AUGUSTA -- The search is on for a mental-health programs expert who can tell whether the state can provide services to an estimated 12,000 severely mentally ill people despite recent budget cuts.

The monitor would have access to state records and employees, providers and recipients of adult mental health services under an order issued earlier this month by Superior Court Justice Nancy Mills.

Mills ordered Court Master Daniel Wathen to nominate a monitor "to assess in a detailed manner the funding of the adult mental health system for 2007-08 and thereafter."

Once hired, the monitor has six months to report what it would cost to provide the services to comply with the terms of a 1990 consent agreement setting the parameters for the state's care of mentally ill patients. The agreement came as a result of a class-action lawsuit at the then-Augusta Mental Health Institute after a series of deaths at the state psychiatric hospital.

Wathen oversees the consent decree, which governs how the state cares for the mentally ill.

Helen Bailey, an attorney with the Disability Rights Center of Maine who represents the class members, said the monitor would help the Rights Center understand the budget and see what services have been purchased for whom.

"This is somebody whom I see as really being an expert," Bailey said. "There may be people out there who have those skills sets wrapped up in one person."

"My position is not enough services are being provided (to meet the terms of the consent decree)," Bailey said. "I don't know how that translates into people and dollars."

She said she is concerned that some people may lose services if their income is too high.

On May 16, Mills heard officials of the Office of Adult Mental Health Services say budget cuts would not affect services to people covered under the consent decree.

Documents presented at that time show that approximately $125 million was appropriated from the state's General Fund for the total adult mental health services for fiscal year 2009.

The department's presentation came after Mills ordered the department to show why it should not be held in contempt for "failure to seek and obtain adequate funding necessary for a comprehensive adult mental health system."

In her order, Mills wrote, "The court has no mechanism at this time to obtain detailed and accurate information about the funding of the adult mental health system and the impact of that funding on the defendants' ability to achieve substantial compliance with the terms of the Consent Agreement."

Wathen said those covered under the terms of the consent decree currently are an estimated 12,000 people who have severe and persistent mental illness.

Katherine Greason, an assistant attorney general who represents the state Department of Health and Human Services, said the state department maintains it can provide needed services.

Under the terms of the agreement, the department provides periodic reports to the court master, with the next one due on Friday.

Betty Adams -- 621-5631

badams@centralmaine.com