Davis Behavioral Health asks county for 2.5% budget boost as service intensity rises

Davis Behavioral Health on Oct. 1 asked the Davis County Budget Committee for a 2.5% increase in county funding as the agency grapples with higher per-client service intensity and a shifting funding mix.

Bridal Hatch, introduced in the presentation as director of Davis Behavioral Health, told the committee the agency served fewer distinct clients this past year but provided "235, almost 236,000 services last year to the residents of the county," which she said signals greater illness severity and increased need per client. Hatch said the county’s Medicaid enrollment peaked at about 26,000 during the pandemic and has fallen to about 18,000 as the unwinding finished, contributing to the change in client counts.

Ryan Westregard, identified as the CFO of Davis Behavioral Health, explained the budgetary pressures: higher Medicaid match rates after a pandemic-era reduction and timing differences in block-grant and opioid-response funding have changed the agency’s revenue mix. "Our request is a 2 and a half percent increase," Westregard said, adding that the raise would not fully cover recent staff cost-of-living adjustments but would help retain existing personnel while other funding sources are used to fill gaps.

Presenters emphasized DBH’s crisis response role. Hatch said the crisis team’s goal is to keep people in their homes where possible; they reported that 67% of crisis contacts are resolved without hospital transfer and that roughly 80% of crisis callers are adults. The agency described crisis calls as typically involving suicide risk, danger to self or others, psychosis and severe stress.

Committee members asked how residents reach DBH. Hatch said the national suicide-and-crisis line, 988, can route calls that require an in-person response to DBH’s crisis team; she also said many people still go to emergency rooms and that roughly 1,300 additional people year over year may be unaware of DBH’s services. DBH said direct dispatch-to-DBH is uncommon (about 1% of crisis calls) but that it trains law enforcement in Crisis Intervention Team/CAT programs and holds monthly coordination meetings with county agencies.

On homelessness and residential capacity, presenters said DBH operates a receiving center and roughly 50 residential beds, with about 60 more beds planned. They said housing and on-site services reduce the visible homeless population in the county and that, without that capacity, outreach counts would be higher.

Westregard and Hatch described workforce pressures: retention has been relatively stable, but recruiting for professional positions remains difficult. They highlighted targeted salary adjustments for clinicians and other measures to improve morale and retention, including flexible scheduling, limited telehealth workdays for clinicians, evening appointments and small workplace perks ("we fill them with fruit twice a week," Hatch said of staff fruit baskets).

On facilities, DBH said it will open a Syracuse clinic near 2000 West and Antelope Drive on the coming Thursday and hopes to break ground on an expanded campus in December after resolving flood-plain issues.

The presentation included no formal motion or vote. Committee members asked follow-up questions; DBH representatives said they would provide additional detail if requested. The committee did not take formal action during the presentation.

The Budget Committee will consider the agency’s funding request as part of its broader budget deliberations this fall; no final county decision was recorded at the meeting.