ANN ARBOR, MI - Washtenaw County voters are being asked to approve a new countywide tax on Nov. 7.



Should property taxes increase by 1 mill for eight years to fund mental health and public safety services?



The county board voted in July to put the question on the ballot and now it's up to residents in Ann Arbor and surrounding areas to decide.



The tax would cost about $100 per year for the owner of a home with a $100,000 taxable value and a $200,000 market value, and it would raise more than $15 million annually.



More than three-quarters of the money would be split between Washtenaw County Community Mental Health and the Sheriff's Office, while just under a quarter of the money would go to cities and townships in the county that fund their own police forces. That last part is what has some concerned the proposal is too complicated, and there's still some debate about whether it's fair.



Counties across Michigan are considering tax increases to pay for mental health services following state cuts, and voters in some counties already have approved new mental health millages.



Washtenaw County leaders say a yes vote on Nov. 7 would help the county better address a community crisis and improve treatment of people with mental health needs, including those at risk of suicide, those with opioid and other drug additions, and those who may pose public safety threats, as well as others.





"We are in a crisis in our community and it's a perfect storm," said Trish Cortes, director of WCCMH.



Cortes said there's been a drastic increase in suicides among young people and an overall increase in mental health needs, and there's more demand for mental health services than the county has the capacity to provide with diminished resources. Meanwhile, there's an ongoing opioid epidemic affecting the county.



The proposed millage also is intended to help stabilize funding for the Sheriff's Office, which intersects with mental health.



"I think it's a pivotal point for Washtenaw County as it relates to both of the primary issues -- mental health and public safety," County Sheriff Jerry Clayton said of the upcoming vote.



"I do know, from our perspective, that we come in contact with people who are experiencing mental health crises or have some kind of mental health disorder multiple times a day," he said, noting more than 56 percent of inmates in the county jail are on some kind of psychotropic medication and many also have substance abuse disorders.



At a county board meeting earlier this year, Clayton showed county commissioners a video of a man experiencing a mental health crisis walking down the middle of Ecorse Road with a knife.



Sheriff's deputies repeatedly asked the man, who has been arrested several times for various misdemeanor and felony crimes, to drop the knife. They eventually used Tasers to stop him.



Clayton used the incident to highlight the relationship between public safety and mental health.



Public safety and mental health overlap most commonly at the county jail where many inmates are treated for mental health issues, but also in the community where the Sheriff's Office routinely deals with calls for service involving the mentally ill, county leaders say.



Treating inmates in the county jail, while important, they say, is a reactive and expensive way to address mental health needs.



Clayton argues there's a significant amount of people in the county jail because of behavior stemming from untreated or undertreated mental health and substance abuse issues, and he believes many of them could avoid jail if there was a stronger system in place and more proactive treatment on the front end.



Clayton emphasizes not everyone with a mental health or substance abuse disorder is a public safety threat. He said there are a lot of people in jail who aren't a threat to anyone.



"We need to be really careful about who we incarcerate," he said, expressing concerns that mental illness is being criminalized.



Clayton said he hopes the county can find ways to take more people who are experiencing mental health crises to somewhere they can be stabilized and then sent home instead of jail.



The county board voted Oct. 18 to approve a resolution supported by Clayton, calling for finding ways to reduce the number of people with mental illness in the county jail.



Clayton said it costs about $135 per day to jail someone compared to $35 per day to manage them outside of jail.



"The $35 is the average cost associated with individuals being supervised under Community Corrections," he said, calling that the appropriate approach to manage the risk presented by many of the people with mental health disorders who end up in jail.



"The $35 is related to managing risk. Not the cost needed to address the mental health or substance use disorder," he clarified.



Tax could raise $15.4M in first year



Ahead of the Nov. 7 vote, the county is circulating information about the mental health and public safety tax and why it's being proposed.



"The county, like all Michigan local governments, is challenged to meet the ever-increasing cost of providing critical services to the citizens," the the county website states, identifying the Sheriff's Office and Community Mental Health as two areas especially affected.



"Under Michigan law, the county is charged with caring for the mental health needs of indigent citizens. While the county's allocation of general fund monies to CMH is relatively low, (approximately $1.7 million dollars per year or about 7% of the CMH budget), it must be remembered that these funds are, in turn, used to leverage state and federal funding, which comprises a much higher percentage of the CMH budget. State and federal funding comprise approximately 93% of CMH's budget. As such, any changes which reduce state and/or federal funding will have a disproportionately negative effect upon CMH."



WCCMH's state general fund allocation dropped from $6.5 million in 2014 to $2.7 million as of 2017, creating a $3.8 million annual gap in funding for programming and services. As a result, critical treatment and services for highly vulnerable citizens have been reduced or eliminated, and WCCMH has been wait-listing people who are uninsured or underinsured, county leaders said earlier this year.



