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Department of Mental Health separates facilities budget, requests authority for rising costs and program shifts
Summary
Vermont Department of Mental Health told the House Appropriations Committee it will split central office and facility spending into separate appropriations, move $38.7 million in personnel costs into the facilities appropriation, and asked for additional spending authority tied to federal funding streams amid rising residential and PNMI demand.
The Vermont Department of Mental Health asked the House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 5 to approve a restructured budget that separates central office functions from facility operations and to authorize transfers and increased federal spending authority to match changing program demands.
The reorganization aims to show more clearly what the state spends on the Vermont Psychiatric Care Hospital and the River Valley Therapeutic Residence versus central office operations, Shannon Thompson, the department's financial director, said. "We are separating out the overall Department of Mental Health budget into two different appropriations," Thompson said.
Committee members were shown that the department plans to transfer $38,681,170 in personal services from the central office appropriation into the facilities appropriation. Thompson said the split is intended "for transparency purposes so you can see really what we're spending on those two facilities versus our central office and the rest of the system." The…
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