Providers working with seniors, families and those struggling with mental health say their programs will be gutted without the passage of several levies on the ballot in Butler and Warren counties.
On Nov. 3, Butler County residents will decide whether to renew a levy that supports the county’s Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board.
At the same time, Warren County residents will vote whether to continue two existing levies that provide funding for the Elderly Services Program and the Mental Health Recovery Board Serving Warren and Clinton Counties.
Because all three are renewals, and not additional levies, proponents stress they will not take any more money from property owners — thanks to a 1976 Ohio law that protects people from tax hikes by requiring the amount of money that would be collected from a levy to decrease as property value increases.
“Ultimately, they do lose to inflation,” said Scott Rasmus, executive director of the Butler County mental health board. “We're not trying to increase any tax burden on the public here. All we're trying to do is hold on to what we have.”
Click to learn more about each levy:
Butler County mental health levy
Warren County mental health levy
Warren County senior services levy
Butler County mental health levy
On the ballot in Butler County is a 1-mill levy first passed in 2006 that includes support for therapy, psychiatric support and education to prevent alcohol and drug misuse.
Rasmus said it would help the board expand those services, including an effort to add 50 new beds to a residential treatment facility in Lemon Township.
“It's always important to be on the cutting edge in support of mental health and addiction issues, and rolling out new programming to address specifically those that are the sickest of the sick — those that may be at risk of suicide, those that are at risk of overdose, the veterans population, children and families,” Rasmus said, adding one in four Butler County residents will experience a mental health or addiction disorder each year.
Without the renewal, Rasmus said the Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board would have to cut programming for those “critical populations.”
The levy, which if approved, would last another ten years, is estimated to collect $8.46 million — more than a third of the board’s $21 million annual budget. It costs $20 for every $100,000 of a homeowner’s property value.
Rasmus said much of that money doesn’t stay with the board, but instead goes to its partner providers, which serve 50,000 Butler County residents directly each year.
Following accounting issues and concerns about internal oversight, at least one Butler County commissioner has expressed unease about the levy, according to reporting from the Journal-News.
Warren County mental health levy
Warren County voters casting a ballot this election will see a measure to renew a levy supporting the Mental Health Recovery Board Serving Warren and Clinton Counties for another five years. An identical measure will be on the ballot in Clinton County.
The 1-mill levy would generate close to $7.7 million annually for the board. For someone with a $100,000 home, it would cost $16 each year.
“I've seen those dollars translate into healthier families, healthier communities,” said Megan Crouch, associate director of SAFE on Main. Her agency provides support for Warren County victims of sexual and domestic violence through protection orders, emergency therapy and a 20-bed shelter. “We had a parent that just came to the park to play with her with her child and started talking to us. And after a couple years, [she] felt safe enough to say, ‘Hey, I need help.’”
Crouch said the Mental Health Recovery Board funds 75% of SAFE on Main’s prevention efforts, such as education in the park that led to support for the one mother. She added it also includes education for 400 junior and high school students each year about consent, healthy relationships and sexual harassment.
Without that money, Crouch said SAFE on Main would have to lay off staff and cut down on that education — something she said is dangerous even in a safe community.
“Unfortunately, violence still happens here,” Crouch said, adding SAFE on Main handles 1,600 crisis calls per year. “Without our agency, we would have clients living in cars, living on the streets because they are fleeing from their homes.”
Warren County senior services levy
In addition to a mental health levy, Warren County voters must also decide the future of an expiring levy that supports senior services.
The 1.21-mill measure, estimated to generate more than $9 million each year, helps fund the county’s Elderly Services Program, which helps seniors older than 60 live at home with additional help.
Sara Bishop, who moved into a Franklin senior apartment building with support from the program, heartily supports the levy.
“We do need you to vote for us and accept the levy because as you get older, you too will be using it,” Bishop said, adding the program has afforded her someone to help around the apartment, along with aids such as a walker and emergency response system.
Her new apartment — which is accessible by elevator and includes daily meals — is an improvement over her previous home, where unavoidable stairs led Bishop to fall a couple times.
“Everybody that comes here seems to just like it,” Bishop said. “In fact, one of the ladies that just moved here a couple days ago said, ‘This is like the Taj Mahal.’”
The levy, if renewed for another five years, will cost property owners $22 for every $100,000 of property value.
Without that money, Warren County’s Elderly Services Program would be finished, said Kim Clark, vice president of community services for the Ohio Council on Aging.
“In 2025, we served 2,777 Warren County residents. Those individuals would be at risk of losing all their services in their home,” Clark said, adding 94% of the county’s Elderly Services Program funding comes from the levy.
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