Mental-health budget takes heat

Wednesday, Feb. 5, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Some state legislators are upset that Gov. Bob Miller's budget doesn't provide enough money to eliminate the list containing names of hundreds of people awaiting mental-health services.

"We can't tolerate these types of waiting lists," Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, told officials of the state Division of Mental Hygiene and Mental Retardation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, said Tuesday he is troubled that the governor is recommending big money for reducing class sizes when there are no classrooms available, but not trying to eliminate barriers for those awaiting mental-health services.

"The governor's budget shortchanges these important programs," Raggio complained.

Jean Laird, assistant director of the division, said the governor's budget makes "modest" progress in reducing waiting lists. She said 100 people are awaiting acceptance into the community placement program and the governor's budget reduces that to 67.

There still will be waiting lists on a variety of other programs. For instance, there will be 103 individuals still waiting for case-management services under the governor's budget.

Brian Lahren, executive director of the Washoe Association for Retarded Citizens, said this is the first time he can remember in the last 15 years that the waiting lists have grown into the hundreds. He said he is pleased to see members of the Senate Finance Committee and the Assembly Ways and Means Committee addressing this problem.

Lahren was formerly director of the state Division of Mental Hygiene and Mental Retardation.

Assemblywoman Sandy Krenzer, D-Las Vegas, said she is "thrilled" that a mental-health center has opened in North Las Vegas, but she said the waiting list as outlined by the division doesn't represent the true picture. She said some people can't get on the waiting list for six months.

"We're barely hitting the tip of the iceberg," Krenzer said.

Laird said the division "tries to prioritize those who most need services."

She said the state tries to provide help to families of mentally retarded individuals when there is no place to put them in other facilities.

Raggio said the state has not done enough.

"(The Legislature) is part of the problem," he said, adding that those in need of mental-health services don't have lobbyists to promote their cause.