PORT ANGELES – Since July 1, you’ve paid the tax each time you’ve bought something besides food – a penny for every $10 you spent.
So far, it’s bought nothing but proposals and promises.
That will change soon, however, after Clallam County officials evaluate strategies to help brain-disordered and drug-dependent people.
County commissioners will receive the submissions Tuesday.
That will launch another in a sequence of stages under what’s become known as the Hargrove Bill, namesake of its sponsor, State Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam.
His 24th District includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
From the time commissioners approved the one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax last spring, they’ve insisted on broad participation by all public and private agencies that provide mental health or drug abuse services.
As Commissioner Steve Tharinger, D-Dungeness, put it last week, “We dangled some dollars in front of all those people” to encourage collaboration – not competition – among the groups.
They got what they asked for, although the process necessarily took months.
Even the name of the 16-member coalition commissioners appointed is lengthy: the Chemical Dependency/Mental Health Program Fund Advisory Board.
“We’ve been much more methodical and thoughtful on how to spend the money,” said Florence Bucierka, the human services planner who is the county government’s member of the board.
Early on, the group took aim at what mental health professionals call “co-occurring disorders,” or CODs.
Simply put, that means people with both drug addictions and mental illnesses.
By mid-April, the advisers had winnowed their ideas down to four approaches:
Together the programs will cost about $640,000 a year – close to what the tax has collected to date – so the projects can start almost immediately.
First, however, the strategies will be screened.
Tharinger said Friday some of the advisory board member agencies will make proposals.
Those who do not will form the screening committee.
“They’ve been involved in the process all along,” Tharinger said, “so they’re probably the best reviewers.”
He made no estimate on how long the screening process may take.
The programs will spend only two-thirds of the anticipated tax revenues, however.
The remaining money has been set aside for the Therapeutic Family Court the Hargrove Bill requires.
Clallam County Superior Court judges say their role in the court – charged with reuniting drug-dependent parents with children the state has removed from their homes – will cost about $35,000.
The rest, Bucierka said, will be spent on a court coordinator, legal staff and treatment.
Money also may be budgeted for an outside consultant to evaluate the programs once they’re up and running, she said.
As of Friday morning, no agencies had turned in their proposals, although Bucierka said she knew several agencies were working on them, including some agencies offering multiple programs.
“Most people probably won’t turn them in until Monday,” Bucierka said.
The advisory board will meet Monday afternoon and divide itself into proponents and reviewers, said Tharinger.
According to the Hargrove Bill, none of the proposals may supplement existing programs, meaning all the services will be new approaches to the problems of mental illness and drug dependency.
Among the benefits providers will offer include:
In the meantime, the sales tax will continue producing about $90,000 per month, Tharinger said.
What the money won’t fund, however, is what many people call the county’s biggest need for brain-disordered and drug-dependent people: a crisis center.
Currently, people with acute behavior problems are taken to one of two institutions in Clallam County: Olympic Medical Center’s emergency room or the county jail.
Tharinger said the cost of a crisis center would be about $1 million a year.
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Reporter Jim Casey can be reached at 360-417-3538 or at jim.casey@peninsuladailynews.com.
