Tax may be in store to fund mental health

The Boone County Mental Health Board of Trustees is exploring funding options, including a tax, to fill mental health service gaps outlined by a 2004 needs assessment. But the board is still trying to identify what groups of people should be on the receiving end of the funding.

Approaches the board is considering include a children’s services fund and a fund for new and existing community mental health centers.

The community fund would be financed by a county property tax of up to 40 cents per $100 assessed valuation.

The children’s fund would provide services such as counseling, crisis intervention and prevention programs for children and their families. Under this option, the board is considering a property tax of up to 25 cents per $100 assessed valuation or a one-fourth of a cent sales tax.

“We’re still debating on whether we will move forward with an initiative or with grants,” said Northern District Commissioner Skip Elkin, who is also on the Mental Health Board. In addition to a possible tax, Elkin said, the board is also considering other funding options.

The advisory board would have to submit its eventual proposal to the Boone County Commission for approval; the board has discussed a possible ballot issue for April 2007.

The Boone County Mental Health Needs Assessment, published in March 2004, offers recommendations about gaps and problems in mental health services. The assessment reported that 61.5 percent of the mental health agencies surveyed said that reductions in state funding have significantly affected the availability of their services.

The assessment also outlined a list of priorities that includes a slew of recommendations for children’s services: medication management, adolescent substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation and additional acute and intensive psychiatric treatment.

In fall 2005, a group of residents approached the board with the two funding suggestions. Gloria Crull, executive director of the Family Health Center and one of the people involved, said those at the meeting thought there would be benefits if the funding focused on children.

“I think as a community we have a moral obligation to children to identify the resources that are needed to provide them the care they need,” Crull said. She said that a fund earmarked for children would offer more services and additional availability.

“It’s very important that you intervene early on if you have a child with mental health needs,” Crull said. “Delivering care to a child has an impact on the whole family unit and medical community.”

The Mental Health Board’s next regular meeting is at 4:15 p.m. on July 10 in Room 220 at the Roger B. Wilson County Government Center at 801 E. Walnut St.