Finance director tells departments not to assume mental-health-tax positions in preliminary budgets

Flint Baxter, county finance director, told commissioners departments should not automatically include positions currently funded by the mental health tax in their initial budget submissions and instead must propose funding strategies during scheduled budget workshops. "My recommendation to the board is that, their budgets will not have those positions in, automatically in or funded," Baxter said, adding departments could request positions later through the normal budget process if they present a funding plan. Baxter said the county lacks sufficient remaining mental-health-tax dollars to cover all previously funded positions through the 2026–27 biennium and suggested four options departments may pursue: convert an existing vacant position to the mental-health-funded role; reassign funds within existing department lines; move funding to a different fund; or seek a grant such as opioid-related funding. Baxter said the jail is a special case because about half of the mental health tax—"a little bit over 1,300,000"—is currently used for mandated medical treatment and programs there, and he expects leaving those jail positions in place will carry the county through 2026 and likely 2027. Baxter said departments should present their mental-health-tax position requests in a special workshop scheduled for Sept. 16 and that department budgets are due Aug. 11. He warned drug court and other programs with multiple positions on the tax will face the largest challenge funding alternatives. The finance director also said the county will require an audit trail for any position conversions or funding changes made through the budget process. On a related item, Marin (public-health lead) updated commissioners on the Medicaid transformation and jail medical services: the county is out to bid for a medical contract that will conclude by Oct. 1; the Medicaid transformation work may be finalized in 2026 and could reduce the county’s medical expenditures in the jail. "We are currently out to bid for a medical contract. We'll conclude that process by October 1, and then we're going to get back into the loop on the Medicaid transformation project," Marin said. Baxter and staff said four companies have expressed interest in the medical contract and bids are due in early August. Commissioners directed staff to circulate the guidance to departments and to continue refining budget schedules; no binding budget adjustments were approved at the meeting.