Maxey Boys would close under budget bill

LANSING – State worker unions and others are fighting a budget proposal that would eliminate nearly half the state's publicly run residential juvenile justice slots and put dozens of state jobs at stake.

A state Senate budget bill for the Department of Health & Human Services would close the W.J. Maxey Boys Training School in Whitmore Lake, a 60-bed facility for juvenile offenders ages 12 to 21. The state House and Gov. Rick Snyder would keep the facility open, though they would trim spending to reflect lower-than-expected costs at the facility.

In addition to the about 60 state jobs that could be eliminated, union officials and other organizations such as the Mental Health Association in Michigan said closing Maxey would eliminate what has become a facility of last resort for some of the most dangerous and needy young offenders. Young men sent to Maxey often have multiple mental health diagnoses and end up in Whitmore Lake after being ejected from other facilities, they said.

"They're the most serious, the most dangerous, the most difficult to deal with," said Nick Ciaramitaro, legislative director for the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees Council 25, which represents most of the state employees at Maxey. "If we don't have a state backup, those kids will likely either end up in jail or in prison … or on the streets, where they're dangerous or dead."

"We're having enough trouble with providing community mental health services to people who are in much less dire situations than these young men, and I don't know where they would go," Linda Burghardt, president and CEO of the Mental Health Association in Michigan, said in a separate interview.

But that's simply untrue, argued state Sen. Peter MacGregor, R-Rockford, the vice chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee who championed the closure. He mentioned two of the state's private juvenile justice partners, Spectrum Human Services and Wolverine Human Services, who have facilities similar to Maxey and who, MacGregor said, have signaled a willingness to take on Maxey youth.

"In short, Spectrum would be ready, willing and able to take on some of the Maxey kids," Roger Swaninger, president and CEO of Spectrum Human Services, said in an emailed statement. "We currently serve high need, high risk youth."

MacGregor said need for Maxey had declined for years because the state was investing in early education and other programs meant to keep kids out of trouble. And he said Maxey costs $200 per day more than the other state-run facilities and $185 per day more than comparable private facilities.

"It's my job as an elected official to make sure we don't spend tax dollars and keep facilities open that are no longer needed," MacGregor said.

Others — including Ciaramitaro, Burghardt and state Sen. Vincent Gregory, D-Southfield, who serves on the same committees as MacGregor — doubt private facilities can or will pick up the slack.

"I've asked a lot of people about it," said Gregory, who introduced an unsuccessful amendment earlier this week to restore Maxey funding. "And I will say that some of the private facilities tell me, 'Yeah, we can handle it,' and then they say, 'Yeah, we do refuse some of them now, and that is because of the cost.'"

He and Ciaramitaro said the cost at Maxey is higher because of the added services those youth need.

It would be up to a judge to decide where young offenders are assigned, DHHS spokesman Bob Wheaton said.

The bill that would close Maxey, approved Tuesday by the Senate Appropriations Committee and headed now to the full Senate, would save the state $7.5 million, according to the Senate Fiscal Agency.

Ciaramitaro said that number's overblown because untreated youth could end up in jail or prison, where it's more expensive to house them.

Some of the Maxey employees might be able to transfer to other state positions, but both Ciaramitaro and Wheaton said their jobs are so specialized it would be difficult to transfer most of them and they could be laid off.

It's far from certain Maxey will close. If it passes the full Senate, senators would have to convince the House and Snyder to drop funding for the facility, too. Maxey has survived several past legislative efforts to close it.

If Maxey were to close, two state-run facilities would remain, one in Escanaba and one in Grayling.