Ottawa County’s mental health millage, crucial for funding diverse services such as those offered by the Momentum Center, is up for renewal this August.
GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — Mental health touches everyone. That’s what all who attended a town hall Monday in Grand Haven on the renewal of a mental health millage in Ottawa County agreed on.
Douglas Mitchell, who works with child protective services, has seen the need for more mental health resources firsthand.
“That’s what we need, because there’s a lot of that going on in any community,” said Mitchell.
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The mental health millage in Ottawa County has been in place for ten years and is up for renewal on the August primary ballot. Ottawa County Community Mental Health CEO Michael Brashears said that the millage costs the average homeowner $60 annually.
“It allows us to provide services for folks without Medicaid or who don’t want to approach community mental health, so we fully fund an array of services, from jail services to the Momentum Center here for services for folks to utilize,” Brashears said.
The Momentum Center is a member-run mental health organization, that hosted the town hall.
Executive Director Barbra Lee said that the millage funding has been crucial to ensuring the people it serves find community.
“The millage is actually how the momentum center started. We began as a nonprofit 11 years ago, and our intention was just to help address gaps in the community, and so as we gather people together to have community conversations, mental health came up over and over again,” Lee said. “We got that funding, and nine years ago we were able to open the momentum center.”
Several organizations, representing many parts of the mental health conversation were on the panel that discussed the millage with the public.
SoBar Recovery Community Center uses millage funding for substance abuse relapse prevention programs.
“I think part of what we’re trying to do is all come together to be able to address all of the different issues and make sure that there’s a good solid place for people to go,” said Carrie Nyenhuis with SoBar Recovery Community Center.
Brashears said that the millage is not increasing from its current rate, meaning taxpayers will be paying the same amount they’ve been paying with the millage in place.