The Tompkins County Health and Human Services Committee on Aug. 20 unanimously approved a budget adjustment (ID 13481) to align opioid settlement funds with the results of a returned request-for-proposals and enable contract payments for the rest of the year.

Why it matters: The adjustment is not new county general-fund spending, the department said; it is an accounting change to allow county payment of contracts funded by opioid settlement dollars and to align contract amounts to the RFP awards.

Jeremy, speaking for Whole Health, described the change as “really a correction because we started that with this funding in the middle of last year. At that point, it was unclear how to budget for the new contract going into this year.” He emphasized the change reflected the RFP returns so the department could pay contract obligations.

Committee members asked about the local contractor listed in materials, Catholic Charities. Jeremy said the adjustment for Catholic Charities shown in the packet was $120,000 and that the overall allocation for the program changed “from 2.46 to 3.66 in total” as recorded in the meeting materials; the transcript does not specify the units for those figures. He said the funding is multi-year and that he would follow up with exact next-year amounts and expense-per-client details.

A committee member asked whether recipients funded through the Local Government Unit (LGU) process reported back to the Mental Health Services Board; staff confirmed the LGU approvals were made by the county board and that reporting mechanisms exist.

The committee approved the resolution by roll call: Dan — yes; Randy — yes; Amanda — yes; Shauna — yes; chair — yes.

What’s next: Jeremy said he would provide follow-up details on multi-year amounts and per-client expenditure data to the committee.