Naperville’s City Council may add funding for a police mental health unit amid what city staff say is an already tight budget for next year.
Councilman Ian Holzhauer pushed the city to explore funding options for the Naperville Police Department’s Mobile Crisis Intervention Team (MCIT) at a budget overview workshop Monday, arguing that fully funding the program is critical to properly addressing mental health crises in the city.
“We’ve been talking about this program for years and this is an essential to me,” Holzhauer said.
Earlier this year, city staff were staring down a $6.5 million deficit caused by the elimination of the state grocery tax alongside a $4 million deficit caused in part by skyrocketing health insurance costs and a decline of certain city revenue sources. The city has since found ways to plug both, but noted that this year’s budget calls for no new positions and few new initiatives.
The proposed 2026 budget totals $685.13 million, a 6.8% increase from the 2025 budget. Of that number, about $190 million is set aside for capital improvement projects while about $174 million is reserved for the city’s general fund expenditures.
The city also expects to have a property tax rate of 0.5506, a decrease from the current rate of 0.5960. It is the lowest tax rate the city has seen since the 1960s, but does not mean that the amount the city levies will decrease, according to Naperville Finance Director Ray Munch.
If approved, anywhere between two to six officers could be added to the police mental health response program. The cost of adding four officers to the program – the number of officers proposed for the last budget cycle – would be around $900,000, Munch said.
Currently, Naperville police have a version of this service which includes a patrol officer in a mobile crisis car riding with a clinician, such as a social worker or victim advocate, to respond to mental health crisis calls, said Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres. The program runs Monday through Friday.
A more fleshed out MCIT would look like a dedicated unit of one sergeant and five officers specially trained to respond to the approximately 900 mental health-related crisis calls police receive per year, Arres said. That number does not include domestic issues in which mental health may play a role.
“Not only would this be a unit with highly trained officers … you’re also getting a unit of people who are passionate about the topic,” Arres said. “Everybody gives 100% when they’re rolling as the mobile crisis car, but you’re going to get a different level of passion from someone that truly wants to be in this space, because we wouldn’t be forcing people to be in this unit.”
Increased funding for MCIT has come up in previous budget cycles. Last year, Arres said he proposed that full-time team, although that number was ultimately reduced to three officers and a sergeant, Munch said.
The program was budgeted for 2025, but due to then-uncertainty surrounding the grocery tax and contract negotiations with police officers and firefighters, the city was unable to bring on more staff for the MCIT program.
Munch said that there were conversations about adding MCIT to the 2026 budget, but determined that the program could not be financially accommodated.
“When we put together this year’s budget, we went into that with the understanding that there were a lot of programs that had tremendous value,” Munch said. “But we also have to be cognizant of what dollars are available and what can be reasonably achieved.”
Arres emphasized that having the program would help Naperville police better respond to calls involving mental health crises.
“Even if we have the car up and running with a beat officer, we average 103 minutes per mental health call that we’re on,” Arres said. “That’s usually two officers and a sergeant minimum for these calls, so not the best and most efficient way to handle that.”
Arres also noted that of the 900 calls the city receives, it is estimated that 60% to 65% of those calls would be handled by the MCIT unit, freeing up time for other beat officers to focus on various city-wide issues.
One element that would be added to the program would be a crisis intervention canine, which is a dog trained to detect neurological and hormonal changes in the human body when stress is induced, Arres said.
“We’ve seen Overland Park (in Kansas) and other departments that deploy these dogs bring it up to the scene, and for a lack of a better adjective, the person melts and opens up and is willing to connect with those officers once the canine’s there,” Arres said, emphasizing that disclosure rates – and subsequently convictions – also go up thanks to these canine officers.
Council voted 8-1 to have staff explore the option for next year’s budget and bring back a report for the Nov. 18 council meeting. Councilman Josh McBroom was the lone ‘no’ vote, citing concerns with the city’s current budget restraints.
“I agree with Director Munch, this is probably his most challenging budget to put together,” McBroom said, “I don’t think coming into the third workshop after having very little scrutiny on other things, asking staff to add another $900 (thousand), a million to the general fund – it just doesn’t sound fiscally sound to me.”
Munch also re-emphasized to the Council the challenges with the budget this year and encouraged a “wait and see” approach before adding future programs.
Under the police and firefighter contract, union members receive a 7% raise this year retroactive to Jan. 1, followed by an 8% raise next year and a 3% raise in 2027. With that in mind, Munch felt that 2027 may be a better time to add a program like MCIT into the budget.
“I think the budget is a challenge this year. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to get a whole lot easier next year or the year after,” Councilman Patrick Kelly said. “So to try to figure out when is the easier (time) to put it in, I don’t know that we’re ever going to have it easier to put it in.”
The proposed 2026 budget will appear at the Nov. 18 Council meeting, where Council will discuss adding the MCIT and will review the estimated property tax levy.
cstein@chicagotribune.com
