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Increases slated
RICHMOND — A proposal to nearly double state support for local mental health services is under review by the administration of Gov. Gerald L. Baliles, according to a report published June 12.
The state would pump another $140 million by 1990 into mental health, mental retardation and drug abuse programs under the proposal revealed in internal state documents, said The Washington Post.
“Existing financial resources are totally inadequate to address identified and projected service demands” over the next six years, Howard M. Cullum, the state’s mental health commissioner, wrote in a May 1 memorandum to state Human Resources Secretary Eva S. Teig.
Mr. Cullum described local services for the chronically mentally ill as “inadequate in almost every community.” For the mentally retarded, “long waiting lists for day programs are the norm across Virginia,” he wrote, and treatment for alcoholics “is insufficient throughout” the state.
Virginia’s funding during the current biennium for such services is $160 million. Ms. Teig said it was too early to determine what priorities Gov. Baliles might give to the 1988-90 biennial budget, which will be submitted to the 1988 General Assembly session.
The local programs have been given increasing importance because of the deinstitutionalization of mental patients during the 1970s. But members of the legislature have raised questions about the 40 community service boards that administer state and federal funds designated to help former patients.
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