The Governor's FY13 budget will be unveiled about January 20, 2012. The Mental Hygiene Administration (MHA) is already preparing stakeholders for cuts. Two factors are at play here: 1)Another deficit -- of up to $1billion -- is being projected for the overall state budget in FY13. 2)Because of substantial increases in public mental health system enrollment directly tied to higher recession-driven Medicaid enrollment, MHA is facing a deficit of about $40 million for FY11 and FY12.
CBH and other advocates are urging the Governor not to force MHA to cut its way out of its deficit. See the attached October 27 CBH letter. Stakeholders are also asking the Governor and his budget Secretary to use new alcohol tax revenues for the purposes specified in the original Lorraine Sheehan bill introduced last session but replaced at the last minute by bills directing most of these funds to school construction. Under the Lorraine Sheehan bill, community mental health would have received 15% of new revenues. See the list of mental health priorities developed by the Mental Health Coalition and sent to the state budget Secretary on October 10.
Note that instead of funding desperately needed mental health services or taking action to resolve a worsening workforce crisis in community mental health -- community provider reimbursement rates have received inflationary increases in only three of the past 16 years -- new alcohol tax revenues in FY 12 were used among other things to install artificial turf on the football fields of two Howard County High Schools.