Denton County would pay Denton County MHMR Center up to $2.3 million this fiscal year for mental health, substance use and disability services under an agreement set for a vote at Tuesday's Commissioners Court meeting.
The social services agreement, which runs from Oct. 1, 2026, through Sept. 30, 2027, divides the money four ways:
- $760,000 for the center's Crisis Residential Unit
- $630,000 for its Substance Use Disorder Program
- $480,000 for mental health outpatient and crisis services
- $430,000 for intellectual and developmental disability services
The court already approved the amount when it adopted the county's 2027 social services budget, according to a memo from Assistant District Attorney Linda Puckett. The agreement itself still needs the court's approval.
The memo calls it a one-time grant and says agencies must be approved for funding again each budget year; the contract adds that this year's deal does not commit the county to any future funding.
Paid by the service
The county does not hand over the money up front. MHMR, the public community center based on Scripture Street in Denton, bills monthly for services it delivered the month before, with vouchers due by the 20th, and is reimbursed at rates set out in an exhibit to the contract. The county will not pay more than the $2.3 million ceiling.
That exhibit lists the volume and average cost of each service. Adult crisis services, for example, appear as 6,343 client events at an average of $355.10 each, and adult pharmacological management, the medication side of psychiatric care, as 11,760 events at $125.99. Routine case management for adults shows 11,014 events at $137.83.
The services covered include 24-hour crisis response, case management for adults and children, outpatient counseling, psychiatric care and medication management, liaison work with state hospitals, local psychiatric bed days, and, for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, eligibility decisions, service coordination, residential and respite care and job training.
