Mental Health Officials Await Bad News on Fund Cuts That Could Slash Services

San Diego County’s mental health system could be derailed if budget cutbacks proposed in the new state budget are enacted later this month, local officials warned Tuesday.

The county’s mental health programs face the possibility of losing up to $7 million in state funds, said Steve Harmon, assistant deputy mental health director. If enacted by state bureaucrats, the $7-million cut would affect the county’s mental health services and programs for the poor, totaling about 47,000 people.

“For all practical services, services for the medically indigent could be serverly cut and eliminated,” Harmon said.

John Sweeten, director of intergovernmental affairs for the county, said funding for the county’s mental health programs is already below “the level needed to maintain an adequate system of mental health care.”

However, both Sweeten and Harmon said the amount of the cuts San Diego County will have to endure will not be known until later this month.

The two said the options range from an unrealistic expectation of zero cuts to a worst-case scenario of a $7-million reduction.

“We don’t know the depth of the cuts,” Sweeten said. “Over the next few weeks the county managers in mental health and health departments will be seeking better information about the depth of the cuts.”

Gov. George Deukmejian left it up to the state Department of Health to decide how much to reduce from each county’s mental health budget, Harmon said. Harmon and other mental health officials expressed optimism Tuesday that San Diego County’s cutback will not be as severe as in other counties.

One option under consideration by the state is bigger cuts for counties that have traditionally received a greater portion of state funding for mental health services. If the state uses this formula, San Diego County would come out relatively unscathed, said local officials.

Harmon said the county now ranks last of 58 California counties in state funds received for mental health programs.

“If they use the reverse allocation formula, San Diego wouldn’t suffer a serious cut. But don’t forget that we’re already under-funded to begin with,” Harmon said.

But Sweeten warned that, whatever the outcome, the Board of Supervisors will have to make some tough decisions on Sept. 11, when they decide how to allocate the remaining mental health funds.

“The board will not have a strategy on how to implement the reductions until they debate the various scenarios. . . . If the $7-million cut is enacted, the county will have to eliminate a variety of activities in the mental health system critical for its operation,” Sweeten said.

“The result would be that the remainder of the program would be unable to accomplish its basic function when you take away a number of little pieces . . . . What is left would not be capable of doing what there is to do.”