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Douglas County outlines behavioral health projects fund, one-time capital commitments
Summary
Staff reviewed the county's Behavioral Health Projects Fund balance, ongoing obligations moved into the fund, one-time capital awards approved in 2025 and constraints on future spending from sales-tax and property-tax revenue streams.
County staff provided a detailed briefing on the Behavioral Health Projects Fund during a budget work session, reporting the fund’s actual 2025 starting balance and explaining recent transfers and one-time spending.
Staff said the Behavioral Health Projects Fund had an actual starting fund balance of about $20.7 million for 2025 and that anticipated 2025 revenue (reestimate) was about $12.7 million. That revenue total, staff said, includes roughly $6.6 million from the behavioral-health sales tax (a quarter-cent countywide sales tax) and about $5.2 million in property-tax funds that were levied for behavioral health before the sales tax was enacted.
Staff explained the county combined previously separate behavioral-health accounts to manage operations and capital more efficiently. Commissioners in 2025 approved about $3.2 million in one-time capital expenditures from the fund; staff listed projects including supportive housing awards to Ninth Street Missionary Baptist and transitional housing support through DECA. Staff stressed the one-time nature of those awards and said they evaluated proposals for operating sustainability and braided funding before approving capital support.
Staff noted that in 2025 the commission moved several ongoing projects (about $917,172) from the general fund into the behavioral-health fund, and added a new ongoing $600,000 commitment for a flexible housing pool; together those items represent about $1.5 million of ongoing obligations within the fund. Staff said an operating fund balance target would be calculated from ongoing revenue and that not all of the fund’s balance is available for one-time projects because part must be retained as an operating reserve.
Staff and commissioners discussed that the quarter-cent behavioral-health sales tax does not by itself generate the total reported fund revenue; the larger stated fund balance and available one-time capital capacity reflect both the sales-tax receipts and historic property-tax transfers. Staff flagged that available room for new ongoing commitments from the sales-tax revenue is constrained and that investment-income and sales-tax volatility factor into planning for 2026.
The presenter and another staff member both emphasized they evaluated community partner proposals for sustainability and braided funding before using one-time fund dollars. Staff also noted past use of CARES Act and ARPA funding for supportive housing and said future supportive housing progress will depend on access to the behavioral-health projects reserve and other braided funding sources.
No formal action was taken in the work session; the discussion was presented as background for the commission’s July budget hearings and later deliberations.
