Oct 7, 2009 2:09 pm US/Eastern
Comptroller Wants Do-Over On Mental Facility Vote
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) ―
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Comptroller Peter Franchot says the Board of Public Works should reconsider the decision to close a Chestertown mental health facility.
Comptroller Peter Franchot said Wednesday he believes the Board of Public Works should take another look at the decision to close a Chestertown mental health facility due to budget cuts.
The board, which includes Franchot, Gov. Martin O'Malley and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, unanimously approved closing the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center in August as part of $454 million in budget cuts.
Franchot has expressed frustration at misinformation that was accidentally given to the board before the vote on the number of Eastern Shore residents who are treated at the facility. At the board's meeting Wednesday, he asked Maryland Secretary of Health and Mental Hygiene Secretary John Colmers to include alternative cuts that would allow the center to stay open for at least another year, in addition to a plan Colmers will submit to the board on Nov. 4 on other places patients could receive treatment in place of the center.
"I just want to have you take a clear-eyed look at it," Franchot said. "I voted for the closure. I don't have clean hands here, but I'd like you to take another look at it, because I'm not sure we did the right thing."
The plan to close the facility has brought a strong reaction from Upper Shore Republicans and Chestertown residents, because the closure will result in about 85 layoffs and take away a unique mental health facility in a rural part of the state.
"Maybe this is something we should take a step back from and see if there is another cost-saving option in your bailiwick," Franchot told Colmers.
But Colmers pointed out that his department has absorbed about $350 million in budget cuts by the board, by far the largest amount in executive branch agencies.
He said nothing but tough choices remain, as his department prepares for another round of cuts by the board this year.
The state also is facing a $2 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, and an enhanced Medicaid match from the federal government is due to expire in the middle of the next fiscal year.
O'Malley, who toured the facility late last month, said he will wait and see what Colmers brings to the board in November.
"We'll wait and see what Mr. Colmers comes up with and what response the advocates and operators have," O'Malley said.
The governor said he supports the program, and doesn't want to close it, but the state is facing serious budget problems that are forcing very unpleasant decisions.
"It's not one I'd like to close," O'Malley told reporters after the board meeting. "Nobody does, but we have to find $1.5 billion-plus in order to close the budget and we are now down to muscle and bone and core operations and, in fact, have been for the last couple of rounds of cuts."
Sen. E.J. Pipkin, an Upper Shore Republican, sent a strongly worded letter to Colmers this week, saying the secretary appears set on closing the facility.
"It is clear that you have decided to move forward with the closure of the Upper Shore Community Mental Health Center without a full examination of the impact this closure will have on the patients, their families, or the center's employees," Pipkin wrote.
Colmers had been scheduled to present a plan to the board on alternative places of treatment, but the secretary delayed the presentation because the governor pledged late last month to continue admitting patients to Upper Shore for 90 days.
About 20 advocates for keeping the center open, including employees and local residents, came to the board meeting.
Rachel Goss, a Chestertown resident, told the board that closing the facility will have significant ripple effects in the community, including unemployment and tougher access to mental health care.
"It's going to affect everyone," Goss told the board.
The facility treats about 200 people a year. It has one unit that specializes in treating people with both substance abuse and mental health disorders, while another unit is a straight psychiatric unit.
Its closure would save about $1.7 million in the current fiscal year, and save roughly $9 million in future fiscal years, minus costs of redirecting patients to other facilities.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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