County Executive Chris Abele said Monday he plans to increase funding for community-based mental health programs and will resubmit a plan to have the Milwaukee Police Department take over patrol of the lakefront and other county parks, as parts of his 2014 budget.
In an interview, Abele said he was working to include $4 million in spending on broadening community mental health options, but said a final decision had not yet been made.
Adding outpatient mental health programming would help fulfill his goal of emptying two long-term care units at the Mental Health Complex by 2016, a promise he made earlier this year.
Abele declined to commit to the $4 million figure, the amount requested by the county's Behavioral Health Division for 2014. He said he'd add that sum, "if we can get there."
Part of that increase would go toward increasing the number of scattered-site subsidized housing units for former residents of the complex. This year's county budget calls for adding 20 units of such housing, which includes support services to enable residents to live on their own.
"We are going to look hard to see if we can even do a little more than that," Abele said.
A group of mental health advocates is pressing Abele to do more to beef up community care, saying the county has a severe need for supportive housing despite county efforts to foster development of some 450 units since 2008.
The Make It Work Milwaukee Coalition, in a letter to Abele earlier this month, faulted the county for failing to spend a substantial portion of $3 million in funding earmarked for community mental health services this year.
Hector Colón, the county's heath and human services director, said in an emailed response that $275,000 of money initially earmarked for case management services had been redirected to an "expanded type of case management" through a separate program.
Colón acknowledged that $250,000 earmarked for outpatient health centers had been cut partly because many potential clients will likely get the help under the new federal Affordable Care Act, also referred to as Obamacare.
Abele also said he'll include a revised version of his plan to have city cops take over lakefront and other park patrols, a move rejected for 2013 by the County Board and resisted by Sheriff David. A. Clarke Jr.
Abele said he remains convinced the service could be done more effectively and at a lower price by contracting with the city.
"We believe we can get better outcomes and save money," Abele said.
The plan Abele proposed earlier would have meant layoff of 27 deputies and a net saving of $1.2 million to county taxpayers, he argued then. Clarke and county supervisors said the move would compromise public safety.
Abele also said additional privatization plans might be included in his 2014 budget, but declined to specify any.
He said he hoped to have a contract for a new firm to operate the Milwaukee County Transit System by next year. The county has tentatively offered the pact to the Dallas-based MV Transportation, a large, privately held firm.
He said the firm would be held accountable for keeping promises it has made about how it would operate the system, including to retain the current defined benefit pension system for transit employees.
"I wouldn't be comfortable with something that didn't protect their pension," Abele said.
The union that represents transit workers has questioned whether that promise would hold up beyond the two years left in transit workers' current contract.
0 comments:
Post a Comment