Citizens for Mental Health & Public Safety

Recommended Appropriations

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Introduction

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Citizens for Mental Health & Public Safety (CMHPS) urges City of Ann Arbor officials to place a high priority on the following three issues as they formulate a spending plan for ARPA and other funds in FY 2023 - 2026:

• Greater use of unarmed response to crises and high stress situations

• Improved services for those in households with a member living with a mental health condition

• Improved services for children and youth with emphasis on those at-risk

The appropriations recommended here are guidelines rather than detailed expenditure plans.  Professional experts and elected City Council Members should, and will, craft more detailed plans.

 

The recommended appropriations total $15 million — only 36 percent of the $42 million described in Sources of Funding.  We constrained ourselves to only the highest priority programs because we understand City officials confront many problems.  We note that $15 million over four years equals only $3.75 million per year.  The needs are much greater than this.  We will be happy to work with City officials who recognize appropriations for improving health and achieving more unarmed crisis response should be greater.  We had to cut worthwhile programs to achieve this modest scale and would be happy to restore some of these.

 

The recommended appropriations that follow are totals for the four years of FY 2023 - FY 2026, that is, the period over which ARPA funds must be spent.  Average annual expenditures are easily calculated by dividing by four.

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Click here to go to Programs Supporting Unarmed Crisis Response:  $2.0 million

Click here to go to Programs Serving Households With A Member Living With A Mental Health Condition:  $4.0 million

Click here  to go to Programs Serving Children and Youth:  $5.0 million

Click here to go to Programs Supporting All Three of the Above Priority Areas:  $4.0 million

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