The Boulder County commissioners on Thursday allocated most of the money from a new mental and behavioral health tax for this year, but they agreed to continue the discussion next week on a few items they disagreed on.
The three-year, 0.15% countywide sales and use tax was approved by voters in November. The tax is projected to raise about $40 million over the next three years, or about $13 million per year, to support comprehensive mental health and substance use services.
The county commissioners also discussed allocating funding at an April 7 worksession. County staff members said they used that feedback, as well as conversations with community partners, to refine the recommendations. The county is distributing the money directly to community partners, as well as through competitive grants.
About 5% of the tax revenue will be put into a reserve. The county staff recommendations also left a balance of close to $1 million, most of which still needs to be allocated.
Several speakers during Thursday’s public hearing expressed frustration with how long it’s taking to distribute the money, a sentiment echoed by Commissioner Claire Levy.
“Is this perfect? No,” said Phoebe Norton, the former director of the Mental Health Center of Boulder County. “Could we go on discussing it for another year? Yes. What would we lose? We would lose the trust of our voters and we would lose all these services that could go tomorrow into helping people that desperately need our mental health and behavioral health services.”
For the direct allocations, staff members said, the county plans to negotiate contracts with each provider that include goals and performance measures.
Allocations approved Thursday include $3.3 million to Clinica Family Health and Wellness for treatment services for clients experiencing acute behavioral health issues.
Another $1,025,000 will go to Boulder’s All Roads homeless shelter to support case management with wrap-around services for formerly homeless clients residing in permanent supportive housing units, mainly at the Zinnia and Bluebird properties. Boulder’s TGTHR will receive $200,000 for case management for formerly homeless clients ages 18 to 25 in permanent supportive housing.
The commissioners also agreed to spend about $1.5 million in 2027 and about $1.6 million on 2028 to extend Boulder County’s navigation and crisis intervention services, which are currently paid through American Rescue Plan Act funding that will dry up in December. The allocation allows the county to maintain 11 staff positions for those programs.
An additional $5.1 million was recommended for competitive grants in four categories. The commissioners on Thursday approved three of the four categories: $2 million for adult and youth outpatient services, $1 million for community peer services and $1.1 million community prevention services and training.
The grant allocation the commissioners didn’t reach agreement on was spending $1 million to support agencies in sustaining or expanding innovative programs targeting high needs populations. Commissioner Marta Loachamin wanted to increase that amount to $1.5 million and limit it to youth only programs. Levy disagreed, saying she wanted to keep adult programs in the mix.
“I’m still looking for a focus on youth in a significant way,” Loachamin said.
Other pending items are allocating $1.6 million, or $800,000 each, to the Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts and $400,000 for residential treatment and sober living at Boulder’s Hazelbrook Recovery residence.
For the school district funding, Impact on Education Executive Director Allison Billings asked the commissioners to increase the amount for the Boulder Valley School District to $1.2 million to sustain six high school wellness centers that Impact is now funding. The money also would cover four mental health advocates and allow for the expansion of wellness centers to middle schools.
Levy suggested increasing the amount to up to $1.2 million for both school districts, noting she would need more information from St. Vrain Valley on how the district could use the additional money. But Loachamin said she wanted to make sure there are youth mental health services outside of schools.
The commissioners also plan to continue discussing how to spend the remaining unallocated money, with suggestions including more money for youth services and direct funding for Rocky Mountain Equality. Another future topic identified is creating an advisory committee to evaluate outcomes and provide recommendations.
Commissioner Ashley Stolzmann said she needs more information on gaps that still remain for the target populations, including those who are high users of mental and behavioral health services.
“We do need to figure out some of the goals and what the gaps are before we can just say, oh yeah, and we’ll just allocate the rest of it like this …,” Stolzmann said. “It’s more important to put a good process in place and understand what we’re trying to do than to just put the money out the door.”
The commissioners plan to consider the remaining allocations at their Thursday meeting, which starts at 9 a.m.