A quarter cent sales tax to benefit mental health services for at-risk youth is on the Nov. 5 election ballot in Platte County.
The Platte County 4 Kids Coalition submitted approximately 8,400 signatures to the Platte County Clerk’s Office in June to place a quarter-cent sales tax initiative on the Nov. 5 ballot. The signature delivery was the culmination of a multi-organizational effort to create a children’s services fund in Platte County.
According to Platte County 4 Kids, establishing a Children’s Services Fund in Platte County would expand mental health and suicide prevention services for tens of thousands of children and teens in Platte County.
The 2022 Missouri Student Survey revealed that nearly 9% of participating Platte County students had seriously considered suicide, with suicide being the second leading cause of death among 10 to 24-year-olds in Missouri.
The effort has been spearheaded by area nonprofits such as Beacon Mental Health and Synergy Services, with the support of over a dozen nonprofit and for-profit businesses in the area, as well as Platte County school districts and the Northland Regional Chamber.
Along with expanding access to mental health services, the fund would create jobs, bringing talented providers to the county where the current patient-to-provider ratio is 840 to 1, making Platte County a mental health professional shortage area.
Similar tax initiatives have passed in the neighboring counties of Jackson and Clay with overwhelming success. In 2023, the Children’s Services Fund of Jackson County provided over $15.8 million in funding towards 10 service areas, benefiting over 52,000 children.
The ballot measure reads:
“Shall Platte County, solely for the purposes of establishing a community children’s services fund for the purpose of providing services to protect the well-being and safety of children and youth 19 years of age or less and to strengthen families, be authorized to levy a sales tax of one-quarter of one cent in Platte County.”
According to Platte County 4 Kids, kids’ mental illness spiked during the COVID pandemic and that spike has yet to fade, although mental health experts are unsure why this is the case. The children’s services fund would be led by an independent citizen-led board.
Critics say that another tax is unnecessary and question the reliability of an un-elected board to oversee the use of public tax dollars.