Duluth mental health crisis team is funded one more year after mayor proposes cut

DULUTH — Mayor Roger Reinert has reconsidered his decision to cut funding to a mental health crisis response team, voicing support to pay for one more year of the program that is intended to shift such calls within the city away from police.

The Duluth City Council unanimously approved funding for one more year Monday night, after a groundswell of public support for the team.

Reinert’s 2025 budget proposal excludes $600,000 for the program, as the three-year contract the city has with crisis response team operator Human Development Center (HDC) expires this year. City administrator David Montgomery said at a recent public meeting the initial decision was made because administration didn’t think the program was in the city’s lane, suggesting it was the duty of entities with human services divisions like St. Louis County.

Some councilors scrambled to find alternate funding outside of the general fund that wouldn’t increase the proposed property tax levy.

Reinert wrote in an email to councilors that he believes the crisis team does valuable work, but “we need to protect the property tax levy” and “we need to be thoughtful about the tax pressure residents are feeling and voicing.”

On Monday, councilors stressed the continuance of the program, while finding money outside of city coffers to help sustain it.

“I still believe in that model, and I think it has gone a long way in helping with freeing up resources for our police department,” said Councilor Arik Forsman, who worked on efforts to secure money for the program in 2021. “And I think there’s a long-term path here for good collaboration” between the county and HDC.

Duluth Fire Chief Shawn Krizaj said recently that when it comes to mental health calls, the team’s work has reduced pressure on both the police and fire departments.

The team is made up of unarmed staff who are trained to de-escalate situations and create safe spaces for those in crisis. They still work with police in situations that warrant it but the intervention work, advocates say, diverts people from emergency departments and has helped several thousand people each of the last two years. The contract was first approved in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd.

Crisis team director Michael Furo said the team is part of a larger trained group that serves a broader area, but those designated to Duluth on any given night respond to mental health calls with screenings and visits, and perform outreach at the Chum homeless shelter and other places where vulnerable people gather. Outreach helps them build relationships, he said, and they often hand out water, rain ponchos, sunscreen and snacks.

Angel Dobrow is part of a community advisory group that oversees the team. She said it’s wise for the city to buy time, but it should aim to be holistic with services.

“If you or a family member is in the middle of a mental health crisis, you’re not going to [care] whether your potholes got filled,” she said. “You want some care. People have this idea that city services are, you know, very specific to the roads and the police. I think we need to soften that and be more encompassing about how we care for each other.”

Duluth resident John Powers wrote to City Council that it “seems for an administration focused on ‘hard’ city services, there is a blind spot in its decision-making process that fails to see and/or appreciate the essential need for ‘soft’ services in making Duluth a vibrant community.”

St. Louis County spokeswoman Dana Kazel said the county had only recently learned of the proposal and has asked to be part of conversations about the program.

The bulk of funding for HDC in 2025 will come from money recovered via a collections error related to a housing development overseen by the Duluth Housing and Redevelopment Authority.