TRUMBULL COUNTY Lifelines asks for levy to keep funds coming

The levy would raise an additional $1 million.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County Lifelines is preparing to ask local voters to continue support for community drug, alcohol and mental health services.
Today, county commissioners are expected to approve putting a 1-mill, 10-year replacement levy on the November ballot for Lifelines, the county's alcohol, drug addiction and mental health services board.
If passed, the new levy would replace a 1-mill levy that's been on the ballot since 1984 and raises $2.4 million a year. The new levy would take advantage of today's higher property values and raise an additional $1 million annually, officials said.
"If we lose the $2.4 million, it would be devastating to the community," said Lifelines director Nick Ceglia.
Lifelines uses nearly all of its $14 million annual budget to fund agencies including Belmont Pines, Burdman Group, Inc., Catholic Charities Regional Agency, Children's Rehabilitation Center and Community Solutions Association.
Funding source
The levy is Lifelines' only local source of funds. The rest of its budget comes from the state and federal governments. If the levy is allowed to expire, agencies would be forced to close, and services would be suspended, officials said.
"It would cause massive job loss, we are talking about services we spent years and years building up -- they would be gone," said administrator of fiscal services Jim Sager.
Agency officials describe a financial situation that has become more and more tenuous, with reductions in state funding coming at the same time the demand and expense for services has increased.
Attempts by Lifelines to pass new levies in 2000 and 2002 were narrowly defeated at the polls. Lifelines expects to spend about $30,000 promoting the levy on the November ballot, less than half of what was spent on the last new levy attempt.
Ceglia said the agency simply doesn't have the funding to spend more.