Newly elected Wheeling Township board could levy tax for mental health

Newly elected Wheeling Township Supervisor Maria Zeller Brauer said she intends to help get a new tax to fund the township’s mental health board out of the deep freeze.

“Myself and my team will be following the will of the voters and enacting the levy that was passed by referendum two years ago,” she said.

By team she was referring to the slate of Democrats that unseated the previous Republican-controlled township board in Tuesday’s election. Some of the victors were behind the citizen-initiated referendum for the community health board.

Voters approved the referendum in November 2022 creating a board to address mental health, substance use disorder and intellectual/developmental disabilities along with a new tax to fund it.

Although the township board appointed members to the mental health board, it stopped short of levying the tax. The township’s attorney, Kenneth Florey, warned the referendum question was improperly worded — it left out legally required language about the affect on homeowners’ property taxes.

Despite a legislative fix in Springfield removing the legal obstacle, the township board did not impose the tax. About $800,000 in funding for the mental health board now comes from the township’s general fund, well short of the $1.5 million the tax could raise.

With the recent election results, things are likely to change.

Brauer defeated incumbent Township Supervisor Kathy Penner Tuesday in unofficial results.

Fellow Democrats swept the race for township trustee seats. John Geier, Lorri Grainawi, Austin Mejdrich and Sheri Williams beat Republican incumbents Joe Murglin, Jeanne Hamilton and Darrel Talken and nonincumbent Republican Maria McCarthy.

Mejdrich said the new board during the first few months will be familiarizing itself with township operations. But he said the trustees will work toward fully implementing the mental health board’s needs assessment.

“If that means also raising the levy (for the mental health board), then the voters have said that they support that, so we will too,” he said.

The election results are likely to have a ripple effect on the mental health board, affecting not only its budget, but also the composition of board, which is also known as a 708 board after the House bill establishing it.

“I'm sure it's going to impact what our board does. I just don't know how yet,” Susan Hayes, the mental health board president, said.

But Hayes, who is the wife of outgoing Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes, added, “The people who won the election I’m sure will want their own people on the 708 board.”