McHenry County Mental Health Board approves annual funding plan, applies COLA to Independence Health access grant

The McHenry County Mental Health Board approved its annual funding plan and individual agency allocations at its meeting; it also applied a 6% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to Independence Health and Therapy's access grant.

Board members debated whether some increases should wait for midyear allocations and confirmed there is no formal policy limiting which funding sources can be adjusted midyear. Staff identified an unallocated balance that the board described in discussion as roughly in the mid-hundreds of thousands of dollars to preserve for emergencies or midyear needs.

John Buckley, executive director of Independence Health and Therapy, asked the board during public comment to apply the same COLA used for position grants to the agency's access grant, saying rising costs for psychiatrists and support staff threatened service continuity. "My request is that you consider adding that COLA that you've applied to the position grants to that access grant as well to help us keep pace," Buckley said.

After discussion, board members amended the…