June 7, 2023 Dena Jensen

Bellingham City Council Member Dan Hammill made remarks at the Council’s Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday this week that included information about two different funding sources Whatcom County has that offer the potential to invest in behavioral health efforts up to around ten million dollars a year.

It’s important to put that figure in perspective because Council Member Hammill did not speak about any of the services that ten million dollars already funds and what potential there is for any remaining funds to go to additional programs besides the 15 projects that Whatcom County’s Justice Project is recommending.

Because the public health, safety and justice facility needs assessment was conducted under the restriction of a timeline that would have voters consider approving additional funding this year, it’s easy to understand that the scope of that assessment was restricted as well, allowing for the potential to miss proposing the implementation of other critically needed services.

The larger issue that City Council Members were discussing at their committee meeting on Monday related to a letter which they ultimately decided during that meeting to send to Whatcom County’s Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force in order to provide input on the 5/31/2023 Justice Project Implementation Plan. Community members may also submit comments on the draft plan to the Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force ( IPRTaskForce@co.whatcom.wa.us ) until June 11, 2023.

The draft plan lays out 15 projects that will need future funding. One of those projects includes the construction of a “Public Safety and Health Center to provide secure detention and an array of rehabilitation services and diversion options…” along with a Behavioral Care Center. The 56 page draft plan establishes on only one of those pages that the center will “replace the failing jail.”

One of the things City Council Members wanted to talk about in their letter was how it would be valuable to have more specifics about funding for the 14 other projects included in the draft plan.  So far, only 5 out of the 15 projects are projected to receive funds from a new Justice Sales Tax (JST).

I am including that portion of their discussion in this post because I have some additional information from a May 15, 2023 Whatcom County Incarceration Prevention and Reduction Task Force meeting which provide some details addressing the questions that Council Member Hammill wanted to ask about in the letter related to funding:

Council President Michael Lilliquist: “I’ve heard some suspicions that all the money will be going to the jail and none will be left over and they’ll use crumbs or other funding mechanisms to deal with all the other recommendations. That’s not what I’m hearing from County leaders, but then again I can’t point to something in black and white. So in the letter I would ask for more clarity on the proportions to be spent for the various uses. Mr Hammill – ”

Council Member Dan Hammill: “That – just to kind of put a fine point on that, I would – I would add in any intention to use other funding sources like the one tenth of one percent Behavioral Health sales tax, or the original one tenth of one percent jail facility tax that was passed in 2004, but, like, where do those fit in? Those are specific funding streams and they’re worth together around $10 million a year.”

Council President Lilliquist: “So the letter then would refer to the funding sources, which are called out in the implementation plan.”

Council Member Hammill: “They’re in there.”

Council President Lilliquist: “But again in terms of the general scale of commitments to the various needs, I think it would be helpful for the County to make it more clear to voters, and certainly to us.”

At the May 15, IPRTF meeting, Whatcom County Sherrif Bill Elfo, and Perry Mowery, a task force member who has been serving as supervisor for Whatcom County’s Health Department Human Services Division, had spoken about those two taxes. From their remarks, there didn’t seem to be much evidence of anywhere close to ten million dollars of funding available that could potentially be devoted to the 14 proposed justice projects that don’t include any jails.

After the Sheriff listed the uses of existing funds, he concluded that there wasn’t more capacity in the existing jail sales tax revenue to pay for any other services than the services which were already being funded.

Regarding the Behavioral Health Funds revenue, in 2021 (the most recent annual report I could find) there was about $2,350,000.00 out of $6,406,189.00 in revenue back then that wasn’t being spent for some reason. In contrast, the draft implementation plan includes estimates for one jail facility that go as high as $207,000,000.00 

Below are the comments of Sheriff Elfo and Perry Mowery, and I am including in this post a copy of the 2021 Whatcom County Behavioral Health Funds Annual Report. I had also included Mowery’s remarks in a previous Noisy Waters Northwest blog post.

Sheriff Bill Elfo: “I just wanted to add to what Tyler Schroeder and the Executive said in response to Council Member Hammill’s question. There is a separate 1/10 that does substantially pay for a lot of the programs we have in the jail as well as those in the community. But I don’t think that there’s any more capacity – what the question was – in the jail sales tax to pay for additional services than what we’re already providing.”

Perry Mowery: “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.”