Plumas County behavioral health director warns of 'shoestring' staffing, urges 20–25% pay boost to recruit therapists

Sharon, director of the county behavioral health department, told the Plumas County Behavioral Health Commission that the department has been operating with critically low staffing for several years and urged the commission to press the Board of Supervisors for immediate pay increases to recruit and retain therapists.

"This is critical staffing. We're at a shoestring level... we cannot sustain this going forward," Sharon said, describing an allocation of nine therapist positions with only about 3.25 in-person therapists filled and additional reliance on telehealth contractors. She said telehealth increases nominal capacity but is more expensive "because the contracts for telehealth therapists are exorbitant."

Sharon described operational consequences: the county lacks in-person female therapists to meet client choice requirements, mobile crisis outreach is limited by staff shortages, and multiple case-manager and clerical positions are vacant. She said the county has depended on telehealth and on-call rotations to keep services available but that staff are burning out and resigning.

To address recruitment, Sharon recommended increasing therapist wages by at least 20% and up to 25%—a change she said would raise a $30/hour starting wage to about $36/hour and make local offers more competitive. "Even with a 25% raise... we can sustain that amount," she said, adding that the department had checked billing assumptions and expected the increase to be supportable through program revenue rather than the general fund.

Commissioners pressed for specifics Sharon could present to the Board of Supervisors, including any state-mandated minimums for behavioral-health workers. One commissioner said having a clear state figure would strengthen the board presentation; Sharon said she did not have that number at the meeting and would seek it for the board briefing.

Sharon also described procedural obstacles to quickly changing job descriptions and wages: job-description updates are funneled through county counsel and must clear a meet-and-confer process with unions; some updates can only be submitted in January. She said the county council and union process had slowed earlier efforts to modernize job descriptions, complicating hiring.

The commission did not take formal action on a wage proposal at the meeting. Sharon said she planned to present the staffing data and wage request to the Board of Supervisors and asked commissioners for feedback to refine the cover memo and emphasis for the board packet. The commission agreed to continue the discussion at the next meeting so staff could supply requested details and the board presentation could be prepared.