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Show Title 20 Funds Mixup By MARK D. MICKELSEN FARMINGTON Unless Davis County Mental Health officials come up with $27,000 soon, some family and youth-oriented youth-oriented treatment programs sponsored through the department depart-ment will have to be cut back before the end of the 1981-82 budget year. SO SAYS Mental Health Director Russell Williams, who, along with department heads from four other federally-sponsored programs, was told by county commissioners he would have to come up with matching money to meet this year's federal Title 20 contracts. con-tracts. The county's decision "will result in a direct curtailment of services." he said. WILLIAMS SAID his department de-partment will be forced to cutback cut-back those services that "are least severe," including psychological and psychiatrical psychiatric-al evaluations for adolescents as well as early intervention services for families. "When cuts come, they come in the area of least severe,'" se-vere,'" he said, "but the cuts affect families and youth." AS A result of the reduction in services, Williams says the department is forced to treat cases later on that might have been eliminated with orooer early care And, he added, "we are treating them later at a much accelerated cost." "It is cheaper to pay the cost of an immunization, than to treat the illness," he added. THE CUTBACKS are a re- suit of what Williams calls a "fiscal oversight" in which some department heads were not notified they would be overseeing the matching funds through their own departmental departmen-tal budgets. In past years, a separate account was devised for Title 20 money only. Those departments depart-ments participating had access to the funds when the Title 20 contracts came due. . a decision was made by the county that each separate department de-partment involved in the program prog-ram should handle the match-ing match-ing funds appropriation through their own budget. "The frightening part of that is that no one told us," he said, resulting in a deficit of money for the Title 20 match. Williams Wil-liams said he understands that starting next year, the county will allow for the reinstatement of that revenue. t'CTTHE department is still left with t sizeable deficit many believe will seriously courtail services. Asa result of the cuts, one vacant staff position posi-tion has not been filled, Williams Wil-liams noted. And while he said the funding fund-ing shortage will not cripple the operation of the department, depart-ment, Williams is angry that neither he or any of his assistants assis-tants heard about the Title 20 changeover until four or five months after the budget process pro-cess was finalized. 'EACH DEPARTMENT should be responsible for the revenues that come in." he ud. noting that it is "in the department head's best interest" in-terest" if he has "fiscal accountability" for the money in that department. The most unfortunate circumstance cir-cumstance in the Title 20 mix-up mix-up "is that I was not involved tn that decision-making pro-cess, pro-cess, said Williams. "It was a fiscal oversight." BUT WILLIAMS doesn't blame the county commission. "They were acting in good faith," he says. He supported changes in the program and said departments should now be able to match federal revenues and expedite the process. "I would hope that there will be continual change." |