Council committee advances renewal of 0.1% behavioral health sales tax amid questions on spend plan

The Metropolitan Key County Council’s Budget and Fiscal Management Committee on Aug. 27 voted to advance an ordinance renewing the county’s tenth-of-a-cent sales tax for behavioral health services and therapeutic courts, while members sought firmer timelines for the executive’s implementation plan. The committee gave a due-pass recommendation to proposed ordinance 2025-0212 as amended.

Sam Porter, Council Central Policy Staff, told the committee the proposed ordinance would “continue the collection of the one tenth of one percent mental illness and drug dependency or MID additional sales and use tax for another term of 9 years to expire 01/01/2035.” Porter said the tax has been imposed since 2008 and is set to expire Jan. 1, 2026, and that, according to the July 2025 OIFA forecast, MID revenues are now projected to generate more than $1 billion over the nine-year renewal period.

Why it matters: MID funds a range of behavioral-health and diversion services that county leaders say reduce jail bookings and…