MHDS region could see over $5 million returned to the state

     Lucia Herman, Jones County Community Services director, met with the Jones County Supervisors during their March 29 board meeting to provide an update regarding the FY 2022 fund balance.

     Herman shared with the board plans for service development and expansion of services through the East Central MHDS Region:

     • Workforce development, $1.5 million

     “The workforce shortage is incredible,” noted Herman. “It’s hard to hire people and retain them. It’s difficult to get anyone hired.”

     • Crisis services, $500,000

     This includes such projects as children’s mobile crisis response, a MCR (mobile crisis response) children’s program coordinator, and crisis beds specifically for people with ID (intellectual disabilities).

     • Public Outreach, $200,000

     This includes brain health prevention and services for all populations.

     • Provider operational support, $750,000

     • Start-up for new services, $750,000

     This includes CSCBS (Crisis Stabilization Community-Based Services) and IRSH (intensive residential service homes).

     • Technology enhancements, $1 million

     • Co-Occurring disorder treatment, $300,000

     • Residential stability, $750,000

     • Transportation, $250,000

     This involves transportation to and from access centers and brain health centers.

     These service expansions total $6 million coming out of FY 2022.

     “People are brought to the centers by sheriff’s deputies and have no way home,” explained Supervisor Ned Rohwedder, who sits on the regional governing board. “This money will go toward helping them get home.”

     “It’s a barrier for some folks,” added Herman. “We’ve created contracts with cab companies.”

     Herman said the region includes nine counties, and with access centers spread around the region, it can be difficult for people to travel to Linn or Johnson County for services.

     “Service development has been a challenge for the region,” said Herman.

     MHDS have been trying to spend down their fund balances. At the end of FY 2022, Jones County was projected to have a carryover of $170,000. As of early February, about $6,300 remained.

     “Jones County had the lowest fund balance out of the entire region,” noted Rohwedder.

     However, Herman shared that the MHDS region has approximately $5.9 million over the 40 percent allowable carryover into FY 2023, per state code.

     “We thought we were good to go on this,” Herman said of recently hearing the news from the regional CEO, Mae Hingtgen.

     Any leftover funds have to be returned to the state.

     “The regional governing board hasn’t made a final decision,” noted Herman. “But we have no time to spend it all. (The fiscal year ends June 30, 2022.) We’ll do what we can to expand services between now and June.”

     Supervisor Joe Oswald asked Herman if the region could provide money to the access centers.

     “That was discussed with the governing board but has not been finalized,” she said. “We asked centers to bring back data when they needed additional funds and the CEO didn’t feel they brought enough data to us yet.”