Though state general fund support for CMH was cut, the county is still getting Medicaid support, but there are people with mental health needs who aren't Medicaid eligible. Those are the people really being impacted and having trouble accessing treatment, Cortes said.



Ann Arbor grapples with parking garage safety after spate of deaths "WCCMH funding cuts have resulted in a communitywide crisis," County Administrator Gregory Dill wrote in an April 18 memo. "Psychiatric hospitalizations and emergency room visits have increased substantially year over year since 2014. In 2016, the Center for Healthcare Research and Transformation (CHRT) conducted a community gaps analysis and concluded that available capacity to treat mental health and substance use disorders is insufficient to meet community need."



Dill said the consequences of that include delayed receipt of appropriate services, extended wait times in psychiatric emergency departments, delayed discharges from inpatient settings, and more challenges for community providers.



He said the University of Michigan and St. Joseph Mercy health systems conducted a joint community needs assessment and identified mental health and substance abuse treatment as a top priority, and the Sheriff's Office has identified a trend in increased incarcerations of people who were previously open to WCCMH. Combined with the opioid epidemic and increasing suicide rates, Dill argues these are alarming trends the community needs to address.

Hundreds of fatal opioid overdoses in Washtenaw County cause concern

The proposed tax, which would be levied for the first time in December 2018, is estimated to raise $15.4 million in the first year.



The funds would be split multiple ways, with 38 percent allocated to WCCMH "for mental health crisis, stabilization and prevention, and to meet mental health needs in an appropriate setting, thus reducing the burden on the jail and improving care," the proposal states.



Another 38 percent would go to the Sheriff's Office "to ensure continued operations and increased collaboration with the mental health community," the proposal states.



The remaining 24 percent would be allocated to jurisdictions in the county that maintain their own police forces, including Ann Arbor, Chelsea, Milan, Saline, Ypsilanti, Pittsfield Township and Northfield Township, in proportion to their 2016 population levels. Those communities can use the 24 percent shares as they see fit.



Ann Arbor officials estimate that could mean potentially $2.5 million per year in new revenue coming to the city, and the city has stated intentions to use the money to address pedestrian/bicycle safety, affordable housing and climate change/pollution reduction if voters approve the tax.



The county board adopted a policy ordinance on Sept. 20 outlining specifically how the county's share of the funds would be used if the tax is approved, covering four broad areas of mental health services: (1) crisis funding; (2) stabilization funding; (3) prevention funding; and (4) jail services for inmates with mental health issues.



In addition, funds would support the Sheriff Office's efforts to provide countywide police services "with an emphasis on criminal justice system diversion along with collaborative efforts involving mental health and substance abuse disorder treatment partners."



The broad spending categories are described this way in the county's policy ordinance:





Crisis: Funding will be used to address mental health and substance abuse crises, which include immediate crisis assessment, referral, treatment and diversion from jail or emergency departments. Additionally, funds will be used for supportive services post crisis engagement, including supportive housing services.

Stabilization: Funding will be used to provide mental health treatment services to adults and children with the severe mental illness and developmental disabilities who do not currently qualify for services due to insurance status or unaffordable deductibles and to those individuals for whom traditional outpatient treatment is not adequate.

Prevention: Funding will be used to support mental health awareness, prevention, and early intervention programming for use in working with community partners such as schools, law enforcement and other first responders, and heath care providers.

Jail services: Jail service expansion will include mental health and substance abuse assessment and treatment inclusive of counseling and psychiatric services and prisoner re-entry with a focus on case management.

As costs increase to provide mental health and public safety services, county officials say, the county is faced with either directing more of its general fund dollars to those two areas, reducing funding for other programs, or, in the public safety area, charging jurisdictions more for contracted police services through the Sheriff's Office.

Additional funding, county officials say, would allow the Sheriff's Office and Community Mental Health to address the issues more proactively and would ultimately prove to be more cost effective.

In terms of the issue of teen suicide in particular, Cortes said the county certainly has a crisis on its hands and needs to double down on efforts to do early identification of mental health issues among young people. She believes it would help reduce the suicide rate. She also said expanded resources would allow the county to do more to educate and inform the community, reduce the stigma around behavioral health issues, and treat mental health more like physical health.

Debate over the proposal

The idea of putting the tax on the ballot for voters to decide sparked some debate among local officials and residents, some arguing it's irresponsible and saying county residents already pay enough taxes.

Tawn Beliger, a Northfield Township trustee, has argued the county needs to be more efficient with its money, not seek new taxes.

