The state legislature chose not to fund the facility, allegedly to save $74.4 million in operating costs
Rep. John Ley recently visited the shuttered Brockmann Campus, a mental health facility just north of WSU Vancouver. The building is unoccupied and surrounded by a chain link fence. Other than two security vehicles on the property, no one else was in sight.
“What a sad waste of taxpayer dollars,” said Ley, R-Vancouver. “Where’s the value in spending millions of dollars to build this much-needed facility, and then refuse to fund its operations?”
View John’s video here: https://youtube.com/shorts/BtX0BIWAvIE
More than two years ago, the state Legislature allocated $42 million to build a new in-patient mental health facility. They purchased about 7.5 acres from the Brockmann family, got the land rezoned and began construction. The facility was scheduled to open this year, offering mental health treatment for up to 48 patients for up to 180 days.
The Brockman Campus facility is owned by the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS). Today it has a chain link fence around it and is serving no patients.
The state legislature chose not to fund the facility, allegedly to save $74.4 million in operating costs. The state will spend $595,000 over the next two years to keep the facility in a “caretaker status.”
“How is it possible that DSHS doesn’t have enough money to operate the facility?” Ley asked. “In the 2021-2023 biennium, the DSHS budget was approximately $7.39 billion. The 2023-2025 biennium saw an increase to around $11.15 billion. The recently enacted budget for the 2025-2027 biennium allocated $12.1 billion. The General Fund reached a record $77.8 billion, which included an estimated $9.5 billion in new taxes.
“Sadly, the majority party chose to shutter this much-needed facility they had just spent $42 million building. It makes no sense to me whatsoever especially when they passed the largest budget in state history.
“This is similar to the huge battle House Republicans fought earlier this year to keep open the Rainier and Yakima Valley schools for severely developmentally disabled people. That too was on the majority party’s chopping block.”
Ley said he plans to work with fellow legislators seeking to prioritize the facility’s operations, instead of letting the $42 million the state just spent go to waste.
Information provided by Washington State House Republicans,
houserepublicans.wa.gov
Its frustrating to read this, considering how many billions that are given to various NGOs to be spent on providing “homeless services” that do nothing but attract more “homeless” and ensure that they stay right where they are.
Many of these “homeless” have long term mental illness that goes untreated while this facility remains shuttered. Homeless mentally ill have a better shot getting free tents than any kind of meaningful treatment.
Re-purposing just a fraction of the money handed out to the “homeless” would easily fund this facility.
Thank you, Rep. Ley, for speaking out on this after visiting the facility site. I am the Mental Health representative on the County’s Law and Justice Council. I am very concerned about the apparent lack of follow-through on the state’s and county’s obligations on an area that impacts our public safety, health care system, and the individuals themselves and their families. In addition to Brockmann, I read of the financial problems of the essential Columbia River Mental Health Services (CRMHS), and most recently its change of ownership to the Cowlitz Tribe. I hope the state legislature, DSHS, and county behavioral officials will review these seemingly disconnected events (Brockmann and CRMHS) to correct what appears to be a fundamental problem in approaching the mental health crisis.
This problem should be solved the Republican way: 1. Defund the service. 2. Complain about under-performing. 3 Use that poor performance to shut it down. 4. Privatize it. 5. Charge outrageous rates so only the rich can afford the service and the wealthy owners get even richer.