Public Defender Steve Smith said another entity needs to take over funding the new Mental Health Court.
He said Criminal Court Judge Don Poole has agreed to oversee the court and will make a budget presentation to the County Commission on May 31.
Mr. Smith told members of the Pachyderm Club on Monday that he has been funding the program through the services of Anna Protano Biggs of his staff along with a second individual.
"The program is very successful, but I just can't continue to do that," he said.
The proposal is for Ms. Biggs to leave his office and oversee the program with an $80,000 salary. She would be assisted by a case manager and a peer support specialist. The total cost would be $280,000.
The peer support specialist would be someone who has overcome mental issues and could inspire others with his or her example, it was stated.
Mr. Smith said, since the program started in July 2015 under Judge Poole and General Sessions Court Judge Lila Statom, it has brought significant savings to the county.
He said a study of 81 individuals who went through the court found that 50 of those had not been arrested since they were released to the care of mental health professionals and put on the proper medications. He said the 50 had a total of 752 previous arrests, which he said cost over $3 million in jail costs - not counting medication the county has to supply.
Mr. Smith said, "The jail was not set up to be a mental health hospital, but about 40 percent of those in the jail have some sort of mental health issue."
The speaker said those with mental problems "typically stay in jail eight times longer than those without mental issues and cost seven times more than the average person."
He said his office is currently able to handle all the cases assigned to it, though it gets much less funding than Knoxville. However, he said in coming years it might not be able to keep up at the current level of appropriations.
He said he was "shocked" to learn that Knoxville is spending $521 per case, whereas his office is doing it for $173 per case.
Knoxville is getting $5.3 million in total funding, while his office receives $2.67 million.
Mr. Smith said, in addition to budget issues, his office should not be overseeing the mental health court because it is currently making the decision of who gets in the court. He said someone else should be making those decisions.