The General Assembly has withheld $4.9 million from the budget of the state's Developmental Disabilities Administration because of a failure to submit a detailed plan on the Sykesville Secure Evaluation and Therapeutic Treatment program -- which is scheduled to move into the Muncie Building on the campus of Springfield Hospital this month.

An Oct. 24 letter by the General Assembly's joint appropriation chairmen said that a report on the SETT program "does provide details on the new forensic units at Jessup and Sykesville, (but) fails to provide any detail of how much the plan will cost to implement."

The General Assembly placed language in its fiscal 2009 budget bill for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, which oversees the DDA, that the department must complete a report by July 1 that details its plans for the Sykesville program and Rosewood Center residents.

However, a four-page plan was not submitted until Sept. 18.

Senate Budget and Taxation Committee chairman Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Dist. 25) of District Heights and House Appropriations Committee chairman Del. Norman Conway (D-Dist. 38B) of Salisbury wrote in a joint letter that the plan doesn't pass the requirement. That move denies a recommendation by the Department of Legislative Services to release the $4.9 million.

The joint chairmen also found that the DDA over-budgeted for space. The DDA requested funds for 50 beds while combined, both Sykesville and a related Jessup program will have just 32 beds.

Further complicating the matter, because the courts make the final decision whether a person is placed in a court-committed program or a group home, the administration might not have enough beds, the chairmen wrote.

The chairmen said the Department of Health is also behind in developing a plan and finding placements of non-court committed Rosewood Center residents.

The Health Department has not responded to the joint chairmen's letter, said Renata Henry, deputy secretary for behavioral health and disabilities.

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