Title
AN ORDINANCE relating to the levy collection of the sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent for the delivery of mental health and chemical dependency services, and therapeutic courts; continuing the sales and use tax by revising the expiration date of Ordinance 15949, as amended; and amending Ordinance 15949, Section 9.
Body
PREAMBLE:
In 2005, recognizing the need for additional mental health and chemical dependency programs, the state legislature authorized counties to implement a one-tenth of one percent sales and use tax to support new programs.
The one-tenth of one percent sales and use tax supporting new or expanded chemical dependency or mental health treatment programs and services and for the operation of new or expanded therapeutic court programs and services, known as the mental illness and drug dependency ("MIDD") sales and use tax, generates between fifty and sixty-five million dollars annually for King County.
King County's one-tenth of one percent MIDD sales and use tax was enacted November 26, 2007, in Ordinance 15949 and is scheduled to expire January 1, 2017. As provided under Ordinance 15949, the county chooses to amend the expiration date to provide for continued collection of the sales and use tax.
King County's MIDD is a comprehensive approach to creating improvements across the continuum of the behavioral health system and making progress toward public policy goals such as reduced jail and emergency department use, reduced psychiatric hospitalizations, and reductions in incidence and severity of chemical dependency and mental and emotional disorders in youth and adults. Aggregated MIDD evaluation data finds that MIDD supported programs are successful and effective in meeting the policy goals established by Ordinance 15949 and warrants a continuation of the sale and use tax.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Findings: Continuing the mental illness and drug dependency sales and use tax of one-tenth of one percent authorized by RCW 82.14.460 and by Ordinance 15949 enables the county to maintain and build upon the successes of mental illness and drug dependency sales and use tax supported programs and services to: promote adequate, stable public funding for community behavioral health services in King County; ensure timely, affordable and culturally-appropriate access to behavioral health services that focus on recovery and resilience; improve community-based services and programs; and better meet the behavioral needs of people in need of services, thereby reducing costly incarceration and emergency room utilization.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 15949, Section 9, as amended, is hereby amended to read as follows:
((This o))Ordinance 15949, as amended, expires ((January 1, 2017)) January 1, 2026.