Social workers and mental health providers informed the county's Mental Health Commission earlier this month about the possible ways they could benefit from dedicated funding and planning from a community mental health board.
The vast majority of counties in Illinois have these boards, which approve funding for local social service organizations through some form of tax revenue. The boards, which are also known as 708 Boards, provide a more consistent avenue for mental health providers to fund their work when compared to applying for fixed state or federal grants.
While grants regularly prop up nonprofit organizations, 708 Boards – which are named after the decades-old Illinois bill-turned-law to grant the creation of such boards through a public vote – can stabilize nonprofit funding for public mental health services and related efforts. Tony Kirkman, executive director of Piatt County's Mental Health Center, told Illinois Times the 708 Board formed in Piatt County less than a year ago has already begun to pay dividends for mental health professionals.
"Most of the other counties around us have had these in place for years – understanding that that's how you maintain access to care," Kirkman said. "It allows you to forecast and to budget so much more easily, to establish community partners because you know you're going to be around. There are just a lot of benefits of having a sustainable revenue source because we're already stretched thin, personnel-wise."
Kirkman said Piatt County ended up funding its mental health board through a 0.10% property tax increase, which translates to $100 in additional property taxes for the owner of a $300,000 home. Winnebago County set up its mental health board through a half-cent sales tax on all purchases over $100.
Sangamon County Mental Health Commission
The recently formed Sangamon County Mental Health Commission – a separate short-term entity formed by the Sangamon County Board earlier this year – is set to share a report with the County Board by December. At the commission's August hearing, a broad range of voices supported the idea of Sangamon County creating a mental health board to help fill gaps in care for a number of county residents.
Springfield police officer Chris Jones, a member of the county mental health commission, said the department's co-response model with Memorial Health is funded through a federal grant. Jones also emphasized that grant funding is responsible for a lot of Sangamon County's mental health network.
"Over the past five months, we've heard about all the great programs here in Sangamon County, but they're grant-funded. The 708 Board would sustain, and create stability for these programs here in Sangamon County, to continue and to expand," he said.
Federal grants are expected to decrease over the next few years as the Trump administration has attempted to freeze various avenues of government spending, spurring lawsuits from both beneficiaries and watchdogs.
Barbara Wheatley, lead clinician for Memorial Health's mobile crisis response unit, told the commission the county could benefit from a dedicated co-response team.
One social worker from Auburn Community School District 10 told the commission that they could use more reliable transportation methods to get students to see counselors in Springfield.
"We work real closely with the Lincoln Prairie (Behavioral Health Center) outpatient program for our students, but they do not provide transportation to Auburn, so they won't pick our kids up," said Melissa Warwick, a school district social worker.
Warwick, who has a caseload of almost 250 students, said there was no dedicated transportation for children to get to Lincoln Prairie Behavioral Health Center, a roughly 20-minute drive from Auburn.
"There are agencies that will go to Auburn and pick up, but they're not reliable. We've got families that call the number and set it up for the date and time, and then the car is a no-show, and then the family has then missed their appointment," she said. "If you miss one or two appointments, you're bumped from the list, and then they lost their counseling spot."
Mid-Illinois Medical District Commission
Brian McFadden, Sangamon County administrator and a member of the Mid-Illinois Medical District Commission, said at August's MIMD meeting that a property or sales tax increase could provide a mental health board between $7 million and $8 million a year. He also told the Commission he'll be presenting more on expected revenue at next month's mental health commission meeting.
Champaign County, which has a similar population size to Sangamon, distributed almost $6 million to mental health programs and services through its 708 Board last year.
Ryan Croke, president of the Mid-Illinois Medical District Commission, seemed positive about progress in the months since the County Board decided to place a referendum for the March 2026 primary election.
"I think there's really good community leadership consensus that this is the right thing to do," said Croke, who works for the state as the first assistant deputy governor for health and human services.
"Voters of (Sangamon) County will have an opportunity to fund mental health services in a way that many other counties – Christian, Macon and lots of others – have been doing, in some cases, for decades."
