Sangamon County, Illinois voters will decide on March 17 whether to establish a dedicated mental health board funded by a 0.5% sales tax increase, which would apply an additional 5 cents per $10 of goods purchased. Two-thirds of counties in Illinois have already approved such boards, known as 708 boards after the enabling legislation. The proposed tax would generate approximately $14.7 million annually and would not apply to groceries or medicine.
Long waitlists plague mental health care access in Sangamon County. The Sangamon County Mental Health Commission, formed in 2024, recommended creating a 708 board after assessing community need. The commission’s final report emphasizes gaps in care including insufficient co-response teams pairing social workers with police, limited housing opportunities, and inadequate psychiatric bed capacity. The commission suggested sharing space with the county’s Department of Public Health to minimize overhead.
Supporters emphasize that a 708 mental health board does not provide services directly but coordinates funding and strengthens the network of existing providers. Federal and international analyses show that money invested in mental health care reduces emergency calls, hospital visits, jail bookings, and court costs. Overdose deaths in Sangamon County outpace other kinds of incidental deaths, including homicides and accidents. Springfield has experienced significant reductions in psychiatric care capacity over recent years, with only 38 psychiatric beds available at Memorial Health, the city’s only inpatient psychiatric unit.
A 2024 Community Health Needs Assessment by Memorial Health surveyed 850 people and found that more than three-fourths of respondents were women, and over half reported someone with mental illness in their household. Only two other county mental health boards nationwide—McHenry and Winnebago—are funded through sales taxes. In 2024, McHenry County voters approved switching from property tax to sales tax funding. Winnebago County voters overwhelmingly approved its sales tax referendum in 2020 with about 62% voting in favor.
This article is an AI-assisted summary. All facts and figures are drawn from the original report: https://www.illinoistimes.com/news/a-desert-for-mental-health-care/