Perspective: Funding mental health

A Times Editorial

Funding mental health

From day one, Florida officials warned that closing G. Pierce Wood -- the state mental hospital in Arcadia that serves the Tampa Bay area -- would prove successful only if lawmakers poured more money into the community programs that would be expected to house and treat the patients for whom hospitalization will no longer be an option.

"The success of this particular project is pretty much predicated on an increase in community resources," John Bryant, the Department of Children and Families' former mental-health director, said in April 2000. If "all of a sudden we don't get the funding that we believe is required . . . then we will definitely have a problem."

One year later, that problem is looming. The House hasn't set aside enough money for the transition, and local mental-health centers are already feeling the strain of G. Pierce Wood's phased closure, set for completion next year. Lawmakers need to own up to their responsibility and fully fund the move they set in motion last year. If not, Tampa Bay will be among the communities paying the highest price -- in the currency of increased homelessness, jail admissions and emergency-room visits among individuals with untreated mental illness.

The current House budget would devote $15.7-million to the transition -- much less than the $37-million set aside by the Senate and the $27-million recommended by Gov. Jeb Bush. House leaders also propose to cut $20-million from the Medicaid monies that fund mental-health services for the poor, funds that often represent a greater portion of local programs' budgets than other state grants. The potential double whammy has led some advocates to call for a postponement, if not cancellation, of the closure they had long supported.

"It's not only the scaling back of the governor's request but the intended reduction in Medicaid funding for community mental health that concerns me," Thomas Riggs, CEO for northern Pinellas' Directions for Mental Health, told the Times.

As lawmakers head into final budget negotiations, they should find enough new money to fund the move adequately -- or keep G. Pierce Wood open until they can.