MCCS, board seek levy renewals

By JUSTIN DENNIS

jdennis@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Two levies up for renewal on the Nov. 6 ballot each account for about half the operating budgets of two county departments.

The Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board seeks to renew its 0.85-mill operating levy for another five years and increase it to 1.35 mills, which would generate $5.4 million of its total $11 million annual budget. Mahoning County Children Services is seeking renewal of its 1.85-mill levy to generate $8.2 million of its total $15.1 million annual budget.

Brenda Heidinger, mental-health board associate director, said Friday the measure essentially combines the board’s 0.85-mill levy with its other half-mill levy – which expires at the end of 2020 – into one levy.

Though the board voted not to renew the existing half-mill levy – which first passed in 1976 and hasn’t been replaced – residents will continue to pay about $7 for it in both tax years 2019 and 2020. Its tax revenue from those years will create a competitive grant program to fund infrastructure projects for agencies that serve the board, some of which maintain buildings older than 20 years, she said.

Heidinger said the move is also a cost-saving measure, as the board incurs costs for elections that include its two staggered levies, as well as levy signs and advertising.

“We’ll be able to save costs. Instead of running a levy every two to three years, we will run one levy every five years,” she said. “Those extra dollars we spend on levy expenses can actually go to treatment services.”

Randy Muth, Children Services executive director, said there are 186 Mahoning County children in state custody – the most since he became director 51/2 years ago – and that number has been steadily increasing.

His department spends about $2 million per year on placement costs for each of those children. Those costs could range from $25 per day for a child in traditional foster home care to $125 or $400 per day for children placed in group home or hospital settings.

Children Services also maintains a half-mill levy, which voters first passed in 1996 and replaced last year.

“That [1.85-mill] levy is about 52 percent of our total budget. Without that, we would not be able to protect children whatsoever. It would be devastating,” Muth said Friday.

“We’re grateful to the community for recognizing the value of Children Services,” he said. “Communities thrive when every child is safe and protected.”