Specifically, the department told lawmakers Tuesday it might need five times more money than the agency recently received from the state for such commitments, according to the article.
The state has provided the Wyoming Department of Health $4.4 million for the past two, two-year budget cycles for the program, called Title 25, the agency’s director, Tom Forslund, said at a budget hearing, according to the report. However, the department incurred $18 million in costs for involuntary commitments in the last budget cycle.
“So the department had to come up with just shy of $14 million internally in order to pay for those costs,” Mr. Forslund said, according to the Billings Gazette.
Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead (R) has proposed a budget plan that calls for the state to use as much as $21 million from the state’s $2.6 billion rainy day fund to cover Title 25 costs, the report states.
Mr. Forslund told lawmakers the proposal is a sensible one, and the agency may not ultimately need all of the money.
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