LAKE COUNTY ? The Lake County Mental Health Department will receive a $1 million loan after unanimous approval by the Lake County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Chief Administrative Officer Kelly Cox told the board the loan was necessary to cover past-due bills totaling more than $2.4 million. Of that amount, he said state Medi-Cal could reimburse approximately $716,000 if the department paid the expenses within 12 months of the date the expense was incurred.
The department owes private vendors more than $1.6 million, in addition to $738,421 owed to county departments.
“The service providers need to be paid, and they have been quite patient while the Mental Health Department has been working its way out of this fiscal crisis,” Cox wrote in his memo to the board.
With the new loan, the department”s debt to the county”s general fund will be more than $2.4 million, according to Cox.
“I”m reluctant to recommend it, but I believe it is necessary to do this,” Cox said.
Cox”s memo said the loan will cover the balance of unpaid bills after a $321,307 advance from the Mental Health Services Act, and a $400,000 transfer of federal re-alignment funds from Lake County Social Services and deferral of $540,053 in payments until next year.
The department is required to make annual payments of $200,000 on the prior loan and quarterly payments of $135,818 on the new loan, according to Cox.
Cox recommended the loan come from the county”s Infrastructure Reserve Fund, a specified account within its general fund that contains undesignated property tax revenue.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
