How to Open the eNewspaper
Tap the eNewspaper icon at the bottom right of the app screen.
USA TODAY
FREMONT – In a head-spinning reversal, at least $3.5 million in substance abuse and mental health assistance grants that were cut Jan. 13 have been restored in Sandusky County.
There is relief at Sandusky County Public Health and the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wyandot counties, the local agency that handles mental health services. A federal notice arrived Jan. 15, informing their directors that the lost funding has now been restored.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration restored two multi-year grants, $1.5 million for public health and $2 million for the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Seneca, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wyandot counties.
“In recent years, SAMSHA awards have helped to cut overdose deaths by half in some of these counties,” Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, said. “These federal funding partnerships help get critical resources to both urban inner cities and vast rural areas, both of which I represent, that otherwise could not afford these crucial services. The cancellation, and sudden reversal of these awards shows a lack of forethought, and has caused real anxiety in many of the areas I represent. The Administration’s erratic disregard for the people working back, often from lifetime struggles, is shameful.”
Calls were also made to Senators Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno about their efforts to reinstate the funds. Any responses will be updated.
“This correspondence serves as official notice that the termination of your federal award, previously communicated on January 13, 2026, pursuant to 2 C.F.R. 200.3409a)(4), is hereby rescinded,” SAMHSA noted. “Your award will remain active under its original terms and conditions. Please disregard the prior termination notice and continue program activities as outlined in your award agreement.”
Both Public Health Director Bethany Brown and Mental Health Board Director Mircea Handru were in the process of alerting other agencies, in each county they work with, about the funding loss and its effects.
Both said that staff cuts were possible.
“It was a very odd development. No phone call. No notice ahead, just that ‘you are terminated, effective today.’ Then, within [a day], we get a paragraph saying to ‘forget what we said the other day,’” Handru said. “We are going to sort everything out. We were sending out notices yesterday because we have binding contracts. Now, today, I have to send out something rescinding everything I sent out yesterday. It’s just a lot of unnecessary work. It’s just very poor planning.”
With the reinstatement of funds, the Mental Health Board is funded at least until September.
“It was definitely disruptive,” Handru said. “Hopefully, we don’t get more news after this. Hopefully, they don’t send us another change, but it appears that everything is being reinstated, so funding will continue.”
The cuts, and feelings of relief, are echoed by the public health department.
“Yesterday was a rough day, trying to figure out what we were going to do. Now, it’s rescinded and we’re very, very happy about that,” Brown said.
Brown said that her termination letter came in at 10 p.m. Jan. 13 via email, with a follow-up at 2 a.m. Jan. 14.
Public health had another four years left in its annual $375,000 grant used for prevention efforts around opiates and other substance abuse. The department also mentors four other counties with prevention efforts. Loss of the funds would have also affected Ottawa, Wyandotte, Huron and Seneca counties.
“This would have been a big hit; not just to our county, but to those other four counties as well,” Brown said.
Public health also receives funds from the Mental Health Board, about $50,000.
“We got with each of our contracts because we have contracts with each county, and we had a Zoom call and basically told them all that yesterday, all of our contracts would be terminated. Internally, we were starting to look at how we were going to shift around staff,” Brown said. “We appreciate that it was rescinded and appreciate the agencies and representatives that went to bat for us in [Washington, DC] to get that changed.”
Brown noted that it was disruptive for her staff and the counties they work with, but it also disrupted the programs, if only for a day and a half.
“Our main concern is for the programs we provide for the community and making sure that those programs continue, because we still see substance abuse and opiate abuse in our small rural communities, so those prevention efforts are really needed, and a key service we provide,” Brown said.
She pointed out that the programs have shown success, with opiate deaths continuing to drop in their service area.
Both public health and the mental health board are returning to regular work.
Nationally, mental health and addiction agencies appear to have lost and regained grant funding from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, which is run under Health and Human Services, totaling an estimated $2 billion.
419-332-2674
