Crisis center for mentally ill fails again to get state money

Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- WestCare, which runs a crisis triage center in Las Vegas that takes mentally ill people who otherwise would go to emergency rooms, has come up empty a second time in seeking additional funds from the state.

The Task Force for the Fund for a Healthy Nevada, during its two-day meeting in Las Vegas, did not act on the request by WestCare for $677,000 to continue its operations.

Assemblywoman Kathy McClain, D-Las Vegas, the chairwoman of the task force, said Wednesday there was no extra money for the center.

The task force spent two days deciding how to allocate an estimated $8 million next fiscal year to a variety of programs aimed at stopping smoking and taking care of children's health and the disabled.

"There were so many requests and we didn't have the money," McClain said.

The money comes from the tobacco master settlement agreement. Fifty percent is earmarked for the Millennium Scholarship program.

Of the remaining amount, 15 percent each goes to senior prescription drug insurance and to independent living programs. Ten percent is set aside for tobacco cessation programs, 5 percent to children's health, slightly more than 3 percent to the disabled and nearly 2 percent for a prescription drug program for the disabled.

The task force allocates the money for the children, disabled and tobacco cessation portion.

WestCare unsuccess fully sought a state appropriation from the 2003 state Legislature and from the Interim Finance Committee. The center did receive more than $600,000 in federal funds from the state but suggested the state's full share was another $600,000.

The local governments and the hospitals in Southern Nevada are funding the program. But the task force was asked for money to carry it through until the 2005 Legislature.

There was a split of opinion on the task force.

Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, said he supported the request.

"There is obviously a need for this. We haven't dealt with this on the state level," he said.

McClain said she was "not sure the triage center fits in with the mission of the task force. I can't see where it fits with disabilities or children's health. I feel strongly that whatever money we have available should go into new funding cycles."

Assemblyman Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, said this program "gets people off the street and into the care they need."

The task force tabled the issue Tuesday to see if there might be more money available at the end of the meeting Wednesday. But the issue was never raised again.

McClain said the task force allocated $2 million to children's health programs but had requests for more than $5 million. It had to reduce existing grants to the continuing programs and could not allocate any money for new programs.