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Posts published in “Budget & Finance”

Fact Check: More than $100M for Mental Health Is Sitting in the Bank (2017)

by Lisa Halverstadt | November 3, 2017 Statement: “The county of San Diego is holding over $100 million in unspent Mental Health Services Act funds,” state Sen. Ben Hueso said at an Oct. 12 press conference where Democrats and labor leaders called on county supervisors to spend more to combat the region’s homelessness and hepatitis A crises. Determination: True Analysis: Democrats and homeless…

Meant to help with mental illness, money from tax on millionaires piles up (SDUT 2018)

by Jeff McDonald | San Diego Union Tribune Note: This article originally appeared in October, 2018 – while this blog’s author was serving on the Behavioral Health Advisory Board. Beginning three years earlier, and since this time he has actively, consistently, and as politely as possible been challenging the Behavioral Health Services (BHS) to change their hoarding behavior. To this…

County amasses mental health funds amid need (SDUT 2015)

by Lauren Mascarenhas | San Diego Union Tribune Note: This article originally appeared in August, 2015 – while this blog’s author was serving on the Behavioral Health Advisory Board. Since this time he has actively, consistently, and as politely as possible been challenging the Behavioral Health Services (BHS) to change their hoarding behavior. To this day, they insist because they…

Brief: Two critical BHS elements missing – CPP and Unspent Funds collaboration

This brief describes two critical issues needing to be addressed. One is the fact our BHAB does not have an opportunity to review and approve our county Behavioral Health Service’s Community Program Planning (CPP) processes plan; and the second being the community’s inability to contribute to the decision making process – they would have had we an authentic CPP plan…

What do you think about leaving a projected $200m on the shelf this year?

Why weren’t you part of the decision making process that anticipates leaving $200m idle, instead of most of it being used to address critical crises affecting our county? Rampant homelessness, jails as mental health facilities, rampant opioid and fentanyl overdose rates, and the more recently announced, Racism as a Public Health Crisis. These issues, on top of the apparent shortage…

Updating the Community Programming Planning (CPP) processes

May 5, 2023 A letter to Dr. Bergmann, Director, San Diego County, Behavioral Health Services (BHS). I hope this letter finds you well. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you after the Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB) meeting last week. Although I no doubt have irritated you and others due to an apparent lack of tact…

BHS Revenues, Budget, and Number of Unique Clients Served

These charts illustrate the significant increase in Mental Health Services Act (MHSA) Mental Health Fund distributions by the state versus the number of clients reported to being served each year. Download a PDF of this post. San Diego County Behavioral Health Services, MHSA Revenues vs. Number of Unique Clients Served Trend This chart illustrates the total Behavioral Health Services (BHS)…

Progress, and the many elements to consider when creating an MHSA 3-Year Program and Expenditure plan

Appreciation goes out to the Behavioral Health Services (BHS) this year for releasing the annual Draft MHSA 3-Year Program and Expenditure Plan for Fiscal Years 2023-24 to 2025-26 in the first week of April. This year the hearing is set for being held at the May 4 BHAB Behavioral Health Advisory Board (BHAB) meeting. This year, we received the plan…

Webinar – Focus: MHSA & Advisory Boards: Improving CPP & Budgeting Processes

This webinar will focuses on two primary topics including 1) the duty of the BHAB to ‘review and approve’ the Community Program Planning (CPP) processes deployed by the county, and 2) to understand the budget draft including $200m of Unspent Funds.

$173 million-plus, sitting idle… while jail deaths, homeless deaths, overdose deaths soar. What gives?

The San Diego County Behavioral Health Services (BHS) can’t seem to help itself. When the state-mandated oversight body, the Behavioral Health Advisory Board, empowered by law to ensure abuses like this don’t get out of hand, is muzzled by the BHS, things… well… get out of hand. In this case, the current year’s MHSA Annual ‘Plan’ Update, the BHS is…

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