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citizen per month. This is a generous allotment. There has been no contract signed yet. This would be a little over $5 million. This means that service funds would be handled entirely separately from administration. Currently, all State and Medicaid rates include an administrative portion. This will be clean and separate. It also means that the County contribution, it appears, will not be required for administrative support but for services support. The new governance structure is under development and there is an inter-local agreement in draft farm between the three counties. The organization will be governed by the new structure. Commissioner Brown said that the new structure will be the three County Managers, three County Commissioners, and the OPC Board will become an advisory board to the new entity. Tom Maynard said that the one big change is how the State pays them. They have to find about $3 million a month to make ends meet. The State has delayed payments 30-45 days. He said that they have had to hustle to pay their bills. The way they get paid from the State has changed, but also the service definition manual has changed and it will make a difference in what they get paid to do by the State. The good news is that the new definitions allow them to get paid for services that they have wanted to provide (children with severe mental health problems, in-home support, outreach support, better medication management, and improved crisis services). They cannot develop a budget for next year until they get the service rates. The downside is that some of the old things will go away. The threat was that they would have a cessation of funding for developmental day services, sheltered workshops, and outpatient services except by licensed people. Yesterday they learned that the State has decided to postpone the developmental day issue and the sheltered workshop issue for at least a year. Regarding divestiture of services, they have started with programs where there is high gain and low negative impact. Regarding their institutional downsizing, they have had targets for getting people out of institutions, and this year they paid $500 per day for everyone in the institution over their quota. This is a big risk. Chair Jacobs asked how many people Orange County served for mental health and Tom Maynard said over 3,000. There is a higher distribution of services to people with severe disabilities. Commissioner Brown gave some history of the OPC mental health system. She said that the two walk-in clinics were the fundamental access points. She thinks the State is interested in having LME to divest of all of these programs and put them out to bid to for-profit corporations, which would break apart the programs of OPC. A lot of counties have divested all of their programs. She finds this appalling and something that OPC would not want to do. She wants to take responsibility for our citizens and maintain the clinics. Tom Maynard said that same parts of divestiture are good, but people also want continuity. They also want to strengthen the crisis program. Commissioner Halkiotis asked what happens in the five-county area that divested their programs and how people access private providers. Commissioner Brown said that there is going to be a toll free number to give out this information. Commissioner Brown said that this is the discontinuing of the 1960's public mental health system. OPC has established a sliding scale funding process, so anyone with any income can access the system and can afford to get help. The reform eliminates this sliding scale, and this upsets her. OPC is trying not to lose it. Jahn Link said that the concept is that through the Lead Management Entity {LME), the three counties will continue to work together. When they look at and evaluate each county's needs and there is a particular need or service, this is where they need to put in some of the Human Services Safety Net funding. He said that they are trying to be deliberate in making sure that no services are discontinued or that any employees are discontinued. He said that the specific item this board needs to address is that the implementation date be later than July 1, 2004. The Board needs to ask the legislative delegation to move this date back.