Drug court faces funding uncertainty as county staff outline current revenues and staffing

Cowlitz County finance staff told commissioners Monday that the drug court program’s budget is currently underwritten in part by state and mental-health-tax reimbursements and that the county must prepare for a funding gap after 2025. “They have currently a $60,000 budget for intergovernmental revenue. They've brought in, just over 28,000,” finance manager Susie said in the workshop summarizing grant and state-reimbursement activity for the drug court. Susie also said personnel expenses for drug court show “5 and a half FTE filled, and they have 1 open position,” and that year-to-date payroll is slightly below the pro-rated target. Staff described program revenue sources: “behavioral health and recovery funding… provided by Washington State Health Care Authority,” supervision fees paid by participants, and mental-health-tax billings submitted to the county for reimbursement. Commissioners noted recurring software licensing costs for program-specific systems. Susie identified two licenses: “the DCCM and the RANT,” explaining “The RANT is how we evaluate people that get into therapeutic courts, and the DCCM is how we track and process, and that information goes to the state.” Commissioners clarified these are program-specific licenses rather than countywide IT license agreements. County staff and commissioners said the county has warned all departments funded by the mental-health tax to prepare for the end of that funding after 2025. Cathy Funk Baxter said the county will hold budget workshops starting mid-September and that one session will focus on “the mental health tax and how it's gonna be utilized in 2026, what's remaining in 2026 and 2027.” Why it matters: drug court provides supervised treatment alternatives to incarceration; the loss of mental-health-tax reimbursements would require the county to identify alternate funding or scale program services. What was not decided: no vote or formal funding action occurred in the workshop. Commissioners and staff said they are pursuing bridge funding options and exploring whether regional partners or planned health-system wraparound services could support future billing models. Ending: county staff will require departments to explain plans for replacing mental-health-tax funds during upcoming budget workshops; commissioners set budget-workshop dates for mid-September.