A state law requires counties to pay 50 percent of the cost for individuals ordered by courts to receive psychiatric examinations and observations as well as young individuals ordered by Family Court to go through evaluation at the state psychiatric facility.

Typically, Chautauqua County budgets $25,000 to pay its share. That was fine in 2012 and 2013, when the program cost the county $11,500 and $19,000, respectively. In 2014, the county spent $40,000. The county has already spent $111,000, and Audit and Control Committee members approved a resolution to appropriate $175,000 from the county’s fund balance to pay the expected bill for 2015.

Pat Brinkman, county mental hygiene director, is also working with judges to explore alternatives to reduce the county’s cost, but those discussions will take time to bring to fruition. The Conference of Mental Hygiene Directors has long advocated for the state to pay the entire cost, which is only fair if the state is mandating the examinations and observations. The state could likely afford a chunk of the cost for court-mandated examinations and evaluations if it stopped spending money on tax breaks to entice production companies to make movies and television shows in New York state, wasting money advertising Start-UP NY or having to pay legal bills for crooked state legislators.

It is these sort of wastes of money that frustrate local officials who deal with mandates that, while a small part of a state budget, can break a local budget dealing with the state’s tax cap -particularly in a year when the tax cap allows a .73 percent tax increase.