MAHONING COUNTY Officials seek to renew TB levy

The Mahoning County Board of Health approved a 2002 budget of $4.1 million, up 4.3 percent over the $3.9 million 2001 budget.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR HEALTH WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Mahoning County voters will likely be asked to renew the countywide, five-year, 0.1-mill tuberculosis levy at the November general election.
The Mahoning County Board of Health voted unanimously Thursday to request that the Mahoning County Board of Commissioners place the levy on the fall ballot. If approved, collection of the renewal tax would begin Jan. 1, 2003.
The levy generates about $180,000 a year, which provide services at the TB clinic at Mill Creek Community Center, 496 Glenwood Ave., and elsewhere. The clinic staff includes a pulmonologist and public health nurse, and there is a small laboratory, said Diana M. Colaianni, director of the health department's nursing division.
The county health board has been responsible for the TB program in Mahoning County since 1993, said Matthew Stefanak, health commissioner.
Still around: Stefanak said TB, while on the decline, is present in Mahoning County. He said the department screens more than 3,000 people a year, many of whom are caregivers of or health-care providers for people with TB.
Stefanak said there are about 2,500 people in Mahoning County with latent TB, which means they have been exposed to and harbor the germ, but do not have an active infection. He said most active TB cases come from the group of people with latent TB.
TB is a communicable disease caused by bacteria usually spread from person to person through the air. It is characterized by the formation of nodes in the lungs.
Former board president Kenneth Zinz is head of the levy campaign committee, which will raise money for the campaign and promote the levy when the election nears. He said the committee is seeking ideas, help and money.
Also on agenda: In other action, the board approved a 2002 budget of $4.1 million, up 4.3 percent over the $3.9 million 2001 budget. The budget does not include $100,000 the department expects to receive in bioterrorism funds, Stefanak said.
Projected revenue from major sources include: Property taxes, $817,171; environmental division fees, $676,012; Solid Waste Management District grant, $455,624; Nursing Division contract and fees, $439,200; Child & amp; Family Health Services grant, $360,952; Tuberculosis fund, $210,000; and U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant, $166,280.