Children Services renewal levy on ballot

CSB has 160 employees and a $14 million annual budget.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County voters are being asked to renew a 2-mill Children Services Board levy for five years when they go to the polls on May 2.
"Children Services is the first line of defense for kids for basic safety and child well-being," said Robert A. Kubiak, CSB executive director.
Just last fall, voters approved the agency's other local levy -- an 0.8-mill, 10-year replacement levy, which will raise $2,768,733 annually. It replaced a levy that had been originally passed in 1972 and renewed until last year.
"This 2-mill levy will be the final step of securing our operating funds so that we can look to our renovation plans," Kubiak said.
$4.8 million annually
Originally approved in 1986, the 2-mill levy has been renewed three times and provides about $4.8 million a year for the child welfare agency.
The 2-mill levy, which generates about 35 percent of the agency's revenue, is the agency's largest funding source. CSB has 160 employees and a $14 million annual budget.
"We're only asking for a renewal -- not any increase in taxes," he emphasized. "We're able to do that because of careful budgeting, streamlining our staff and controlling our personnel costs, including our health insurance costs."
The Reeves Road agency has reduced staff over the past two years by not replacing employees who have left and by consolidating job duties, he explained.
"The state and federal budgets are not increasing their allocations for children's services," he noted.
Routine operations
Passage of the levy on May 2 will continue funding of routine operations, and thereby allow the agency to proceed with renovation of its residential facilities, Kubiak said.
These residential renovations will be paid for using a portion of a $5.7 million contingency fund the agency has set aside, he added.
The agency's mission is to protect the county's abused, neglected and dependent children. It conducts child abuse and neglect investigations, provides crisis intervention and emergency protection, maintains a network of foster homes, operates group homes and other residential facilities, and provides parent education, casework, family support and adoption services.
Last year, CSB served 4,841 children and 2,708 families, took 2,444 referrals and provided 78,391 out-of-home days of care. There are about 50,000 minors under the age of 18 in the county, so the agency annually serves about one out of 10 county children, Kubiak observed.
The agency is one of only 12 Ohio county Children Services boards that is accredited by the New York City-based Council on Accreditation.