The project will be fully state-funded, governor’s office spokesman Dan Tierney told the Dayton Daily News.
“The capital budget signed (Friday) includes a $10 million allocation for planning, land acquisition, and initial design work for a new, state-of-the-art mental health hospital in the Miami Valley. As such, the site is still to be determined,” Tierney said.
“While the current capital budget funding would cover these initial expenditures, funding for architectural design and construction would be a part of future capital budget negotiations.”
Local officials say the new facility is needed — and has been since the former state mental health facility was closed 16 years ago — but the long timeline means other solutions are needed in the meantime.
Montgomery County Probate Judge David Brannon said a group of leaders in law enforcement, health care, courts and mental health services have been meeting for some time to find ways to address pressing mental health challenges in the community.
“We all went into this thing thinking we aren’t going to get beds, so what’s our plan,” he said.
He said those efforts will need to continue as the region waits for a new hospital to come online.
In the meantime, some of those efforts are headed in the wrong direction. Montgomery County Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services recently announced budget cuts impacting mental health service agencies. And in May, the county’s crisis response provider announced it would end its contract with Montgomery County.
DeWine on Friday said the Dayton-area hospital would be “very similar” to one in central Ohio that opened in May. That facility took numerous two-year budget cycles to build starting under former Gov. John Kasich in 2018.
The new Central Ohio Behavioral Healthcare in Columbus contains 208 beds. Tierney said the Dayton facility is planned to include 216 beds.
State officials say a Dayton-area facility is needed to relieve pressure on the Columbus facility and Summit Behavioral Healthcare in Cincinnati.
“As the governor highlighted during (Friday’s) capital budget bill signing, building a statewide system of supports for Ohioans facing mental health remains one of his top priorities,” Tierney said.
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