Council to decide upon Mental Health Tax expenditures

If the San Juan County Council approves, county school districts will be contracted to utilize the county mental health tax revenue in the following amounts:

Orcas Island — $42,750 annually for the next two years;

Lopez Island — $29,750 annually for the next two years;

San Juan Island — $52,500 annually for the next two years.

The funding period will begin September 1, 2009.

The law establishing this “sales and use tax” was established by the County Council in 2008 to provide for chemical dependency or mental health treatment services. On April 1, 2009, the Mental Health Tax Fund was created by the County Council “to receive the tax revenues and record approved expenditures.”

Recommendations for the mental health tax expenditure are based on the estimation that the county will receive $125,000 annually from the 1/10^th of 1% addition to the county retail sales tax. The exact amount that will be available depends upon the actual sales tax revenues collected by the County.

On June 22, The Lopez, Orcas and San Juan school districts submitted grant applications for the school-based mental health services to be funded by the tax to the San Juan County Department of Health & Community Services Department, responsible for administering the grant funds. The public school districts were charged with making the funds available to all school-aged children, not just those enrolled in the public schools.

At an open public meeting on July 20, the review committee, composed of County Advisory Board members and County staff, rated the proposals and made program and funding recommendations for expenditure of the mental health tax revenues.

Their recommendations will be sent in a report to council for final determination on Aug. 24, said John Manning, head of the San Juan County Department of Health & Community Services Department. Assuming that the council approves the findings happens, contracts will be negotiated, which Manning assumes could take three or four weeks.

Along with the allocations, the committee recommended program elements, including expanding the Readiness to Learn program services, establishing a Behavioral Health specialist position, and increased support of mental health services through the school districts.