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Mental health commitments will continue in Skagit County, at least for now, despite the county prosecutor’s initial threat to pull his staff from the hearings on July 1.

Prosecutor Rich Weyrich agreed to continue staffing the hearings until July 10, when the board of directors of the North Sound Mental Health Administration holds its next meeting.

The five counties on the board need to reach agreement on how to fund the commitments going forward, North Sound Executive Director Chuck Benjamin said.

“It just hinges on what the board decides and ultimately what the counties decide to do,” Benjamin said.

Weyrich informed Benjamin on June 9 that his office would no longer take part in the hearings beginning July 1, because Weyrich could not justify spending money on out-of-county patients who are to be committed in Skagit County.

The county holds about 800 commitment hearings a year, most for patients who live outside the county but are committed to state-run facilities here.

Weyrich referred to the program as an “unfunded mandate” ordered by the state that should be staffed by the state Attorney General’s Office.