OTTAWA COUNTY, MICH. - County voters placed an importance on mental health services when they went to the polls Tuesday.
The Ottawa County mental health millage received 45,963 (59.3 percent) yes votes to 31,497 (40.7 percent) no votes, according to unofficial election results.
The 0.3-mill levy will collect about $3.2 million annually for 10 years. Funds will go to Ottawa County Community Mental Health, which is expected to receive about $7 million in Medicaid funding cuts over the next four years.
The owner of a $100,000 taxable value home will see a $30 property tax increase.
“I am so grateful to this community for their support in passing the mental health millage,” said Lynne Doyle, executive director of Ottawa County Community Mental Health. “In doing so, we have demonstrated that mental health matters. Community Mental Health of Ottawa County will use millage dollars to provide critical support and services to individuals with developmental disabilities and mental illness as well as prevention and early intervention programming for the greater community.
I am proud to live and work in a community where every citizen is valued and we help those in need,“ she continued. ”I applaud Ottawa County’s willingness to be the first in Michigan to approve a dedicated mental health millage. Thank you to those individuals and organizations that helped us to spread the word about this important issue.“
On average, CMH serves about 3,000 people a year.
Given recent funding cuts, CMH has made staffing reductions, contract out more services, and sought additional funds through grants and the millage.
Some services that will receive assistance through the millage include treatment services, prevention and early intervention services, employment services, jail services, and creating psychosocial hubs aimed at providing services for community integration and inclusion.
Grand Haven resident Genevieve Ness said it isn’t just people living with mental illnesses who receive the services, it’s also people who live with developmental disabilities.
Ness said services have been “drastically” cut, given CMH’s budget cuts, and something needs to change.
“A penny’s worth of prevention is worth a pound a cure,” she said.
Tiffany Stevens also supported the countywide proposal because of the wide-reaching affect on residents. Stevens said her brother lives with a mental illness, and she supported the measure because it stands to help him and others.
If the proposal didn’t pass, Doyle previously said they would have continued to make cuts, and seek additional funding grants.
Source : wzzm13.com
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