The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/30/08
Gov. Sonny Perdue succeeded Monday in rounding up enough votes to shift millions of dollars away from mental health care to fill other holes in the state budget.
The potential shift comes at a time when the federal government is investigating problems in the state's treatment of Georgians with mental illnesses.
A fiscal affairs committee made up of top lawmakers voted 8-4 earlier this month to shift $6.6 million budgeted for children's mental health services to help cover shortages in other Department of Human Resources programs. Perdue said the shift wouldn't prevent the state from meeting the needs of mentally ill children.
However, Perdue's Office of Planning and Budget discovered that state law requires 11 committee votes to approve the transfer. So lawmakers had to vote again. They did so during a telephone conference call on Monday, the final day of the state's fiscal year.
Some of those opposing the transfer didn't take part in the meeting this time, and others who were absent at the earlier meeting voted Monday. The shift was approved 15-0.
Besides the $6.6 million, $1.8 million in mental health money was shifted earlier this month to other DHR programs on a separate vote. That vote was not contested.
Mental health advocates had hoped the revote would give lawmakers a chance to rethink the issue.
The vote came only a few weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice sent a blistering letter to the governor about "critically deficient" conditions at the state mental hospital in Atlanta.
Care in the adolescent unit at Georgia Regional Hospital/Atlanta, in particular, drew strong criticism. The letter quoted one employee of the unit as saying patients "would be safer outside" the hospital, and another who described "continuing clinical chaos."
Perdue said the $6.6 million was needed to fill holes in the Department of Human Resources' budget. He said the state overbudgeted for mental health services, and the leftover money would have lapsed if it's not used this fiscal year to cover deficits in child welfare and adoption services programs.
But officials with the community services boards that deliver mental health care said they believe state law allows them to carry over money to the next fiscal year and use it.
Mental health advocates say the money could help the state cover unmet mental health needs.
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