Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners To Discuss Possible Mental Health/ Public Safety Millage Renewal Tonight Wed 3/6 at 5:30pm

There is a Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners working session meeting tonight Wednesday 3/6/24 during which a possible renewal of the current Mental Health and Public Safety Millage will be discussed.

I think we need to slow this rubber stamp process down and reconsider the focus, scope and recipients of our millage dollars for mental health services.

Care Based Safety has a document outlining much of the history and current choices before us re: this millage, which as passed in 2017 will continue to draw funds until December 2025.

We do not need to renew it this year, though current millage advocates are claiming that we should so the millage can be aligned with higher turnout presidential election years.

You can see the millage outcome self-reporting of the Washtenaw County Sheriff Office [WCSO] and Washtenaw County Community Mental Health [WCCMH] via the millage impact report here.

I think it warrants mentioning that the sheriff’s department is currently the largest recipient of general fund revenues, while our community mental health department receives a fraction of that. See the projected and annual adopted budget for 2023-2026 here and see images below for reference.

Budgets are moral documents. Do these general fund expenditures reflect the current values of our county?

Another question: does the sheriff need additional millage dollars to run its programs and services?

We might consider answering these questions by looking at the recent report in the spring of 2023 released by our Washtenaw Equity Partnership [WEP], executive summary and full reports can be downloaded here.

From the executive summary for the final report from spring 2023, you will see that the WEP recommends a reduction of reliance on police services in order to achieve more equitable life outcomes for our residents, especially those who’ve historically been targeted and impacted most by police

At the end of my opinion piece here, you will see an email I sent to the County Commissioners as well as Trish Cortes [WCCMH Executive Director], Sheriff Clayton, and Derrick Jackson [WCSO Community Engagement Director].

The County Commissioner Working Session being held tonight 3/6/2024 at 5:30 will have open time for public comment. Each speaker has 1-minute during working sessions. Meeting location: Washtenaw County Administrative Building 220 N. Main Street Ann Arbor in the Board Room. If you would like to speak, but cannot be there in person, you can participate via zoom.

Last week, I wrote about the county plan to consolidate services and departments. One proposal for our WCCMH will close down the Ypsilanti Towner, Ann Arbor Annex locations and will construct a new building at the current WCCMH Ellsworth location. You can read about that here

Here is the email I referred to above:

Dear Commissioners and all:

This millage is not actually up until 2025, right?

I think we might be better served to create a new millage to replace this one in 2025 and eliminate the funding for the sheriff.

There is absolutely no reason they should have $6M in reserves from the millage.

The sheriff is the highest funded arm of our county government and should learn to live within its means, not be further funded by additional property tax dollars.

Those funds should go to treatment and prevention, not to armed cops and their institution.

I think this clip below from the Sept 20, 2023 meeting is quite telling.

Here Sheriff Clayton gets quite defensive when questioned about the $6M his department has “in reserves.”

Perhaps as we move forward this year with a new sheriff, whoever that may be, we need to help the sheriff and her/his department live within their means and start funding the things they say they were funding with millage dollars in their regular budget. Full stop.

I know many of you likely remember this, but can’t hurt for a quick refresher. The exchange between Comm Rabhi and Clayton begins at the 4:34:24 mark and goes for over 10 minutes. IIRC Comm Scott also enters the discussion.

We need real change in this county, not just a rearrangement of the deck chairs…

https://www.youtube.com/live/kHHSAQ6o5Jw?si=8D2zUEqAldALZXDK&t=16464

Thanks for your time and attention, Greg

What do you think?

We wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t been there.

Thanks for reading