photo by: Journal-World

The west side of the Douglas County Courthouse, 1100 Massachusetts St.

Douglas County commissioners will revisit an allocation for 2026 operating funds at the Treatment & Recovery Center on Wednesday, and it’s a smaller amount than previously proposed.

The Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center approached county commissioners in Dec. 2025, as the Journal-World reported, with a request of $1 million to support operations at the Treatment & Recovery Center, but commissioners waited on considering any amount of funding until an external review of the facility was initiated.

The external review of the TRC’s operations and finances is still underway, and Bert Nash is now asking for $700,000 on Wednesday. This represents a 44% increase to the county’s total TRC allocation, but it is significantly lower than what Bert Nash asked for during 2026 budget discussions and a decrease from last December.

Following 2026 budget discussions, county commissioners set aside $1 million for crisis system contingency funding in 2026, and it wasn’t reserved for one specific organization. If approved, this funding request is expected to be covered by that amount in the county’s 2026 budget.

The request from Bert Nash is because there are changes to how Medicaid and other funding is now being allocated, and it has reduced the expected revenue for the TRC. It also has increased the impact of unpaid care for crisis services like mobile response. The Mobile Response Team alone is projected to run a $1 million loss in 2026.

In March, Bert Nash shared program-level budgets, which showed some programs having leftover funds, while others, especially crisis services, have major shortfalls. County staff are considering whether some of the surplus funds could be used to address those deficits.

“Moving forward, staff believe much of the redirected funds could be allocated to close funding gaps at TRC, with the MRT program, and psychiatry and med services …” a memo to commissioners said. “Conversations about the redirection of funds are ongoing with Bert Nash.”

While Bert Nash hopes this request will be a one-time request, it will depend on uncertain factors such as Medicaid reimbursement and future funding from the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services. KDADS funding to the TRC is about $3.1 million per year, and Bert Nash may be vulnerable to the risk of reductions in the current allocation, the memo said.

“Bert Nash has indicated that if the 2026 request is granted, it is their sincere desire to not have a supplemental request for TRC in 2027,” the memo said.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS WILL:

• Consider authorizing a grant agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, to aid in providing permanent supportive housing to chronically homeless individuals. As the Journal-World reported, this funding will support some of the individuals in the county’s flexible housing pool program, which provides financial assistance to individuals for rent, utilities and other expenses to help them move towards stable, long-term housing.

Douglas County applied to receive $321,032 from the grant in 2024, but HUD later notified the county it would receive a smaller amount than what was awarded in the past. The county was awarded $156,864 to provide service to 12 individuals from April 1, 2026 through March 31, 2027.

Douglas County staff told commissioners that there was uncertainty around receiving any federal funding from this grant at all for this period, so Douglas County commissioners approved funding in the 2026 budget to keep services afloat. The federal funding award includes about $145,000 for rental assistance and $12,000 for administrative costs, offsetting some of the amount the commissioners allocated towards the program.

• Consider a memorandum of understanding with Douglas County Emergency Communications, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire Medical and Johnson County Department of Emergency Services to maintain radio communications capability between emergency medical services provided by Johnson County and with LDCFM.

• Consider awarding a contract for a 3,500 tons-supply of highway de-icing salt to Independent Salt at a total cost of $185,885 for winter weather conditions.

The County Commission’s business meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Douglas County Commission meeting room at 1100 Massachusetts St. The meeting will also be available via Zoom.