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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRES-2006-050 Orange County Board of Commissioners Resolution in Support of OPC Area Programs~ S . boa ~ ~ ©.rU Q ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS RESOLUTION IN SUPPORT OF OPC AREA PROGRAM WHEREAS, Orange County has been an active and involved participant in implementing required mental health system reform since 2001, working in collaboration with Person County and Chatham County and with Orange Person Chatham Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Authority (OPC Area Program); and WHEREAS, Orange County has participated actively in a Steering Committee for Mental Health System Reform of Orange, Person and Chatham counties to develop and implement the changes required by HB 381 in a manner that Orange County believed best served the needs of its citizens and those of Person and Chatham counties; and WHEREAS, the needs of consumers in Orange, Person and Chatham remain the paramount concern; and WHEREAS, Orange County along with the other 99 counties in North Carolina, labored under the assumption that true collaboration would arise with the State, and organizational sensitivity, administrative flexibility, and fiscal support would be extended by the State given the magnitude of change being wrought throughout the mental health service delivery system; and WHEREAS, the voluminous array of technical memorandums, conflicting communiques, restrictive rulings, executive edicts, and unprecedented cost shifting, required numerous efforts to redirect system reform which has resulted in added expenses; and WHEREAS, the decisions of Orange, Person and Chatham counties to move toward divestiture of services in a slow and systematic fashion in what they believed was in the interest of its consumers and allowed by law has proven to be inconsistent with the funding realities imposed upon OPC Area Program; and WHEREAS, as a result of the monumental changes required over the last five years, among other things, OPC Area Program is facing extraordinary financial difficulties; and WHEREAS, as a result of divestiture, OPC will no longer be a service provider; and WHEREAS, OPC Area Program can neither tax, nor in the absence of service delivery, generate revenue and must rely upon federal, state and local funding to survive; and WHEREAS, OPC Area Program must obtain an infusion of one-time funding from the Division of Mental Health to allow it to complete its orderly divestiture of services and to stabilize and vitalize the provider network it has been required to assemble; and WHEREAS, the preliminary information from the Division of Mental Health indicates that it would expect an infusion of additional funds from Orange, Person and Chatham counties as a prerequisite to its infusion of funds; and WHEREAS, the funds committed to OPC Area Program by each county annually in support of mental health represent 5.3 percent of OPC Area Program's budget; and WHEREAS, Orange, Person, and Chatham counties have already allocated as a one-time, non- recurring special needs allocation substantial additional funds to support required divestiture of service; and WHEREAS, it is two months prior to the end of the fiscal year; and WHEREAS, it is the desire of the Board of Commissioners of Orange County to assure the continued viability of OPC Area Program so that the needs of the consumers in its catchment area can be met with local understanding and input; and WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Orange County believes that OPC Area Program must continue as a viable entity in order to allow Orange, Person and Chatham counties the time needed to assure the most appropriate long term plan to provide mental health, developmental disability.and substance abuse services and to develop the local administrative infrastructure and to build the community capacity needed to ensure access and quality of care; and WHEREAS, the Board of Commissioners of Orange County wishes to ensure that all options are available for determining the best method for the provision of mental health, developmental disability and substance abuse services in the catchment area; NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Orange County Board of Commissioners will strive, to the extent that its budget allows, to contribute, as a one-time, non-recurring special needs allocation, an amount representing Orange County's proportionate share of the additional funding needed by OPC Area Program for FY2006, not to exceed a proportionate share of 5.3 percent of OPC Area Program's unfunded need. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Orange County Board of Commissioners requests that the Division of Mental Health provide to OPC Area Program the additional funding it has requested. This 4th day of May 2006. ~s ~~ ~~~, Barry Jacobs, Chair Orange County Board of Commissioners