Analysis: mental health ballot measure could create deficit in Mendocino County

July 15--A sales tax proposal that would raise an estimated $37 million over five years to build new facilities in Mendocino County for mental health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation services could leave the county with a $4.8 million hole in its general fund annually, according to a just-released financial report on the proposed ballot measure.

But then again, it might not, according to the report commissioned by the county Board of Supervisors and released late Thursday.

The county potentially could fund the operational costs for the new facilities from its existing budgets for mental health and drug programs. It all depends on how the facilities are structured, their sizes, and who operates them, said Mendocino County Chief Executive Officer Carmel Angelo. None of those details are laid out in the proposed measure.

"It doesn't have to cost $5 million," Angelo said. "I think it's doable."

The proposal, named the Mental Health Facility Development Ordinance of 2016, was certified by the elections office earlier this week and will be placed on an upcoming ballot, most likely in November. If approved by voters, all of the money raised by the proposed half-cent sales tax must be used to fund the planning and construction of the proposed facilities, including residential psychiatric facilities for mandatory and voluntary mental health stays. It also would fund a drop-in mental health clinic and a residential facility for alcohol and drug treatment. The county last year spent about $27 million on behavioral health services. It spends about $374,984 on residential drug and alcohol programs.

The estimated annual cost of operating the proposed new facilities is about $30 million, according to the report. Its cost estimates assumed there would be an 18,400-square-foot, 16-bed psychiatric unit; an 11,000-square-foot, 12-bed mental health crisis residential unit; a 9,400-square-foot, 12-bed alcohol and drug residential unit; and a 6,000-square-foot outpatient clinic.

The 16-unit psychiatric facility alone would cost an estimated $4 million to $6.4 million annually to operate, according to the report. The report based staffing estimates on what is legally required for the number of beds and assumed it would be staffed by county employees.

Sheriff Tom Allman, who spearheaded the ballot measure effort, said he's neither surprised nor upset that the county commissioned a financial report on the proposal. He noted the potential $4.8 million of unfunded costs to the county's general fund is a worst-case scenario, one he doesn't believe will occur. A public-private partnership for operations could reduce the costs, Allman said.

"This is not going to cost $5 million a year because we're much smarter than that," he said.

Allman believes the money the county now spends will cover most, if not all, of the costs of the new facilities. The new facilities are desperately needed if the county is to provide humane, adequate care for mental health patients, Allman said. Currently, people having mental health crises wait hours in emergency rooms and the jail waiting to be transported to out-of-county facilities. The county closed its only psychiatric hospital in 1999.

The fiscal report on the ballot measure will be presented to the Board of Supervisor on Monday.

You can reach Staff Writer Glenda Anderson at 462-6473 or glenda.anderson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @MendoReporter

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