Open Letter to Ohio Leadership

Dear Governor Strickland, Senator Harris, Representative Buddish:

The new Ohio Department of Mental Health funding allocation formula will severely diminish the ability for the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) Board of Cuyahoga County to provide important care to those in need. The County stands to lose $13 million in funding through the new allocation plan, reducing funds received from $42 million to $29 million. Cuyahoga County serves the most people with mental illnesses and emotional disorders of any county in the state. This reduction in funding means:

• Nearly 11,000 of the 36,000 people we help to serve will be without appropriate care.
• Suicide prevention and other mental health crisis services will not be available to all of Cuyahoga County residents on a 24-hour basis.
• 240 of 800 consumers could lose their supportive housing.
• Bed days have a potential of soaring from 85 to 115, which represents an additional $5.7 million burden on the local system for inpatient care.
• Over 1,500 of the nearly 4,500 jobs in the behavioral health field will be lost, creating a severe shortage of services.

This new allocation formula will have a detrimental effect on a large portion of the homeless population of Cuyahoga County. Approximately 30% of the homeless population in the county have some mental disorder. Mental Health Services, Bridgeways, and others provides important services to the homeless by providing them with safe havens where their special needs can be taken care of and where they can learn daily living skills. MHS also provide outreach and support services that are vital to the well being of the homeless living with mental disabilities.

This reduction in funding would be catastrophic to this vulnerable population. The homeless services network in Cuyahoga County will be greatly strained and it will for the local community to fill the hole left by state funding. Either the services will have to be cut and the mentally ill homeless population will have to fend for themselves, or other organizations will have to cut equally important services to help soften the blow. We hope you will reconsider instituting the new funding allocation formula and protect this population that can not afford to loose the services currently being provided.

We know that it is politically unpopular to talk about tax increases in this state, but leaders step forward and take risks. Targeted tax increases that correct some of the fundamental imbalances within our tax structure are needed. The average Ohioan is not overburdened by state income taxes, but they are concerned about property and local taxes. The current state budget will only push the problems of supporting the mentally ill, elderly and health care onto the local community. The decision that each of you make this week are to either fulfill your constitutionally mandated obligation to balance the budget in a just and equitable manner or punt the problems down the line. It is irresponsible and fundamentally dishonest to cut these essential programs and force Cuyahoga County and leaders within the City of Cleveland to find the funds to make up the difference.

Brian Davis
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