The Four County ADAMhs Board has voted to place a seven-tenths of one mill renewal levy on the November 8 ballot in Defiance, Fulton, Henry and Williams counties.
If approved by voters, the levy would be collected for five years starting with the 2017 tax duplicate and generate an estimated $1,737,181 a year for board expenses. Typically, most of the ADAMhs Board spending (56 percent) goes toward mental health services. Last year, the board spent 18 percent of its revenue on alcohol and drug services, and 12 percent on integrated healthcare.
Lesser amounts of last year’s $6.9 million budget were spent on board administrative costs, 9 percent; services to agencies, 3 percent; and family violence, 2 percent.
Last year, some 3,704 adults received services funded by the ADAMhs Board while 2,128 youth received ADAMhs-funded services. Integrated health services that are provided by Health Partners of Western Ohio with ADAMhs Board support served 1,205 patients last year.
Most of the board’s funding (60 percent) comes from two local property taxes – each seven-tenths on one mill. Together, last year those taxes raised nearly $4.2 million. The balance of the board’s revenue comes from state funding, 31 percent; and federal grants, 9 percent.
The property tax that will be on the ballot this fall was first approved by voters in 1982 and has been extended six times since then – every time for five years. It was approved as a replacement levy in 1997 and currently has an effective millage rate of 0.57 mills.
ADAMhs Board CEO Les McCaslin noted that as a renewal levy, voter approval will not increase taxes that property owners are currently paying.
McCaslin also told the board that the $1.2 million investment that it had approved in November 2014 with Health Partners of Western Ohio to establish the Bryan Community Health Center has paid for itself, primarily through savings to the board in psychiatric medications, and is now showing a net gain of $34,000.
He explained that ADAMhs Board funded clients who are patients of Dr. Warren Morris at the Bryan Community Health Center can get their psychiatric medications through the pharmacy there at no cost to the board. In the past, the ADAMhs Board purchased those medications through the state’s central pharmacy.
McCaslin also noted that some of the Center’s patients with less acute psychiatric disorders are being served by the Center’s behavioral health staff, which also saves the board money.
Consequently, the board has encouraged Health Partners of Western Ohio to try to establish a similar health center in Fulton County and provide the same array of services that they offer at the Bryan Community Health Center, including a dental clinic that accepts Medicaid.
Following discussion, the board approved an allocation of up to $750,000 for Health Partners of Western Ohio to establish a health center somewhere in Fulton County. McCaslin said that Health Partners has told him that they are confident some of the cost to establish a community health center in Fulton County could be funded by a federal grant that they intend to apply for in October.
At this point, no Fulton County location has been identified for a health center.
In other action, the board approved nine contracts for the new fiscal year starting July 1. Those contracts include…
•A women’s outpatient grant with Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio for $80,000 and a women’s residential grant with Recovery Services of Northwest Ohio for $125,000.
•$20,000 to purchase psychiatric medications for clients through the Health Partners of Western Ohio pharmacy.
•Up to $15,000 for both the Henry County family court and Fulton County common pleas court to provide assessments of children and adults who are involved with the courts to determine if they might benefit from behavioral health services.
•Consumer advocate and support group contracts with Jammie Richmond and Nancy Shannon for up to $2,500 each and with Mark Krieger for up to $12,500.
•$5,000 for NAMI Four County to provide behavioral health public awareness and education.
•$96,000 to fund the board’s share of adolescent residential placements for youth who have multiple needs. The placement costs are typically shared by the ADAMhs Board, county jobs and family services departments, and the juvenile courts.
•$75,000 to support the county juvenile courts’ special docket initiative that replaces detention and incarceration with treatment interventions for appropriate juvenile offenders.
•Up to $40,000 for the Montgomery County ADAMHS Board to process client enrollments, create outcome reports, and do claims processing contract providers of the Four County ADAMhs Board, and
•$40,000 to support the Williams County common pleas drug court.
The board also approved an office budget of $699,194 for next year, the same amount that has been appropriated for the last several years.
McCaslin told the board that the state has extended the deadline to July 1, 2017 for all boards to have the state-mandated behavioral health continuity of care plan in place.
He said that the Four County board already has all but one of plan’s components in place. The missing piece is certified peer support. A week-long training will be held next month at the ADAMhs Board office to train persons to become certified to provide peer support services.
McCaslin noted that the board’s consumer advocates, which have been paid contract positions since 1994, have provided the peer education and support that are part of the continuity of care plan. However, none of the persons holding those positions have been certified.
He also reported that Pam Pflum, the board’s director of quality improvement, will be making a presentation on four county’s Local Outreach to Survivors of Suicide (LOSS) teams at the Ohio Suicide Prevention Coalition conference later this month.
Three retiring board members were recognized: Jim Shock and Carol Sanders of Defiance and John Nye of Liberty Center. All three have completed at least eight years of service on the board.
The board has no scheduled meetings during July and August.
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