DES MOINES – Mental illness has become a scourge of society, and the Iowa legislature is pondering a bill that would give county supervisors the power to raise funding to address the issue.
The Senate Ways & Means Committee unanimously passed a bill giving county supervisors the ability to raise the mental health levy in their county.
Senator Pam Jochum reports that SF 2236 establishes a statewide standard property tax levy for mental health and disability services based on the per capita expenditure target ($47.28) times the county’s general population. In 2013, the Legislature established mental health regions, which have saved the state $35 million in property taxes statewide, and 73 counties have been able to reduce property taxes by sharing responsibility for these services. However, for some counties the current rate does not allow the county to adequately provide services.
For eight Iowa counties with frozen levy caps – Butler, Tama, Scott, Dallas, Benton, Johnson, Polk and Plymouth—the bill would allow major deficits in mental health regions to be filled. Without the statewide standardized rate of $47.28 per capita, services that keep those with mental health needs and disabilities living and working in the community would be at risk. These services include assistance keeping a job, rent subsidies and transportation to medical appointments, to name a few.
For other regions, it would allow the counties to more equally distribute the costs for the region based on the percent of the population they serve. The legislation provides flexibility to counties to more equitably distribute dollars through the mental health region. The redesign and formation of regions has been successful, and this legislation is the final piece that will bring stability to the system and bring equity to the counties in the region.
The bill now goes to the Republican-controlled House for consideration.
Worth county supervisors need a mental health plan – opps! forget it ! These people are owned by the elite corporations here in worth county and are enrolled on their expense accounts. That bernie sanders county supervisor Walk over in Mitchell county is someone to keep a close watch on also -corporate owned little guy.
I need rules to be clearly defined, logical and consistent.
Rule 1 : Leave – never come back.
No asshole, people who operate with loud tailpipes by removing their legally required mufflers are the scourge of Society. Get it straight.
Louder than ever… and driving you nuts, I bet. Why not film the worst offenders and post them to youtube? I’ll post them in the Whiner’s Den for you.
Why???Because he has nary a hair, that’s why. Besides, its easier for him to complain about it and like always, do nothing.
Great comment Buzz as usual. The resident space case doesn’t have a clue. Even his Momma is kicking him out. The only place that will take him is 5 East followed by Cherokee.
And no Marquardt, as usual your calcified brain misses the point. You call people mental illness a “scourge on society”. How dare you? You and your brown shirt thugs are a scourge on society. You load up hot button dog whistle terms to incite and inflame. Sid Barrett had mental illness, and he gave us Pink Floyd. But that’s because he had guitars and musical instruments in his hands, and not AR-15’s. You’re reprehensible snd childish in your rhetoric…and dangerous…and that’s why you are an enemy to the people who have conscious. It’s not cute anymore to see the blonde hair monkey flinging bansna peels and dung at the tourists anymore.
Same shit, different day. Blah, blah, blah. STFU Peter.
I He is a disaster waiting to happen. If anyone needs mental help it is Lagios. That is why he has been turned into multiple authorities.
GTFO
You are a disaster that’s ALREADY happened. And as always douchebag editor keeps up the comments harsh towards me, yet deletes my rebuttals. And Marquardt wonders why he’s hated? No, he knows why. But he’s been a bully his entire life…and like peas in a pod, he’s found other bullies to connect with. What’s occurring here is nothing short of North Iowa’s version of Hitler, gathering up his brown shirts in the fledgling stages of the Third Reich. Luckily Historians like myself are wise enough to draw the comparisons early on to help stave off a disaster. Mason City dodged a bullet on Marquardt, that’s for sure.