Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Community Services loaned $2.8 million

Spokane County’s Community Services Department received a $2.8 million loan Thursday that will enable it to pay the bills through the end of the year.

Much of the money, which is coming from a county investment account, will be used to pay for services already provided. The department is short because the state cut its initial funding allocation to Spokane County, which the department already had used to plan services.

But the loan isn’t enough to stop mental health services cuts already announced for this fall, including the termination of a contract with Spokane Public Schools to provide special schools for students with mental illnesses.

“We were waiting until the last moment to make these reductions hoping the state of Washington and the governor’s office would help us,” said County CEO Marshall Farnell.

Despite local efforts, the state has refused to give Spokane County any more money.

Students and supporters of the MAP and New Bridge alternative schools will protest their elimination at 11 a.m. today in front of the Community Services offices at 312 W. Eighth Ave.

The loan was approved by Spokane County Commissioners Mark Richard and Phil Harris. Commissioner Todd Mielke was unable to attend the special meeting.

The county will guarantee the loan with its general fund, and Community Services will begin to repay it with 4 percent interest in January. It must be paid back in full within two years.

The costs of repaying that loan may mean the department will have to make deeper cuts in January, said Harris.

Local mental health providers agreed to that possibility because cutting people’s services with no advance notice was a worse alternative, said the county’s Community Services administrator, Edie Rice-Sauer.

Rice-Sauer added that the county’s new payment method next year – fees for specific services rather than reimbursing the bills providers’ submit – will help keep costs down.

The state Legislature could also come back with a supplemental appropriation, she said.

“I’d prepare for the worst,” Harris said. “Don’t give anybody false hope.”