MISSOULA—Missoula County Commissioners on Thursday voted unanimously to place a Crisis Intervention Levy on the November general election ballot. The proposed levy is for $5.5 million. This translates to about $54 annually for a home with an assessed value of $200,000 or $135 annually for a home with an assessed value of $500,000.
The Missoula County Crisis Intervention Service Levy will help sustain crucial programs, including:
• The Mobile Support Team sends EMTs and clinicians trained to assist people in crisis, helping to divert hundreds of very costly visits to the emergency room or jail. In the past year and a half, the MST has saved $815,900 in Emergency Room visits. In most cases, the Support Team can keep the client in the community, safe and with a plan should they go into crisis again.
• The Crisis Intervention Program provides elective hands-on, nationally vetted training to law enforcement and other first responders to recognize and address individuals having a behavioral health crisis.
• The Sheriff’s Office Community Supported Reentry Program and Missoula County Pretrial Supervision Program, which help formerly incarcerated people succeed upon release, without falling into homelessness or reoffending.
• The Crime Victims Advocate Program, which helps victims of intimate partner violence achieve safety and personal power. Crime Victim Advocate services save lives. The risk for domestic violence homicide increases when victims do not or cannot access early intervention. When a victim receives services for an assault, they are less likely to experience lethal violence down the road.
• The Emergency Winter Shelter, Temporary Safe Outdoor Space and Authorized Camping Site which prevent people from dying on the streets during extreme temperatures and from living in dangerous and unhygienic makeshift riverside camps. Just last season, 567 people received winter shelter and, as a result, no one died from exposure to the elements in Missoula last year. And, of the 86 people served to date in the Temporary Safe Outdoor Space, 36 have moved into permanent housing.
Additionally, it will support the establishment of:
• The Crisis Receiving Center, a proposed medical site for those experiencing a behavioral health crisis to stabilize rather than enter the emergency room or jail.
• The Trinity Navigation Center, which will provide needed services with low barriers to folks who are living unhoused in Missoula including: connection to the Missoula Coordinated Entry System and housing navigation, warming space, basic health care and a reliable community of support.
Public comment received from Missoula Voice was recapped for the Commissioners. Of the 15 comments received, two comments indicated concerns that offering additional services would draw more people seeking services to Missoula and six commenters expressed concerns that property taxes were too high and the Commissioners should not be running this or any other measures on the ballot. Four comments supported the levy. The Commissioners also received a letter of support signed by more than 60 community members.
During the hearing, all the public comments shared were passionately in favor of the levy.
“Missoula County has been innovative about finding effective ways to help people in crisis, whether it’s homelessness, living with mental health challenges or crime victims,” Missoula businessman Shannon Flanagan said. “It’s about compassion and leadership. Our community doesn’t turn its back on problems or on people in need…This levy is needed to continue programs that work, that help people in crisis and that help keep our community safe.”
The Crisis Intervention Levy will help continue vital community programs funded largely through American Rescue Plan and grants intended to address the upheaval caused by the COVID pandemic. This one-time funding will soon run out.
Jim Hicks, a pastor and executive director of Hope Rescue Mission, said county programs have helped those experiencing mental health crises get appropriate help and support without being taken to jail or to busy hospital emergency rooms. They have also helped those experiencing homelessness get shelter during extreme cold and heat.
“We can’t simultaneously complain about getting people off the street and then not help people get off the streets,” Hicks said.
“These problems won’t go away by ignoring them, they will only grow worse,” Hicks said. “It’s vital that we continue to invest in these solutions, rather than lose ground on the progress we’ve made to date. We all benefit when we live in communities where people are housed and cared for, not living on our streets and riverbanks.”
Joyce Dombrouski, chief executive of Providence St. Patrick Hospital, said crisis intervention programs help ensure that people with mental health challenges get appropriate care rather than being taken to the emergency room when crises arise.
“Providence St. Patrick Hospital’s emergency department experienced a 30% increase in behavioral health patient visits over the last year, which is about seven to 10 more patients each day,” she said. “Montanans shouldn’t require an ED visit in order to receive mental health care services—it’s not the best treatment option for patients in crisis. We owe it to our community to increase access to mental health crisis care services.”
Reader Comments(0)