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Mental health tax draws high praise

Walla Walla Union-Bulletin (WA) - 5/6/2015

May 05--How money from a sales tax to aid mental health services is being used drew high praise Monday.

"This is a tremendous example of a program that is extremely effective and has done exactly what it was designed to do," said Walla Walla County Commissioner Jim Johnson. "This is (an) example of what this type of program should be all about. Passing local option sales taxes that are implemented locally for local programs that affect people that walk our streets and live next door ...."

The one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax went into effect in 2012 after being approved by county Commissioners Perry Dozier, Gregg Loney and Greg Tompkins. Revenue from the tax rose from $670,337 at the end of 2012 to $875,267 in 2014, said Harvey Crowder, county Department of Community Health director.

Crowder presented an update to commissioners Monday on how the money has been used to fund new or expanded services for mental health and chemical dependency treatment.

Initial expenditures included expanding mental health services by the county to people not eligible for Medicaid and developing programs to aid families with members struggling with substance abuse disorders. Then in 2013 contracts were awarded to four agencies, Catholic Charities, Central Washington Comprehensive Mental Health, Children's Home Society and Trilogy Recovery Community to expand their services.

"Just through the four contracted agencies, a total of 4,231 persons were served for a total of 5,395 hours of direct service between October 2013 and December 2014," Crowder reported. "This is an average of 385 hours a month of direct services provided by professionals ranging from peer counselors and case managers to licensed social workers and psychiatrists."

Crowder said one goal that has been met was to increase outreach and services provided to the county's growing Latino population.

"I think the biggest success in this is more than 50 percent of those that we've helped have been Hispanic ... A lot of that has to do with the work done in schools and with families by Trilogy Recovery," he said. Another target was to increase services to youth, and 37 percent of those served have been in that class, he said.

A new service has been the Walla Walla County Family Treatment Court, which began hearing cases in July of 2013. The program seeks to reunify families from which children have been put into foster care while the parents undergo substance abuse treatment.

Since 2013, 16 parents have been screened for participation. Of that number, nine have opted into the program, two cases were screened out and five ended up choosing not to opt in, Crowder reported. The court has served a total of eight children in dependencies, six of which have been successfully reunited with their parents.

However, "one case achieved reunification, but the child was later pulled from the home again due to domestic violence," the report said.

Crowder told commissioners the Family Treatment Court is looking to expanding to include a youth drug court. However, he said, "again, I think they are learning as they are going, as we are, as things move forward."

"One of the most critical successes" involving the new tax revenue concerned Serenity Point, which is the county's only chemical dependency treatment provider, Crowder said.

The tax funds were first used in 2013 to avoid reductions in service as a state contract was nearing its end.

"Instead of reducing services, Serenity Point was requested to maintain their current level of services with the understanding that any treatment services that could not be covered through the state contract would be paid through the 0.1 percent funds," the report said.

Another "critical tipping point" came in January 2014 when implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid, would have reduced reimbursement rates for the majority of clients served by Serenity Point. The $30,000 per month shortfall in funding resulted in the announcement in March that the service was facing closure.

However, Crowder reported, the mental health tax fund was used to sustain services until "intensive discussions" with the state and governor's office found a way to continue funding.

Andy Porter can be reached at andyporter@wwub.com or 526-8318.

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