Spokane County commissioners and local mental health care providers are bracing for drastic cuts.

State and federal cuts have left Spokane County $7.5 million short, about 25 percent of the local regional support network’s annual budget, said Spokane County Commissioner Mark Richard.

Such a shortfall will severely affect local programs, eliminating 150-300 jobs and leaving thousands of mental health patients without adequate treatment, said Richard, who is leading the fight to get the funding restored.

But Washington Department of Social and Health Services officials see the situation differently.

“We just can’t come to terms with that. We can’t see where they’re getting an actual cut,” said Dave Daniels, operations chief for DSHS’s mental health division.

DSHS officials said Spokane County is getting more from the state than it did last year.

“They actually came out about $400,000 ahead,” said Daniels.

Even so, DSHS staff will meet with regional support networks to discuss the situation.

“Gov. Gregoire wants to sort this out and resolve these issues,” said Ed Penhale, spokesman for the governor’s office.

So does DSHS, said MaryAnne Lindeblad, interim director for the mental health division.

“We’re in the middle of that process right now,” Lindeblad said, adding, “We’re trying to understand what’s going on.”

DSHS has scheduled an Aug. 11 meeting with regional support networks to discuss the issue.

But in the meantime, Spokane County mental health care providers said they’re facing a dire situation.

State funding pays for counseling for 525 people at Lutheran Community Services, said Heike Lake, program director for outpatient counseling. About 75 percent of those clients are children.

“About 95 percent of our consumers are coming here because they have experienced some form of traumatic event or events, like sexual assault and domestic violence,” Lake said.

And many of those children are acting out themselves, which means cuts to their care could lead to more victims.

“It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is a crisis to our system,” Lake said.

What both the county and DSHS agree on is that DSHS changed the funding formula outlined in state legislation designed to help local governments address federal funding cuts. As a result, Spokane ended up getting less than it would have had under the original plan passed by the state Legislature.