HUMBOLDT – The salary figures for directors of the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center that have riled county commissioners in the district’s six-county region aren’t just high for average payrolls in Southeast Kansas – they are the highest among all 26 Community Mental Health Districts in the state.
A study of those districts’ non-profit federal tax filings by the Kansas Informer shows Nathan Fawson, chief executive officer of SEKMHC, with compensation listed at more than $600,000 annually, is the highest paid executive among all 26 regions statewide – from typically high-income suburban Johnson County to sparsley-populated Western Kansas districts.
Fawson’s salary and that of others in SEKMHC management has drawn the attention of county commissioners in Anderson, Allen, Bourbon, Linn, Neosho and Woodson counties who pony up tax subsidies annually to the organization. They say they wonder why, if the center can afford executive compensation of more than $600,00 for Fawson and hundreds of thousands in addition for members of his staff – why it needs tax subsidies from the member counties. Anderson County pays some $94,000 to subsidize the service; Allen County pays more than $100,000.
The salary issue has also shined light on SEKMHC’s July 2024 acquisition of Ashley Clinic of Chanute, a general healthcare provider, and the purchase of a dental clinic in Yates Center. The amounts paid for the businesses weren’t included in press releases announcing them. The Informer has requested those details in addition to other information.
SEKMHC’s IRS 990 tax filing for 2023 lists Fawson’s salary at $436,000 annually with additional compensation of $191,000. Chief Operation Officer Doug Wright’s compensation totaled $307,000 with $137,000 in “other;” Chief Financial Officer Job Springer’s salary was listed at $287,000 with $136,000 “other.”
Also notable in the review of the 26 mental health centers across Kansas is that SEKMHC earned significantly more in its billings for services – believed to be mostly from Medcaid as opposed to private funding though that information has not yet been provided – some $32 million of its $37 million gross revenues for 2023. That revenue figure compares to smaller numbers in more populace areas: The Bert Nash Center in Lawrence billed $24 million in 2023; COMCare in Wichita some $10 million; Friends of Johnson County Mental Health LLC showed no program service billings.
In those areas staff salaries all pale in comparison to Southeast Kansas. Patrick Schmitz, CEO at Bert Nash, earns a salary of $248,000 with “other compensation” of $61,000; Executive Director of COMCare Cathy Thomas earned $104,615; directors at the Johnson County facility list no salaries.
County commissioners in the SEK district, some who spoke anonymously, have discussed a district-wide meeting or conversation regarding the salaries at SEKMHC. Kansas Department of Human Resources data show salaries for managers of other types of businesses and agencies in the Southeast Kansas region between $42,000 and $103,000 depending on the specific role. Commissioners speaking off the record said no such meeting had yet been scheduled.
It isn’t immediately clear who sets or approves those salaries. Member counties appoint one or more individuals to a board for the organization, but that board is not listed on the organization’s website. The Informer has requested that member roster as well as the past few years of minutes from those board committee meetings.
A 2020 Kansas Legislative Research Department brief on the history of the Kansas mental health system notes the shift from individual state and county mental health treatment beginning in the late 1800s and into the 1950s and 1960s, with the development of, and state funding for, Community Mental Health Centers beginning in 1974. That led eventually to the formation of regional centers after the Kansas Mental Health Reform Act of 1990. The report details financing for the CMHCs as a combination of state subsidies, private pay insurance, member county contributions and billings to Medicaid.
Dane Hicks is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidate School at Quantico, VA. He is the author of novels "The Skinning Tree" and "A Whisper For Help." As publisher of the Anderson County Review in Garnett, KS., he is a recipient of the Kansas Press Association's Boyd Community Service Award as well as more than 60 awards for excellence in news, editorial and photography.
