Delegate Wiley tells Winchester council limited state dollars will force prioritizing behavioral-health and housing supports

Delegate Wiley told the Winchester City Council at a special Oct. 22 meeting that available state funding for local projects will be limited in the upcoming session and urged the city to prioritize paired housing and behavioral-health services for people experiencing homelessness.

"We have put a ton of money from the state into into behavioral health needs," Delegate Wiley said, adding that the main constraint now is local infrastructure and staffing to receive and sustain services. He pointed to a new Valley Health emPATH unit as an example of recent state-supported work to connect people to treatment.

The council pressed Wiley on topics the city had not listed as priorities. Councilor Tagnay Singh asked about child trafficking; Wiley said enforcement is being stepped up along major interstates and that he would follow up on whether it could be addressed in the legislative package. Delwyn Wallington C. asked whether municipalities can again require developer proffers to fund infrastructure such as schools; Wiley said the proffer framework exists but needs updating and indexing to current costs and warned that stricter proffers can raise development costs and complicate affordable-housing goals.

On education funding, a council member asked about the school construction sales-tax referendum that was vetoed. Wiley said the measure is permissive and could benefit Winchester, but opponents object to calling it a tax, and he noted concerns about how revenues would be distributed among localities with different retail bases.

The meeting was procedural; there was no formal action on any legislative priorities at the session. The council adjourned after the discussion to start its regular meeting.