Mahoning residents to vote on 4 levies

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County commissioners have passed resolutions of necessity to place one new levy and three renewal levies on the November ballot, all for five years.

The new tax in Thursday’s action would be a 1.8-mill operating levy for the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County.

The renewals are a 3-mill Board of Developmental Disabilities levy, a 0.85-mill Children Services Board levy and a half-mill mental health levy.

The library system passed a 1-mill, five-year renewal levy generating $3,622,000 annually last November by a 71-percent margin of victory.

However, library officials say they need a new local levy this year to compensate for losses in state funding in recent years. If passed, the new levy would generate about $7,292,000 annually.

Commissioner John A. McNally IV said he’d encourage voters to support all four upcoming levies.

“Library services across the state have received tremendous cuts from the State of Ohio with this budget crunch,” McNally said.

Despite increases in library use, the local library system has lost $12.7 million in state revenue since 2001, library officials said when the library board voted last month to seek the new levy.

The system consists of the main library and 15 branches and has 170 employees. The library’s general-fund budget for this year is just under $12 million. The general fund is its main operating fund.

The system expects to receive just under $6.6 million in state funds this year, compared with $8,001,133 last year.

“The three renewals fund issues that are not normally funded by the general fund here in Mahoning County, providing important services to the mentally handicapped and developmentally disabled, as well as fighting [child] abuse,” McNally said.