[UPDATE: The Mental Health Board's finance committee will hear public testimony on the Behavioral Health Division budget at its next meeting, which will be held at 1:30 p.m. on June 16, at the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex, 9455 Watertown Plank Road, conference room 1045.]
When the Milwaukee County Mental Health Board was formed by state legislation in 2014, it was spun as a way to put appointed behavioral health professionals in charge of the county’s mental health and substance abuse services as the county moved to a community-based system.
But those professionals and the public seem to have limited impact on Milwaukee County’s Behavioral Health Division’s (BHD) budget.
In its first budget cycle, for the 2015 budget, the board wasn’t allowed to offer any amendments to the budget crafted by the Chris Abele administration.
In the board’s second budget cycle, just two amendments were offered up for the 2016 budget. The board ultimately rejected money set aside for a staff member to provide them with independent information by a single vote. Another amendment to fund round-the-clock crisis centers on the North Side and South Side passed. But Abele partially vetoed that amendment so that the services would be provided on the North Side only.
Now, the board is working its way through the 2017 budget. But board members—and interested members of the community—say they are still grappling with the process.
Mary Neubauer, who represents the Milwaukee Mental Health Task Force on the board, said she doesn’t have enough information about the details of the budget.
“It’s ridiculous,” Neubauer told the Shepherd. “I continue to be frustrated with the budget. We were told it would be different in 2016.”
A Different Process
The Mental Health Board follows a unique budget process. It receives a recommended budget from the Abele administration for the Behavioral Health Division, adds amendments, and sends the final budget to Abele. Its property tax levy, according to state law, must remain between $53 million and $65 million. Its current property tax levy is $59 million and its overall budget is $188 million.
Abele can change anything in the board’s budget and the board apparently cannot veto any of his edits. Abele then includes the BHD budget in the overall county budget. The Board of Supervisors cannot change the BHD’s budget through amendments.
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This year, the board attempted to include more public input in its proposed budget. But that outreach has had mixed results.
In March, the public was allowed to provide input on the 2017 budget. But there was no 2017 budget for community members to comment on—a subject of frustration during the meeting. Instead, much of the testimony was from residents of the Uncas Park neighborhood, who raised concerns about the county’s group home there, and requests to make the board more engaged with the community.
The public had a second—and final—opportunity to speak on the budget at the May 26 Mental Health Board finance committee meeting.
But the Abele administration released its overview of the 2017 budget just 28 hours before the hearing. What’s more, that overview contained little information for the public—and board members—to respond to.
Randy Oleszak, fiscal administrator for BHD, reported that BHD was facing a $2.7 million deficit in the coming year, since Abele did not want the board to raise property taxes. The news of the deficit seemed surprising, since previous budget updates indicated that there would be a surplus going into 2017.
Abele’s Health and Human Services Director Héctor Colón makes his formal budget presentation to the finance committee on June 16. It goes to the full board for approval on June 23.
But Neubauer and fellow board member Brenda Wesley said they had been told conflicting information about how to craft budget amendments. In addition, the board lacks a staff member, making it difficult for volunteer board members to draft an amendment, identify the cost of the amendment and how it would impact the county tax levy, they said.
“We are making huge decisions that impact the community,” Wesley said. “But how do we make an informed decision when we don’t have anyone providing us with independent information?”
Neubauer and Wesley said they would like to provide more money for community services, which is the overall goal of the board. They said additional funds were needed for substance abuse treatment, mobile crisis units, 24-7 staffing of North Side and South Side crisis centers, and the Warmline, a non-crisis support line for individuals needing help with a mental health issue. They said adding a policy research analyst for the board was essential. They also want another public hearing on the 2017 budget.
They also questioned the contract awarded to Matt Talbot Recovery Services for the Uncas Avenue group home, saying the board didn’t have adequate information when it was up for a vote, as well as the $430,000 no-bid contract awarded in April to Kane Communications for PR and employee engagement.
Neubauer and Wesley said Kane Communications didn’t reach out to the community—especially communities of color—to let them know about the May 26 budget hearing. It was sparsely attended and just 12 individuals spoke.
“There really are no efforts to have a socially or culturally intelligent conversations at all,” Wesley said of the public outreach. “We’re looking at providing major services to a community that is largely of color.”
Kane Communications’ Kimberly Kane didn’t respond to the Shepherd’s request to comment for this article.
[UPDATE: Regarding her community outreach efforts to notify the public of opportunities to speak out about the budget, Kane emailed: "All MHB notices are sent out via E-Notify, noticed in the Daily Reporter, posted on the MHB web page, in the glass meeting notice case downtown in the Courthouse first floor corridor, and in the glass case in the lobby/security area of BHD."]
Duncan Shrout, the new Mental Health Board chair, told the Shepherd the board could do a better job of involving the public in the budget process, but that will have to wait for the 2018 budget cycle.
“We are at the end of the public process,” Shrout said.
He said the board should make the community more aware of the opportunities to comment on the budget.
“While a number of people spoke [at the May 26 public meeting], it seemed to me that most of the suggestions or recommendations were not about the budget,” Shrout said.
That said, the public testimony seems to be having an impact. Shrout said he’d support an amendment to provide the board with an independent policy researcher, as well as additional funds to increase payments to substance abuse treatment providers—a suggestion made at the May 26 hearing by Amy Lindner, president and CEO of Meta House, which operates treatment centers for women struggling with addiction. Milwaukee County hasn’t raised its rates paid to these providers in more than a decade, Lindner testified.
