Fairhaven to maintain programs with levy

By Ed Runyan

The measure will generate an additional $5,452,412 per year, at a cost of $50.53 more per year for the owner of a $100,000 home.

NILES — The Trumbull County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities executive director says the passage of a levy in November will not result in any changes in the way the Fairhaven board operates.

“We don’t plan on adding any programs. It was a maintenance levy,” said Superintendent Douglas Burkhardt.

The real impact of the levy would have been felt if it had failed, he said. Then, the board would have made $6 million in cuts to the 2009 budget, he said.

The board approved putting the levy on the ballot midyear, and the state’s economic problems have only worsened since then, so the need for the levy only increased, Burkhardt said.

“The state said if things don’t turn around, plan to get another 25 percent cut in budgets,” Burkhardt said.

About 30 percent of the board’s revenue comes from the state, he noted.

The board operated on a budget of $23 million in 2008, Burkhardt said. Its 2009 budget, approved earlier this month, is $24.4 million.

The countywide issue approved by voters 60 percent to 40 percent was a replacement and increase, meaning the MRDD received approval to keep receiving a 1-mill levy approved in 1983 but also to get an additional 1.2 mills.

The 1-mill renewal will continue to raise $2,040,023, and the additional 1.2 mills will generate $5,452,412 per year, according to the Trumbull County Auditor’s office.

That means the levy will cost the owner of a $100,000 home an additional $50.53 per year, the auditor’s office said.

The agency has two other levies besides the newest one: a 2.25-mill issue that expires Dec. 31, 2014, and a 1.5-mill issue that expires Dec. 31, 2012.

Because of $2 million in reductions in state and federal funding in 2008 and other issues, the board ran out of reserve balance money in 2008, Burkhardt said.

“We were spending our reserve balance,” he said.

Burkhardt said another $4 million would have had to be cut for 2009 without passage of the levy because it is common for an agency such as his to need more money toward the end of any levy cycle.

He didn’t cite any specific costs that account for the $4 million.

runyan@vindy.com