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Central Kansas Mental Health seeks 4% county funding increase and details crisis-service expansions
Summary
Central Kansas Mental Health Center asked Saline County for a 4% funding increase for 2026 (a total request of $376,272) and described recent growth in crisis services, including co-responder and mobile crisis work and an expanded jail reentry case-management presence.
Central Kansas Mental Health Center (CKMHC) told Saline County commissioners April 29 that it is seeking a 4% increase in county funding for 2026 and reviewed expansions in crisis services that the agency says reduce strain on county emergency systems.
Glenna Phillips, CKMHC CEO, said county funding serves uninsured and underinsured residents and allows the agency to provide crisis, outpatient, rehabilitation and psychiatric services that would otherwise go unmet. Phillips said uncompensated care in 2024 totaled nearly $1.25 million and that county dollars help fill gaps left by insurance and state funding.
The agency requested a 4% increase in county funding, which CKMHC's materials show would bring Saline County's per-capita investment from $6.66 to $6.93 and a total county allocation of $376,272 for 2026.
Esther Kinsey, CKMHC crisis director, presented operational highlights: the co-responder program (partners with Saline County Sheriff's Office and Salina Police Department and now includes Salina Fire and EMS) recorded 323 encounters in 2024 and diverted 81% of those from jail or hospital. Mobile crisis screening recorded 1,013 screens with 70% diverted from hospitalization. Reentry case management staff work on-site in the jail 40 hours per week and provided reentry services to 36 people in the last year.
Phillips and Kinsey told commissioners these programs reduce emergency-room visits, jail bookings and other public-safety costs while improving continuity of care. CKMHC asked the county to sustain and modestly increase funding to support the crisis continuum and services for uninsured and underinsured residents.
Ending: Commissioners asked operational questions about co-responder triggers and jail services; CKMHC emphasized partnerships with law enforcement, community corrections and other local providers. CKMHC presented the funding request but no formal county action on the request was recorded at the meeting (the item was an agency presentation and budget request for consideration in the county budget process).
