Community mental health and substance abuse experts started meeting again in July after a brief hiatus to talk about McLean County residents’ most pressing behavioral health needs. But county conversations on the spending of Bloomington and Normal taxpayer dollars set aside for initiatives to help curb the issues didn’t resume until August.
The newly-formed Mental Health and Public Safety Fund Advisory Council [FAC] — named after the fund the shared sales tax dollars create — had its inaugural meeting on Monday, when members adopted bylaws, selected a chair and approved that $1.5 million go toward new behavioral health initiatives in 2025.
Dollars are supposed to support projects related to public awareness and education about services, increasing access to services for vulnerable populations, increasing shelter space with integrated behavioral health services, bolstering workforce recruitment and retention efforts and creating a group to explore interagency data collection standards.
These are the five areas the Behavioral Health Coordinating Council [BHCC] — an independent body dedicated to identifying behavioral health needs — selected for focus between now and 2025. The group selects focus areas annually going forward and there can be overlap with years previous if an area is still lacking.
McLean County Administrator Cassy Taylor said at the FAC meeting the proposed budget was drafted before the BHCC identified these key areas. She called the $1.5 million a “very preliminary number.”
However, the FAC approved it without adjustments.
McLean County Board member and FAC member Susan Schafer said the group can always amend the budget at a later date if, for example, the “BHCC all of a sudden comes back and says, ‘Hey, we really need FAC to meet, because there's this new priority’” that needs attention.
There was no discussion about any immediate need to adjust the $1.5 million, which would have required an immediate meeting to be scheduled for the county budget process to stay on track. The FAC is only required to meet once annually, in particular, to do the required budget approval. This meeting fulfills the group’s responsibilities for the year.
However, another meeting will be scheduled in September because members — including the newly appointed chair of the group and Bloomington City Council member Donna Boelen — are interested in making some changes. FAC members voted to approve the bylaws as-is Monday since it was necessary to conduct business but expressed a desire for updates at the meeting.
The rest of the meeting was largely dedicated to outlining the group’s role in the county and with the BHCC. There were several questions about process, and Normal Town Council member and FAC member Kevin McCarthy raised a question about the sustainability of current spending of the shared sales tax fund in question.
He pointed out that the suggested dollars for new behavioral health projects in 2025 exceed the amount of sales tax dollars that are expected to come in. Taylor said that value is ordinarily around $1.2 million each year, with a chunk of overall sales tax dollars going toward other buckets as well.
“Looking at this budget and this level of spend, we wouldn't be able to do that on an annual basis if our budget is as we're looking at it now,” McCarthy said.
Meanwhile, the budget still needs the McLean County Board’s sign-off. That’s scheduled to happen in October, following the traditional process.
