Officials warn state contract changes could shift community mental‑health services away from Morrow County

A county behavioral‑health representative told the Morrow County Board of Commissioners on July 2 that proposed changes to the state master contract for mental‑health services risk stripping counties of control over which providers deliver key services.

The representative said the master contract — variously described in the meeting as the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) or the county financial assistance award (CFAA) — has long included a sentence making county obligations subject to "based upon the availability of funds." The speaker said a recent draft from the Oregon Health Authority omitted those words and the state declined requests to restore them.

Why it matters: Counties contract with the state for funding to operate community mental‑health programs (CMHPs). The speaker warned that removing county‑specific language could allow the state to reassign some service elements to a single, multi‑county contract or to providers the county had not chosen, reducing local oversight and potentially weakening services in smaller counties.

The speaker said some service elements already targeted for removal from county contracts include "service element 13" (school‑based counseling) and elements tied to gambling‑prevention dollars (identified in the discussion as elements 80 and 81). The change would also allow the state to issue regional contracts for those elements rather than per‑county contracts; the speaker said that would mean small counties such as Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant could see base allocations fall dramatically.

"If you start to look at CCS, Morrow, Wheeler, Gilliam and Grant as one county, everybody's gonna lose money," the representative said, arguing that smaller counties could be reduced to a fraction of current funding levels. As an example, the speaker said gambling funds currently provide a base of about $80,000 to each county, with larger counties receiving more; under a combined contract, smaller counties could fall to $20,000–$30,000, the speaker cautioned.

The presenter said counties and the Association of Oregon Counties (AOC) had pressed the state to keep the availability‑of‑funds language. The meeting transcript records that the governor left a negotiation session after the state refused to restore the phrase; after that stalemate the state agreed to extend existing contracts for six months while talks continue.

The representative also warned that Medicaid funding is a major part of the CMHP financing mix and a risk to service continuity. "Medicaid funds... make up about two‑thirds of our total funding," the presenter said, and if those dollars were cut the county would face "significant changes," including reductions in services and provider capacity.

What commissioners were asked to do: The presenter asked commissioners to follow the negotiations, suggested commissioners contact county staff (named in the meeting as Gina) or attend AOC or work‑group meetings, and urged the board to push to keep the listed service elements inside county contracts or, if that is not possible, to require one contract per county rather than a single regional contract.

Context and local developments: The representative noted the county’s current contractor, identified in the discussion as CCS, has held the existing multi‑page contract for many years and that small, incremental edits had occurred but no comprehensive rewrite until now. County staff and CMHP directors participated in a state‑convened work group over the past year; the presenter said negotiations appeared to stall about a month before the meeting when the state produced a draft without the availability‑of‑funds language.

The representative closed by saying counties and CMHP directors largely oppose further erosion of county authority and urged commissioners to engage with AOC and staff if they wish to advocate for preserving local control.

Ending: Commissioners were informed the state has issued a six‑month extension of current contracts while talks continue, and the presenter said staff would keep the board apprised and welcomed commissioner participation in future meetings.