Commissioners refer $3M in behavioral-health funding requests to Health & Human Services; available funds ~ $1.8M

Clallam County commissioners opened and read 14 behavioral-health funding proposals on Oct. 21 and voted to send the solicitations to the county Health & Human Services department for evaluation.

The proposals covered prevention, early intervention, crisis response, housing-related behavioral-health services and outreach. Requests described programs from a community paramedic overdose response to school-based prevention, crisis-intervention teams, projects assisting people transitioning from homelessness, and peer-support and counseling programs. Individual two-year funding requests ranged from roughly $25,000 to more than $320,000; staff said the total requested across submissions was approximately $3 million for the two-year cycle.

Staff and commissioners noted the funding source is the county’s one-tenth of one percent behavioral-health sales tax (locally known as the Hargrove tax). Commissioners said available funds for the two-year funding cycle total about $1.8 million, creating an allocation gap requiring scoring and prioritization.

What the board decided: by motion the board remanded the proposals to the Health & Human Services department and to the behavioral-health advisory subcommittee for conflict review, evaluation and recommendation. Commissioners said the advisory board and subcommittee will evaluate proposals and return a recommendation to the board.

Next steps: evaluation, scoring and recommendations from HHS and the behavioral-health advisory board will be returned to the commissioners for final allocation decisions. Several commissioners disclosed prior affiliations (board memberships) where relevant and recusal plans were noted in one instance for YMCA-related proposals.