroeder, and it also provides some – the psychotropic medication that is prescribed for individuals and obviously encouraged, as well as psychiatric services within the jail.

“We use our 1/10th funding for also recovery court, historically known as drug court and also housing resources fairly extensively for individuals that have behavioral health needs. There’s also multiple contracts from the 1/10th of one percent that are developed with our providers in the community, as well. Thankfully, we do have SUD [Substance Use Disorder] assessments and mental health assessments within the jail, as well. And we also use Criminal Justice Treatment Account funding. I don’t know how familiar you are with that, but it’s a different funding from the State to pay for our jail, a portion of our jail MOUD [Medications for Opioid Use Disorder] program, as well as giving some funding to Recovery Court and Recovery Houses.”