Council sponsor proposes dedicating 20% of ABBA sales-tax revenue to behavioral-health facility fund; committee schedules GLS action

A proposed ordinance would direct 20% of the county’s affordable-housing and behavioral-health sales-tax revenue (commonly referred to in the meeting as ABBA or the $15.90 dollars) into a new Behavioral Health Facility Expansion Fund to pay for land acquisition, construction or purchase of behavioral-health facilities beginning Jan. 1, 2027.

Nicole Gourley, council staff, presented ordinance 26-018 (sponsored by Councilmember Nehring), describing the proposed amendment to county code and a staff fiscal table projecting the effect of the change. The staff memo noted the 2025 revenue projection had been altered by a prior council amendment that added $3 million to the Lima bridal care facility.

Human Services Director Mary Jane Broglievich told the committee the most recent funding round produced roughly three times as many housing proposals as available resources and that behavioral-health funds had been substantially smaller. Council members asked whether there had been a public process specific to this redistribution and whether federal matching opportunities might be affected; Broglievich and other staff said more applicants sought housing than funding exists and that managing two distinct funds would carry an additional administrative burden.

Councilmembers expressed differing priorities. Councilmember Peterson and others warned that even modest diversion of ABBA could cause housing projects to lose matching dollars or destabilize financing packages; Nehring and proponents argued a dedicated fund could build to the scale required to support high-cost behavioral-health facilities and that current allocations focus heavily on housing.

The committee voted to move ordinance 26-018 to the General Legislative Session (GLS) agenda for May 20 to set time and date for a public hearing and requested outreach so providers can participate in the hearing.