A county crisis team that connects Farmington-area overdose survivors and people in mental health emergencies to treatment could shut down by the end of September unless Oakland County commissioners approve roughly $250,000 in new funding.

The Crisis Response Unit, staffed by one sergeant and two deputies from the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, lost its federal funding in the first half of 2025. Commissioners approved bridge funding for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, and they face the same choice again this fall.

The deadline is Sept. 30.

Sheriff Mike Bouchard told commissioners at their Aug. 4 meeting that his office cannot absorb the cost.

"Ultimately, we don't have bodies sitting around. We run very lean, so we don't have people where we can say, 'Oh OK, we can just take that person and put them there,'" Bouchard said, according to the Detroit News. "Because whatever they were doing then doesn't get done."

The unit works in partnership with the Oakland Community Health Network to follow up with people who received Narcan after an overdose and connect them with addiction and mental health services. That network embeds mental health clinicians across 20 local communities countywide. Farmington and Farmington Hills, as Oakland County communities, fall within the county's crisis response infrastructure.

Commission Finance Chairwoman Gwen Markham, a Novi Democrat, told the Detroit News that commissioners will "probably" fund the unit for another year. As of Aug. 18, they were still discussing where the money would come from.

The sheriff's office has also applied for a $375,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice, but that application had not been approved as of the same date.

Commissioner Angela Powell, a Pontiac Democrat, said the unit is reducing jail populations and bringing resources directly to people in crisis. She cited rising homelessness in Oakland County cities including Pontiac and Royal Oak as a reason the program remains essential. Commission Vice Chair Marcia Gershenson, a West Bloomfield Democrat, said multiple county department heads have cited the unit's value.

Bouchard described a case in which the unit followed up with an overdose survivor, found the person had overdosed again and saved their life a second time.

No specific commission meeting date for a budget vote on the unit's future has been announced, but commissioners must act before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.