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Knox County mental health board discusses levy, sets members' terms

The Register-Mail - 6/10/2017

June 10--GALESBURG -- The Knox County 708 Mental Health Board may ask for its full tax levy to help fund mental health agencies and services, in case the Illinois General Assembly passes a property tax freeze in the near future.

Board Chairman Greg Bacon brought up the topic of the levy during the board's second-ever meeting Friday at the Knox County Annex Building. If the board decides to request the full levy, or .15 percent, the Knox County Board would need to approve the request before the levy would go into effect. Voters agreed on the levy amount during the April Consolidated Election, when they passed a referendum asking if they would like to raise their property taxes by no more than 15 cents per $100 equalized assessed valuation to enhance mental health agencies and services.

Bacon said he recently spoke with state Representatives Dan Swanson, R-Alpha, and Norine Hammond, R-Macomb, about how a property tax freeze could affect the levy. He found that if the board levied at a lower amount than full and the General Assembly passed the freeze, organizations that did not levy at their maximum amount could not levy again until the lifting of the freeze. That would include school and fire protection districts, Bacon said.

"The tax freeze might never come about, but if it does they're afraid it might stay for a while, so that's something that we need to be aware of," Bacon said. "There's just a lot of unanswered questions going on down in Springfield. ... I was never in favor of (the full levy) from the start -- I thought we should save some -- but if there's going to be some point in there that we can't get to it, and after a year or two we're seeing a bigger need, then we're doing ourselves an injustice that way."

Bacon added that the board does not have to spend all the money right away, as it could reserve some for emergencies or for future usage. The levy will become part of the board's budget, which is due Oct. 1, 2017, as well as the board's one-year and three-year plans.

The board will continue to debate the levy amount in future meetings, the next of which will take place at noon Friday, June 16, in the annex building. The board also will meet quarterly at the same time and place on Aug. 18 and Nov. 3 of this year, as well as on Feb. 9, 2018, and May 11, 2018.

At Friday's meeting, the six board members present -- member Luke Raymond was absent -- also handled some housekeeping matters by establishing their terms. The terms are different so that about 1/3 of the board members will be up for reappointment each year.

The board agreed the chairman's term would be for three years; the term of the secretary position, held by Steve Watts, would be for two years; and the term of the County Board liaison, held by County Board Member Dick Conklin, R-District 1, would be for four years. The board also set member John Schlaf's term at two years; the terms of members Carol Maloney and Tasha Easley at four years; and Raymond's term at three years.

Watts also suggested distributing letters to Knox County organizations in the future to see what they consider to be the most pressing mental health issues facing the county. If the board decides to send such letters in the future, it would incorporate the feedback into its one-year and three-year plans.

Conklin said reaching out to mental health agencies and other community organizations would ideally help "uncover needs that may not be met."

"We have these organizations, but are we meeting the homeless needs or (addressing) mental health in the schools?" Conklin said. "I think we hope to uncover the things we may not be addressing, and then from that find out who we need to beef up, or (who) do we help create new programs."

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(c)2017 The Register-Mail, Galesburg, Ill

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