Boulder County starts allocating $40 million mental-health tax budget but delays final decisions

Boulder County commissioners on June 18 began dividing up the county’s new 2026-2028 mental and behavioral health sales and use tax budget, a plan county budget materials said is expected to direct about $40 million over three years.

But the board did not finish the spending plan that day. During the public hearing, commissioners approved some line items and deferred other decisions to a later hearing, with staff recommending a continuation the following week as part of a quarterly budget amendment process, the meeting record shows.

The June 18 hearing was a decision item on proposed 2026, 2027 and 2028 budgets for the voter-approved tax, according to the commissioners' agenda packet. Commissioners and staff walked through proposed allocations for residential or other treatment services, homeless case management, school-based youth services, sober living, navigation and crisis intervention, and several competitive grant pools.

Among the proposed allocations discussed June 18 were:

• $3.3 million in 2026 for treatment services that staff initially described as inpatient and intensive outpatient care, with the same base budget projected in 2027 and 2028.
• $1.025 million in 2026 for adult homeless case management tied to permanent supportive housing, with continuation in later years.
• $200,000 in 2026 for case management and clinical support for homeless young adults ages 18 to 25 in supportive housing, also described as an ongoing base budget.
• $1.6 million in 2026 for in-school youth services, split evenly between Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley school districts, with the same base budget proposed for 2027 and 2028.
• $400,000 in 2026 for residential treatment and sober living, with ongoing funding proposed in later years.
• No local-dollar spending in 2026 for navigation and crisis intervention because those positions were still supported by federal funds through the end of the year; staff said local funding would start in 2027 at about $1.5 million and rise in 2028.
• A $5.1 million competitive funding bucket for services including outpatient care, peer supports, prevention and innovative services.

The hearing record identified several named providers or agencies tied to the proposal, including Clinica Family Health & Wellness, All Roads, Boulder Valley School District, St. Vrain Valley School District and Hazelbrook.

One of the sharpest disputes centered on the Clinica proposal. Staff initially described that request as funding for inpatient and intensive outpatient treatment, but commissioners questioned whether that was accurate because Clinica does not operate a hospital-style inpatient unit. During the hearing, a provider said the expansion was better described as high-acuity residential treatment, and one commissioner said the budget language should simply describe it as residential care so the distinction would be clear.