By Judy Amabile, Joe Pelle, Michael Dougherty, and Grant Besser
Boulder County’s recent survey of citizens indicated that 69% of respondents would support expanding the existing 0.185% sales tax to improve access to behavioral health services in our community.
This strong indicator comes at a good time and offers us a rare opportunity.
The state just allocated nearly $500 million in federal ARPA (America’s Rescue Plan Act) funds to increase mental health resources statewide.
This federal money will start flowing in 2023. Local governments and care organizations can use it to build mental health infrastructure. Communities can obtain funds to maintain supportive housing, group homes, respite care facilities, substance use treatment facilities, and many other uses. Once these places are up and running, local communities will need to provide ongoing funding for the services they provide.
Repurposing Boulder County’s current 0.185% sales tax, which has fully funded the alternative sentencing center and jail modernization improvements now underway, is a smart way to secure this continued funding (until $10 million a year) without raising taxes for the citizens of Boulder.
Boulder County’s survey results reflect the urgency of our current circumstances. Coloradans are experiencing an epidemic of homelessness, youth suicide, drug addiction, and overdose deaths. Yes, the pandemic exacerbated these problems, but years of neglect of our treatment infrastructure have created a critical mass of poor outcomes.
For example, this year Mental Health America ranked Colorado low compared to other states in access to adult mental health care. The respected nonprofit organization cited the glaring gap between the need for care (high rates of addiction and serious mental illness) and the ability to access care. The fact is, Colorado’s mental health landscape is bleak for all ages, with skyrocketing suicide and overdose deaths afflicting our youth.
In our own community, we have become tragically inured to the human misery of homelessness. But as the number of homeless people increases, especially those with untreated mental health disorders, communities are feeling quality-of-life impacts and are motivated to find workable solutions.
Current approaches are not working. People with mental illness and addictive disorders who go untreated often end up in jail, where they don’t get the specialized medical care they need. The incarcerated environment makes them sicker, more likely to reoffend, and trapped in a cycle that is extremely difficult to break.
This approach is inhumane and wasteful and makes our community less safe. We need more strategies.
Colorado counties, including Larimer, Denver and Summit, have voted to levy taxes to fund mental health care services in their communities. They realize that it is unsustainable to rely on incarceration to treat serious mental health problems and recognize that all of their citizens need increased access to quality mental health care.
Budgets are a reflection of values. By imposing taxes on themselves, these communities are making the initial investments necessary to turn the tide on a problem that has been going on for decades. Importantly, they are positioning themselves to take full advantage of the federal dollars that will soon be available to communities. Boulder County should too. This is how real change can begin.
A mental health tax would work hand-in-hand with a host of programs the state has just put in place. In addition to allocating federal dollars for mental health capital infrastructure, the legislature passed a new jail diversion program for nonviolent mentally ill offenders and several measures to increase Colorado’s mental health workforce.
In Boulder County, we have already seen the success of this approach. The District Attorney’s Mental Health Diversion Program, the only one in the state, connects low-level offenders with treatment in the community. By providing stable medication and treatment, we have reduced the likelihood that these individuals will reoffend due to unmet behavioral health needs. This successful program makes a positive difference to offenders, victims and the community. But we can and must do more. People shouldn’t have to bang on jail doors to get mental health treatment.
The synergy of federal dollars and voters’ willingness to pay for behavioral health services would offer Boulder County an extraordinary opportunity to make further progress on the difficult problems that serious mental illness and untreated addiction can create for a community. Let us commit to investing in services that help our most vulnerable citizens regain health and wholeness.
Please join us in calling for this initiative to be added to the ballot in 2023. The well-being of our community depends on it.
Judy Amabile represents the 49th District of the Colorado House of Representatives. Joe Pelle is the Boulder County Sheriff. Michael Dougherty is the Boulder County District Attorney. Grant Besser is the president of the Boulder Community Health Foundation.
