Gov. Branstad approves $11.6 million in 'transition' funds for Linn and 25 other counties to help with mental health, developmental disability services

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County Supervisors Linda Langston and Ben Rogers applauded Gov. Terry Branstad's decision on Thursday to sign legislation that will provide $11.63 million in "transition" funding to Linn and 25 other Iowa counties as the state moves ahead on its plan to regionalize the delivery of services for mental health and development disability.

Linn County and Scott County got the largest share of the total funding, $2.218 million and $2.437 million respectively, with Delaware County receiving $$89,618 and Jackson County, $508,580, among other Eastern Iowa counties.

"Linn County needed $2.2 million to make sure there would be no more cuts to mental health and developmental disability services," Rogers said. "So this is huge for Linn County."

Langston said the transition funding will allow Linn County and the other recipient counties to avoid shortfalls in their mental health budgets in the current fiscal year that ends June 30, 2013, and so let them begin on a "level playing field" with other counties as the state's new regional approach arrives.

Renee Schulte, who represented Cedar Rapids and Linn County in the Iowa House last year and helped spearhead the legislation that created the new regional delivery system for mental health and disability services, on Thursday said the governor's action will provide "exactly what we need to bridge the gap to keep us moving."

Schulte explained that Linn County's need for the transition funds was tied to a state formula that provided the county with less funding than it expected and needed to provide programming.

"Linn County was a casualty of the funding mechanism," she said, adding the mechanism now is changing.

Langston said that the state of Iowa established rates in 1996 which limited what counties could raise from property taxes to deliver mental health and disability services. The amounts per capita differ among counties, and for Linn County and other counties, the inability to raise the rate has made it increasingly difficult to balance the county's program budget for mental health and disability services, Langston said. Currently, the state formula allows the county to raise $8.9 million a year, or $38.32 per capita, according to county figures.

Rogers called Thursday's action by the governor "a first step."

Another piece of legislation still waiting action, he said, would establish an "equalization" rate that would let all Iowa counties raise revenue for mental health and developmental disability services via property taxes to the rate of $47.28 per capita. Rogers said the hope, too, is that the state will help provide additional transition funding in the next fiscal year to help pay for the increase. Linn County has built that $47.28-per-capita target into its new budget, he said.

As for the regionalization of services, Langston said Linn County is moving ahead "with a certain amount of trepidation" because of past experience with the state.

Linn County and eight other counties - Johnson, Dubuque, Benton, Iowa, Jones, Buchanan, Delaware and Bremer - will work together in one of the state's regional setups, which must be ready to go by July 1, 2014, Langston said.

Langston said the regional approach has much to work out, including building trust between large counties like Linn and Johnson and the smaller counties in the regional group.

Schulte, who is working as a consultant for the state of Iowa to help design the new regional setups, said Linn and Johnson counties now offer "great services," and she said joining forces will make them "a powerhouse" in the region.