Another deficit looms in mental health aid

CEDAR RAPIDS - Already trying to close the last of a $5.3 million shortfall in the current budget for services for mental health and the developmentally disabled, Linn County supervisors got the bad word Monday: an MHDD deficit of up to $3.3 million next year.

“We've beat the bushes,” Sue Novak, budget director for Linn County Community Services, told supervisors at their work session. “It's going to come down to, we have to reduce services.”

Under the state's present funding plan, the county's deficit would be $2.2 million, Novak said. If Gov. Terry Branstad's budget recommendations are approved, the county shortfall would reach $3.3 million. The final figure will depend on the state Legislature, where the latest effort to reform Iowa's MHDD services might bring more aid to the counties, which deliver and administer most services.

Or it might not. When lawmakers went to a two-year budget cycle last year at Branstad's urging, they underfunded the “allowable growth” formula for MHDD aid by about $7 million statewide.

With the current uncertainty, asked Supervisor Brent Oleson, R-Marion, “Who could, in their right mind, publish a budget by March 15?” That's the budget deadline for the fiscal year starting July 1.

Counties' ability to fund MHDD services with property taxes has been restricted since 1996, when the Legislature locked in that year's MHDD levies - $8.1 million for Linn County - as part of its last try at reform. Lawmakers promised the state would cover higher MHDD costs caused by inflation and increased demand, but that hasn't happened.

Supervisors could certify a budget that includes the MHDD deficit - if they knew what it would be - then later cut services once the Legislature acts. Supervisor Linda Langston warned that services were already cut deeply during the current fiscal year to close the gap, now about $400,000.

“We're getting to the point now where the things we're cutting are going to be hurtful to the people in the community,” said Langston, D-Cedar Rapids.

The state has helped the county deal with its deficit with $1 million from its “risk pool” and allowing a one-time $466,270 boost to its MHDD levy.

“That helped keep our services alive (this year), but it's not there” in fiscal 2013, Novak said.

Cuts to some programs could be counterproductive. For example, reducing supported living services that help people live independently could save $50 to $70 per day per client. But losing those services would send many back into institutions, costing the county $140 per day.

“I have no trust in the Legislature,” Langston said. “This has been an ongoing problem” no matter which party controls the governor's office and statehouse. “They're asking us to continually be the ones who sort of magically have to defund services and find money.”