City approves new tax raise, investment in mental health initiatives – The Daily Texan

Travis County commissioners passed a $1.1 billion budget for Central Health, the county’s hospital district, Tuesday, which included $54 million for new investments in mental health crisis and recovery resources. 

With these investments, Central Health aims to help the community address the “visible problem” of people cycling through the ER, hospital, jail and the street, according to its budget presentation. The county’s residents will pay 6% more in annual property taxes, a $36 increase for the median homestead.

“This is a historic investment, and it builds on years of work and collaboration,” Travis County Judge Andy Brown said at the Tuesday press conference. “This $54 million of new funds will allow us to pilot new initiatives (and) to divert and deflect people with more serious mental illness to get the care that they need outside of the county jail.”

About $33.1 million of the new funds is designated for inpatient psychiatric beds and emergency department services according to Central Health’s Fiscal Year ‘27 budget. The other $20.9 million is designated to other resources, such as the Mental Health Crisis Center and an additional crisis care team.

This move comes after an Aug. 3 memorandum that stated Mayor Kirk Watson brought leadership from Austin, Travis County, Integral Care and Central Health together to explore the available behavioral health resources and how they could be used most effectively. 

“For example, the City has had nearly a dozen behavioral health-related programs performing similar or adjacent work and serving multiple departments,” government relations officer Carrie Rogers wrote in the memorandum. “The lack of coordination has led to confusion and poor triage at the time of crisis.”

In a Sept. 10 news release, Central Health wrote the funding aligns with current action from Travis County, including the No Wrong Door program “which recognizes mental health, addiction, homelessness, physical health and justice involvement as connected challenges that require coordinated solutions.”

Geronimo Rodriguez, the Central Health board chair, said after this “down payment,” there is still more to be done. 

“The next step is turning these investments into services people can use and depend on, that will take continued work among the county, the city, Integral Care and our other partners, to bring together the funding and expertise needed to open these doors and keep them open,” Rodriguez said. “There’s so much more to do, but today, we’re closer to having the care our community has needed for a long time.”