Finance committee approves agreement to sustain Waukesha crisis response unit beyond 2026

The Waukesha City Finance Committee on Tuesday approved an agreement with Waukesha County intended to sustain the city’s mental health crisis response unit beyond 2026 by funding a second clinician beginning in 2027.

Chief (the presenter) told the committee the unit began in 2023 with one clinician and a specially trained officer; a council-approved grant later funded a second clinician, staffed in May 2024. A state Department of Health Services grant will carry the second clinician’s funding through the end of 2026, the chief said, and the current agreement would continue the two-clinician model by assigning the city to fund one clinician while the county covers the other.

The finance director confirmed that if the committee and council approve the agreement, the council would effectively be committing to include the city-funded clinician in the 2027 operating budget. The chief said both clinicians would be committed to the City of Waukesha and would not be shared with Brookfield.

Alderman Lemke voiced support for the clinicians but warned the committee to consider tax-levy limits and indicated departments might need to tighten budgets to accommodate new recurring costs.

The chair said he had been a strong proponent of the program since its inception and cited program outcomes in the meeting packet, saying the unit produced “roughly a 17% diversion away from emergency detentions compared to a 10% target,” a figure he offered to illustrate reduced officer time spent on emergency detentions.

A committee member moved to approve the agreement; when a second was recorded in the transcript the motion was adopted by unanimous voice vote.

The committee’s action sends the proposed funding approach to the council as part of the 2027 budget discussion next year.