Officials in Lebanon County continue to feel the pressure of rising mental health costs and say a significant increase in state funds is needed to address the problem.
Mental Health/Intellectual Disability/Early Intervention officials in Lebanon County estimate expenditures at $8.78 million for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, an increase of 2.75% over the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The MH/ID/EI budget projects a deficit of $377,364 for the entire organization.
As MH/ID/EI looks for ways to keep expenses to a minimum, Trustee Holly Leahy said it will be difficult to balance the budget in the future without additional state funding.
“We’ve expanded our funding to the limit, and we just can’t expand it any further to do anything else,” Leahy said.
The commissioners on June 20 approved 94 contracts for MH/ID/EI agencies for the 2024-2025 fiscal year, totaling $5.82 million. Leahy said this is an increase of $465,121 over the last fiscal year.
“If we break that down somewhat across the three programs, our mental health contracts, which total $3,115,216, increased by $262,043, or 9.2% over the 2023-2024 fiscal year,” she said. “This is due to increased housing programs.”
Leahy added that contracts for the intellectual disability program totaled more than $1.066 million, which was a decrease of $42,594 from last year. Early intervention contracts total more than $1.538 million, up from $226,666 last year.
“Mandated services must be included in our contracts, so the most important service that needs to be expanded is special instruction, which is almost always funded by the province since MA, or medical aid, does not pay for this service,” she said.
Officials predict that the MH/ID/EI budget for 2024/25 will generate more than $8.883 million in revenue, an increase of $720,000 from the previous fiscal year. Leahy further said that $574,000 of that increase is mental health reinvestment funding from the HeathChoices system.
“I really have to emphasize that these funds are not permanent,” she said. “They are not for the long term, and this short-term, time-limited funding is a tremendous help to our budget, but does not address the ongoing need for permanent, sustainable funding for mental health care.”
State lawmakers approved a $20 million increase in the 2023-2024 state budget to support county-based behavioral health programs. Leahy said Lebanon County received only $187,000 of those funds.
“While we recognize we got an increase, $187,000 doesn’t really fund what’s happening here,” she said. “Again, $574,614 is short-term, time-limited HealthChoices funding, and without additional state funding it will be extremely difficult to balance the budget in the future.”
The last time state lawmakers increased mental health funding before this year’s budget was in 2006, Leahy said. In 2012, mental health funding was one of several service programs that required a 10% cut.
The provincial MH/ID/EI budget includes 600,000 in provincial funds to cover the required provincial match and the shortfall in the mental health and intellectual development programs. If the county did not have the $574,000 in HealthChoices funding, officials said the cost to the county related to the match and the shortfall would be more than $1.339 million.
“Without additional funding to meet all needs in the community, (MH/ID/EI) cannot expand or initiate new services without additional core funding,” Leahy said.
The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania has called on the General Assembly and Governor Josh Shapiro to make significant investments in mental health care, asking for a $250 million increase for the 2024-2025 fiscal year.
“You talk to anybody in any area of human services, whether it’s schools, nursing homes, prisons, or wherever, the need continues to grow,” Commissioner Michael Kuhn said at the commissioners’ meeting. “So this is a drop in the bucket, but what it really means is that we’re going to continue to have challenges in providing the care that’s needed.”
The rising cost of services continues to put a strain on many county agencies, with County Executive Jamie Wolgemuth citing mental health needs at Child and Youth Services and the Lebanon County Correctional Facility.
“It’s an increasing cost,” he said. “The less attention is paid to it, the bigger the problems become, and the state turned a dime on it last year.”
The county commissioners unanimously approved the MH/ID/EI 2024-2025 budget on June 20.
Residents looking for more information about Lebanon County’s mental health/intellectual disability/early intervention programs can visit the county website at lebanoncountypa.gov/departments/mhidei or call their office at 717-274-3415.
Matthew Toth is a reporter for the Lebanon Daily News. Reach him at mtoth@ldnews.com or at X at @DAMattToth.
This article originally appeared on Lebanon Daily News: County officials say public money is needed for rising mental health care costs
