After talks of cuts and compromises, Metro Council members are set to vote on a budget Tuesday night and it doesn't include new funding for Centerstone's addiction and mental illness program.
"It seems like an inexplicable decision on our part. I mean, it’s been very successful. It has a lot of support from other parts of metro government and yet they chose not to fund it," Chris Finzer said.
He is a member of Citizens of Louisville Organized and United Together, or CLOUT. He's worried Centerstone's program, The Living Room, will be eliminated if funding isn't restored. It offers alternatives to jail and hospitals and Finzer says it helped 3,000 people over the past few months.
"They've been able to divert 98 percent of them from the criminal justice system or higher levels or expenses of care," he told WHAS11 News.
The budget proposal also calls for the city's Youth Detention Services to be turned over to the state. However, the secretary of the state's Justice and Public Safety Cabinet says those children wouldn't stay in Jefferson County. "You've hit us mid-budget year. We simply don't have the resources to do it and the reason is we can't staff it. Louisville pays significantly more for staff than we are allotted in our budget to pay for it," Secretary John Tilley said.
Terry Brooks, of Kentucky Youth Advocates, says a better outcome could possibly be reached if other local agencies, including the faith community, get involved. The alternatives include moving children to different centers across the state.
"We as a community have to find ways to hold these kids locally or we are going to lose that very important element where parents are part of that solution of changing the trajectory of that young men and women's lives,' Brooks said.
The city would save $1 million by not fully funding the Living Room program. By turning over Youth Detention to the state, the city would save about $1.3 million.
The city had to trim about $25 million this fiscal year in part to make up for its pension obligations.
Contact reporter Robert Bradfield at rbradfield@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.