Sunday, July 20, 2003
The mental health replacement levy would raise $3.2 million annually.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Mahoning County Auditor George Tablack said he is adamantly opposed to a November replacement levy to fund the county mental health board because it is a tax increase in disguise.
Ron Marian, the mental health board's director, said he is "dismayed" by Tablack's comments, which will hurt a lot of innocent people in need of help.
County commissioners approved legislation Thursday to place a 0.85-mill, five-year replacement mental health levy on the Nov. 4 ballot that will raise $3.2 million annually.
The 0.85-mill mental health levy, which raises $1.8 million annually, was first approved nearly 20 years ago and subsequently endorsed by voters as a renewal levy every five years since then. The current renewal levy expires at the end of 2004.
Because property values increased in the county over time, the actual millage amount of the levy in recent years was about 0.42 of 1 mill, but the amount collected remained the same at $1.8 million annually, Tablack and Marian said.
Collection
Instead of a 0.85-mill renewal levy that would collect $1.8 million, the 0.85-mill replacement levy will collect $3.2 million.
Tablack contends most voters will see "re" on the ballot and assume the mental health levy is a renewal, as it has been in the past, and not realize they're voting for a tax increase.
"It's a play on words," Tablack said. "The 're' confuses the voters. It's new funding to the mental health board without them saying it's a tax increase. The only way to achieve a new tax apparently is to deceive the voters."
The mental health board doesn't want to seek approval for a new levy in November because it would be difficult to get a new tax passed, Tablack said.
Marian acknowledged that only one new mental health levy has passed in Ohio during the past decade, and renewals and replacement levies have been largely successful.
But Marian said there is no attempt to deceive the public, and an active campaign will be waged to inform the public about the replacement levy and the reasons it should be approved.
If approved
A person who owns a home valued at $100,000 currently pays about $7.50 annually for the mental health levy. That would nearly double if the replacement levy is approved, Marian said.
"I've said right off the bat that this is a replacement," he said. Tablack "is hurting a lot of clients. This is legal. We won't run a deceptive campaign. Every printed material will say replacement."
Marian said the replacement levy is needed to pay for rising costs of services and to accommodate for a 5-percent increase in mental health clients in the county in the past year. The agency provides psychological, psychiatric and medical services to indigent people in the county.
Tablack said he has nothing against the agency and is undecided how he will vote on the levy. But he is philosophically opposed to replacement levies.
skolnick@vindy.com