Funds for mentally ill center rejected

Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003 | 11:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Legislative Interim Finance Committee today rejected a request from WestCare for $194,000 to run a community triage center in Clark County that provides emergency care for mentally ill patients.

Assemblyman Morse Arberry, D-Las Vegas, the chairman of the committee, said he feared approval would "open the floodgates" to requests by other groups that did not get money from the 2003 Legislature.

The Senate side of the finance committee voted for the $194,000, but the Assembly members voted against it.

WestCare is being supported by local governments and hospitals in Clark County and they had asked the state to put up one-third of the cost to relieve hospital emergency rooms of mentally ill patients.

WestCare, the nonprofit group that runs the program, sought $1.3 million over the present two-year biennium from the state. The bill never made it out of the Senate Finance Committee.

WestCare officials told the finance committee last month that without the funds, the triage program may close. The program was designed to free up emergency rooms overcrowded with mentally ill people by providing a different place to evaluate them and refer them to treatment.

The program was lauded as a way to save the state millions of dollars and help the Las Vegas Valley's mentally ill people.

WestCare had already laid off one-third of its staff because of a shortage of funds, Dick Steinberg, Westcare chief executive, told the committee in October.

Gov. Kenny Guinn had recommended that $194,000 in excess funds from last year be used to help the center. The money comes from excess federal money the state received last fiscal year.

Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, said WestCare was a worthwhile project. But the bill was never approved by the full Legislature. She said she has heard that local governments may pull out their funding if the state does not chip in.

She said the state provided large amounts of money for mental health programs in Southern Nevada in the 2003 Legislature.

Steinberg said this morning that the program will have to run at 25 percent of its capacity and will have to meet with the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition, the local government coalition that pays one-third of the funds, to discuss future funding.

"Their participation was based on the state coming to the plate," Steinberg said. "Now we have to see what they want to do."

Hospitals pay another third and will take their lead from the planning coalition, he said.

"It doesn't matter whether WestCare gets the funding or not," he said. "Somebody has to do this in Southern Nevada. We're talking about 6,000 people who will be back in the emergency rooms and jails, and this will just blow up the system."

Giunchigliani and Arberry both said approval of this request could result in a challenge to the constitutionality of the Interim Finance Committee. Arberry said the interim committee should not "circumvent" the desire of the full Legislature.

Senate Majority Bill Raggio, R-Reno, spoke in favor of allocating the $194,000. He said there were many letters of support from hospitals and mental health workers in Southern Nevada for this money.

His Senate Finance Committee did not approve the request in the Legislature for $1.3 million for the state's share due to the constraints on the budget. He said he "realizes the importance of the triage center to Southern Nevada."

But Raggio said his support did not mean he would be willing to commit further funds in the future.

Sun reporter

Timothy Pratt contributed to this story.