Adam Pithan, a court supervisor in Cowlitz County, talks to attendees of the local drug court. The program faces uncertainty after commissioners voted to sunset a local mental health sales tax.
Troy Brynelson / OPB
When Dallas Delagrange’s life changed, he gave credit to the drug court of Cowlitz County, Washington.
“I was very much a burden to my community,” he said. “With drug court, I got my life back on track. I have a family because of drug court. I have four daughters and my wife. I have put myself through school, I pay taxes, I vote.”
But it’s a testimonial that fell on deaf ears. The Cowlitz County Board of Commissioners this month decided to discontinue a sales tax that pays for most of the drug court’s budget. It also helps pay for a slew of other initiatives that assist people struggling with drug use and behavioral health.
For the programs, the money won’t disappear overnight. There are enough funds collected in the current budget to last two years before running dry.
People like Delagrange, now a counselor who works with the drug court, said the tax is being unfairly maligned as wasteful spending.
“I think there’s a lot of ignorance in what drug court, and what this tax, actually provides the community,” Delagrange said.
Commissioner Arne Mortensen, who led calls to end the tax, described the move as being responsible with public money. Commissioner Rick Dahl joined the opposition to the tax.
“We have a system which is really conducive to over-taxing and over-spending,” Mortensen said.
Drug court as the biggest loser, advocates say
The tax takes about $1 for every $1,000 spent in Cowlitz County. It raises approximately $2.5 million each year. Money from that pot is then delivered to programs.
The Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office, for example, spends $403,000 of the tax to staff four mental health experts who join deputies on calls to help people in crisis. The Cowlitz County Prosecutor’s Office spends $320,000 on attorneys who specialize in cases involving mental health.
The largest recipient is the Cowlitz County Jail. Director Marin Fox said her department receives about $1.3 million from the tax to pay for medical treatment for inmates and two corrections deputies who work with “high-needs” inmates.
When asked how losing the sales tax would impact her department, Fox said it won’t. The services funded by the sales tax are required by law, so the county will have to pay for it regardless.
“These things have to happen,” Fox said. If not through the sales tax, “then the general fund will have to pay for it.”
Related: Cowlitz social programs, drug court in limbo as officials eye tax cuts
But it’s the drug court — where people who plead guilty to drug charges can reduce their sentences in exchange for seeking treatment and checking-in regularly with a county judge — that stands to lose the most, according to its advocates. The program is the most financially dependent on the tax.
Adam Pithan, who manages the county’s so-called “therapeutic courts,” said the department is going to have to find money elsewhere.
“We’ll be having to discuss what other avenues we’ll need to continue the program,” Pithan said.
The commissioners did agree to put the mental health sales tax on the ballot. In November, voters will be able to decide whether they support the tax or not. But the vote is non-binding.
“Our goal through the next year is to be available, talk about the tax. We would like to go out and speak about our program to any agency that will have us,” Pithan said.
Mortensen, in an interview, said it’s premature to think the tax will be gone for good. He said the county can bring it back anytime.
“The strongest opinions are coming from the people who make a living off of it,” Mortensen said.
More people’s opinions could get stronger if the tax, and programs like drug court, go away, Delagrange said. He warned that drug court was saving the county more money by intervening in people’s lives – like his.
“You can talk numbers all day long, but it costs more to the taxpayers for people to go sit in prison,” he said.