Others have argued the proposal is too complicated with mental health and public safety tied together in one proposal along with the 24 percent shares for municipalities with their own police forces.

The county board voted 5-4 to put the proposal on the ballot, with support from three Ann Arbor commissioners -- Democrats Andy LaBarre, Conan Smith and Jason Morgan - as well as Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield Township; and Michelle Deatrick, D-Superior Township.

Voting against it were commissioners Alicia Ping, R-Saline; Ricky Jefferson, D-Ypsilanti; Ruth Ann Jamnick, D-Ypsilanti Township; and Kent Martinez-Kratz, D-Chelsea.

"I'm still opposed to it," Martinez-Kratz said this week, arguing townships that don't have their own police forces and instead contract with the Sheriff's Office would become "donor communities" to other jurisdictions such as Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti that would get 24 percent shares from the tax, or what he describes as "kick backs."

Because the tax money that's collected would be pooled and the 24 percent shares would be doled out based on population, he said, it's essentially a transfer of wealth and some townships would get only mental health services and a continuation of sheriff's services, while Ann Arbor, for example, would get millions in undesignated funds.

He said he doesn't think some communities outside the cities would get their money's worth.

LaBarre, the county board chairman, rejects Martinez-Kratz's claim that it's not structured fairly. He said the 24 percent shares are to be fair to municipalities that already self-fund a majority of their own police services and it's not fair for the county to tax them under this particular millage at the same rate as townships that rely on the Sheriff's Office for day-to-day policing.

LaBarre acknowledged that every municipality still receives some public safety benefits from the Sheriff's Office, whether it's from the county's SWAT and aquatics teams or dispatch and jail services. But the townships without their own police departments rely on the Sheriff's Office for road patrols in their communities.

LaBarre said townships that currently contract with the Sheriff's Office are getting policing services at a lower cost than it would cost them to start up their own police departments. And he noted about $12 million in county general fund money goes to the Sheriff's Office annually.

Clayton confirmed the new millage funding for public safety would not replace the contract funding that some townships currently provide to the Sheriff's Office. It would be in addition to that, supporting the county's contribution to the cost associated with sheriff's services.

Martinez-Kratz said he still doesn't think it's structured in a way that's fair and he hopes the proposal is defeated on Nov. 7 so a better proposal can be put to voters in a future election.

LaBarre said he considers the current proposal a practical one that would help address critical issues facing the county.

Clayton said the tax wouldn't fully solve all of the county's problems in the areas of mental health and public safety, but it would provide some much-needed stability and help the county put in place more proactive measures and programs while the county explores more ways to address the underlying issues. At the moment, he said, the county jail has become a de-facto mental health facility for Washtenaw County, and it doesn't have to stay that way.

On the public safety side, one of the reasons county officials are asking voters to approve the tax is to provide a more sustainable funding source for Sheriff's Office operations. The current funding model relies on service contracts between the Sheriff's Office and local governments, some facing their own financial struggles.

If the tax isn't approved, Clayton said he's concerned the county might have to pass on the full cost of police services to the contracting jurisdictions and he's not sure all of them could afford that.

He said it could lead to some tough decisions that could impact public safety in Washtenaw County.

"We enjoy a relatively safe community -- this is all of Washtenaw County -- and a pretty good quality of life because we've made an investment countywide in public safety for decades," Clayton said. "Are we willing to run the risk of disinvestment in public safety and the potential consequences that result from that?"

Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor sent out an email to constituents this week, encouraging a yes vote on Nov. 7.

He said it would provide mental heath services to adults with severe and persistent mental illness, children with severe emotional disturbance, and people with developmental disabilities.

"Even as the need for mental health services is increasing, federal and state cuts have forced the county to reduce staff and turn away patients. The money raised will support mental health crisis intervention, prevent mental health treatment gaps, pay for mental health prevention and education services, and fund in-jail mental health and treatment programs," Taylor wrote, going on to similarly express support for the public safety side of the proposal.

"Nearly 60% of the people in Washtenaw County Jail have some time of mental health illness or addiction," he wrote in the email. "The money raised by the millage will implement diversion programs to treat and manage low-level drug offenders, train law enforcement officers to better engage mentally ill persons, and expand behavioral health services in Washtenaw County Jail."

With a smaller portion of the funds going to jurisdictions with their own police forces, and Ann Arbor planning to use some of that money for things such as crosswalk improvements and solar-energy initiatives, Taylor acknowledged the proposal is complicated.

"I recognize too that some folks might support one or more of the pledged uses, but not others," he wrote

"We should not, however, let the perfect be the enemy of the good. A better proposal will not come for quite some time. We have a opportunity, now, to make meaningful progress on so many critical issues facing Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County."