Counties balk at Iowa House mental health funding plan

DES MOINES - An alternative funding plan to help counties that say they need to boost their mental health care funding was met with a chilly reception Wednesday during a hearing at the Iowa Capitol.

But it may be the best the Iowa House can do this year, conceded state Rep. Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf, who is running the bill and represents a portion of Scott County, which is one of the counties that says its mental health care funding is insufficient.

The bill approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee would extend by one year, through June 2018, the state mental health care property tax levy implemented as part of the state's regional redesign.

County officials said they favor an Iowa Senate proposal that would allow counties in need to increase their mental health care property tax levy.

Miller said she, too, favors the Senate measure but is unsure enough House members would support its passage. She said she expects the House proposal to pass that chamber.

'We have to come up with a solution. The problem is it's an election year, and I can't get either (political) side,” Miller said. 'I prefer the bill in the Senate, actually. (But) I can't pass it over here.”

A state cap designed to equalize how much property tax revenue counties can dedicate to mental health care actually has created inequities under the new regional delivery system, county officials say. They say the cap has left some counties lagging behind others in their region, forcing those other counties to cover the difference to make the region's budget whole. The issue has led some regions to begin discussing whether those lagging counties, including Scott County, should be removed from their regions.

Originally with the redesign, the state made equalization payments to the counties. But no state dollars have been allocated for equalization in the past two fiscal years, and none is planned for the upcoming fiscal year.

Under the Senate plan favored by counties, those counties could raise their mental health property tax levy to equalize it with other counties in the region.

County officials at Wednesday's hearing described the House proposal to simply extend the levy by one year as kicking the can down the road.

A Polk County official said 1,300 people could lose mental health care services if the county is not able to fill a $7 million budget hole.

'I think we all uniformly agree (the statewide mental health care redesign) has been successful in achieving everything you wanted it to be,” said Amy Campbell, a lobbyist for the Polk County supervisors. 'The last thing we haven't addressed is the property tax, the financing piece, which did drive a lot of the inequities in the system because of the dollar cap. … I'd encourage you to look for a permanent solution; the sooner the better.”

John Miller, a Black Hawk County supervisor, spoke at Wednesday's hearing even though Black Hawk County is not one of the counties that finds itself in a mental health care budget crisis. Miller said he nonetheless thinks the funding inequity threatens the state's new regional delivery system.

'I can't get angry anymore. I just want to cry because what I'm seeing is a system that is working and is beginning to unravel,” Miller said. 'My plea to you (legislators) is to not do this and kick this can down the road any farther but leave us to do what we need to do.”