Knox County Board voting next month on board of mental health referendum

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Seventy percent of Illinois counties have a mental health authority and Knox County could soon join their ranks.

The Knox County Board will vote next month of whether to allow a voter referendum to create such an authority, which would be known as a Knox County Board of Mental Health.

Mark Rudolph, CEO of KCCDD, presented to the board last night some of the facts and figures on why this is being proposed.

For example, he cited the Sheriff’s Department already having spent $180,000 on mental health treatment this year alone.

If the current status of mental health treatment remains, he says Knox County is a “time bomb waiting to blow.”

The three largest area mental health agencies, KCCDD, Bridgeway and DD Homes, employ 765 people.

Rudolph confirmed that if passed, the board of mental health would be funded through property taxes.

CORRECTION: Previously this story read that the Sheriff’s Department has spent approximately $118,000 this year in mental health treatment. The actual figure is $180,000 and the story has been updated to reflect that.

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