Mental Health Board

The 708 Mental Health Board (MHB) was approved by voters in 2020. In 2025, it has a $500,000 budget. This money goes to grants to providers who offer mental health, addictions, and intellectual delay treatment for residents of Dundee Township. If there is a balance the resident can’t pay after insurance, Medicaid, or Medicare has paid in, the provider may use the grant money to cover that difference. That’s called being a payer of last resort. The MHB also supports the Ride-in-Kane service for older adults and people with disabilities.

The $500,000 funding is less than half of what the needs assessment recommended. At a recent budget meeting, two trustees discussed reducing that number by at least $100,000. That’s not acceptable. Even though the MHB gave out $344,900 in grants in 2024 and has a surplus, the surplus is only the current number. It must last until the next round of property taxes comes in. It only gets more complicated from there. In short, there needs to be more funding for real growth.

In order for the MHB to thrive, it has to show enough funding to attract more service providers. There also needs to be more outreach from the MHB to potential providers who might want to seek grants. If providers never hear of the MHB, let alone available grants, they can’t access it.