{"id":333406,"date":"2025-10-26T08:14:40","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T08:14:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/333406\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T08:14:40","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T08:14:40","slug":"mental-health-services-at-risk-if-levy-fails-in-november","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/333406\/","title":{"rendered":"Mental health services at risk if levy fails in November"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOUNT VERNON \u2014 Knox County voters will see a levy for Mental Health & Recovery for Licking and Knox Counties<\/a> on the Nov. 4 ballot.<\/p>\n

The MHR Board is asking voters to renew a 10-year, 1-mill property tax levy. The levy generates $1.264 million a year in Knox County.<\/p>\n

Levy income accounts for 40% of the agency\u2019s funding. The levy costs property owners $35 for each $100,000 in appraised property value.<\/p>\n

Kay Spergel, executive director of the MHR Board, said losing approximately $1.264 million a year means all services could be severely reduced.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat level of funding loss could mean hundreds of residents losing access to care each year,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would greatly impact all outpatient care for mental health, addiction and prevention services. This means adults in treatment for counseling or psychiatric services may face longer wait times or no local care at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

The levy funds an array of services, including 24\/7 crisis response, youth prevention programs, addiction recovery, and mental health urgent care<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeveral community providers who are currently fully funded through the levy could face major service cuts or closure of key programs. Programs that residents rely on every day could disappear,\u201d Spergel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocal law enforcement, schools, and hospitals would shoulder more of the burden as more residents in crisis go without timely, appropriate behavioral health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2024, 24,000 people used services funded by the levy. Spergel said losing the funding could affect around 8,000 residents each year. That includes individuals in crisis and those looking for domestic violence support, among other services.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese numbers represent real people \u2014 our neighbors, our families, coworkers, and our friends \u2014 whose lives were directly impacted by local funding from this levy,\u201d Spergel said.<\/p>\n

Local focus, local impact<\/p>\n

Community relations coordinator Emily McConville said the board spends 91 cents of every dollar directly on services in the community.<\/p>\n

Of the 24,000 residents who accessed services in 2024, 10,168 were juveniles.<\/p>\n

More than 14,000 individuals benefited from prevention programs, and 3,841 accessed treatment services for mental health and substance use.<\/p>\n

Crisis support<\/a>, however, remains a cornerstone of the system.<\/p>\n

In State Fiscal Year 2024, 5,245 people in Knox and Licking counties reached out to the Pathways 211 Crisis Call Center, and 3,756 received immediate assistance from Behavioral Healthcare Partners\u2019 24-hour crisis intervention services.<\/p>\n

McConville said the agency\u2019s work contributes to the overall health and well-being of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy addressing mental health and substance use issues, we reduce the burden on emergency services, hospitals, and the criminal justice system,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOUNT VERNON \u2014 Knox County voters will see a levy for Mental Health & Recovery for Licking and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":333407,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[8988,1322,210,517,165279,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-333406","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-election","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-mental-health","12":"tag-mental-health-and-recovery-board","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115439472922579031","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}