Florida Partners in Crisis

Governor's recommended budget supports mental health and substance abuse services

December 9, 2011

Although he is proposing over $3 billion in spending cuts for the coming year, Gov. Rick Scott's recommended budget for FY 2012-13 continues support for publicly-funded mental health and substance abuse services.

While Scott's budget proposals for the Department of Children & Families recommend some cuts and cost-shifting within programs, they also include a recommendation to provide recurring (more permanent) funding for a number of substance abuse and mental health services. The governor's proposed budget for the Department of Children & Families recommends:

• Restoration to recurring general revenue of $3.5 million in Children’s Mental Health

• Restoration to recurring general revenue of  $24.3 million in Adult Mental Health

• Restoration to recurring general revenue of $6.9 million in Children’s Substance Abuse

• Restoration to recurring general revenue of $8.1 million in Adult Substance Abuse

• $3 million in continued funding for the Criminal Justice, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse Reinvestment Grant

• $5 million in new funding for prescription drug abuse treatment

• A reduction of $13.7 million in Children’s Baker Act Services (38% of last year’s funding

• A $5.7 million Mental Health Reintegration Initiative to shift funding from state hospitals to the community

• A $1.7 million reduction in Mental Health Institutions through outsourcing, a decrease of 226 FTEs

• A $12 million fund shift through a reduction in Mental Health/Substance Abuse Managing Entities community-based funding to a fund a DCF data and financial reporting system

The governor's recommendations for the Department of Corrections also support substance abuse treatment. They include:

• $1.2 million for institution drug treatment — $850,000 to continue 296 slots that are funded through expiring federal funds and addition of 89 new slots

• $2.7 million to increase community residential drug treatment by 150 beds

• Privatization of six Work Release Centers

• Privatization of three new Re-Entry Correctional Facilities (Gadsden, Baker and Everglades Re-entry Centers). Each facility will have 432 beds.

The budget Scott unveiled on Dec. 7, totals $66.4 billion, compared to the $69.6 million budget passed by the Legislature for the current fiscal year.

“The dollars in this budget belong to all Floridians, and I have listened to the things they believe are important to spend these dollars on,” said Scott in a prepared statement. “I have heard loud and clear that Floridians want their money spent on education and jobs, without additional burdens on families and businesses, and this budget accomplishes that.”

Accordingly, Scott's budget proposes an additional $1 billion in new funding for grades K-12, saying he would not approve the FY 2012-13 budget unless it included an increase in education funding.

To help achieve savings, Scott is proposing to cut Medicaid costs by nearly $2 billion. “No program has grown as fast and as much as Medicaid, and we must find a way to control the cost. If we do nothing, this program will bankrupt our state,” Scott said.

Scott noted that since 1999, the Medicaid budget has grown by 180%, while state general revenue has grown by 30%.  In the coming fiscal year, Medicaid costs are expected to  increase by 6%.

The governor's budget proposes reducing Medicaid expenditures by 10% in FY 2012-13.  Those reductions will come primarily through changes in what hospitals are paid for treating Medicaid patients, as well as through other proposed efficiencies for hospital stays and emergency room visits.

Scott is proposing adoption of similar rates for the same procedures in similar hospitals by creating a “flat rate” for hospital groups using averaged cost data.

To view the governor’s full budget proposal and related background materials, visit http://letsgettowork.state.fl.us/