County accepts multiple state allocations for mental-health, youth and caregiver supports

Saratoga County accepted several state funding allocations and approved related contracts for mental-health, developmental-disability and youth services at its Sept. 10 Law and Finance meeting. County staff said the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) provided $10,500 in personalized recovery-oriented-services funding to address immediate client needs in emergency safety situations and that a combined OMH and Office for People With Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD) allocation totaling $101,516 reflects a 2025'26 targeted inflationary increase, a minimum-wage adjustment and state-aid changes. The county will amend the 2025 budget to accept the larger allocation, increasing fund balance by $62,435 as presented. The committee authorized agreements under the Title III-E National Family Caregiver Support Program with Fort Hudson Home Care Inc. and Accent Healthcare Services Inc. to provide level-1 and level-2 respite and personal-care services. County staff said these contracts replace agreements with Greater Adirondack Home Aids, which closed. Fort Hudson's personal-care rate was presented at $38 per hour. The county also accepted 2025'26 state aid allocations from the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) for runaway and homeless youth programs and youth-development/delinquency-prevention funding. The runaway and homeless youth agreement with Grama Community Home Services Inc. totals $77,447 and will flow through Saratoga County as a pass-through reimbursement for program expenses. The youth-development allocation totals $238,586 and will be distributed in part based on youth population to local agencies and municipalities. The Department of Health was authorized to use the New York State mass alert notification system through the Office of Information Technology Services for public-health communications to permitted entities. These items were approved by voice vote during the committee session. Discussion vs. decision: the actions accepting funding and authorizing contracts were formal approvals. Staff characterized the funding purposes (emergency client needs, inflation/waiver adjustments and youth services) but no contested debate or roll-call vote tallies were recorded in the transcript.