Hamilton County voters will decide this November on a four-year, 5.61 mill levy to fund Children's Services.
Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas and Denise Driehaus approved the levy amount Monday, with Vice President Alicia Reece abstaining. If approved by voters, it would generate approximately $117 million per year and cost about $121 per $100,000 of home value.
The existing levy, which expires this year, costs approximately $82 per $100,000 of home value.
The board had 15 options before them, including two-year and four-year options. The Tax Levy Review Committee had recommended a 6.57 mill levy that would cost $157 per $100,000 in home value. The board members said that while they understand that amount is needed to continue to provide base-level, mandated services, it was too much of an increase to be palatable to voters.
"We have to do our work to make this as low as possible," Driehaus said after the vote. "We had a recommendation, and it was a solid recommendation addressing the needs for kids in the community. We went back to the administration and said, 'Can we go lower? Can we find funding somewhere else?' We cut it in half. So, we have done our work to try to put something in front of the voters that's as low as we can go, and yet [will] provide stability for kids in this community."
Added, Summerow Dumas, "It's a four-year levy, not our normal five-year levy, because we wanted to do it for as long as we could, but ... We may have to readjust things, so we made it a four instead of a five."
The two also point out that if the levy fails, there would be no taxpayer support for children's services.
"If we don't pass the levy, we go to zero. I just want to be very clear. We don't go back to where we started. We go to zero. That is dramatic, and it would be a catastrophe for this county because now where are you coming up with that money?," Driehaus said.
"I want to make it clear that I don't like any one of the options," Summer Dumas said. "I do not want to take more money from the property owners. I don't want to do that. I don't also do not want to take money out of our reserve or out of the Hamilton County budget that we use for all of [the other county services]."
An alternate proposal
Commission Vice President Alicia Reece did not vote with her colleagues. She wanted a 4.78 mill levy, which she proposed subsidizing with revenues from the stadium sales tax levy. That millage would cost about $91 per $100,000 of home value.
"My goal was to let me bring something different. Let's bring something different. I brought in an idea of how do we switch it, where the stadiums would go to the ballot and the children would be more sustainable. So today we have on here — I said 'do 10%' on a homeowner. 10%.' That's still gonna be tough for some people — some people don't have $50 extra in the bank. Let's do 10% and then subsidize it," Reece said.
A staff report from the county's attorneys and bond counsel says taking funds from the stadium sales tax would violate state law. Reece disagrees, stating that other lawyers have told her that since the the counsel report says those revenues can't "primarily" be used for other sources, it means some funds could be used.
"Let's cut the billionaires. Now legally, they said, 'Oh, you can't do it.' But the word 'primarily,' I've had three attorneys who said the word 'primarily,' meaning that most of the money will still go to the stadiums, but take a portion to help subsidize the children's levy, and that's what I am proposing."
Her proposal failed to find support with her fellow commissioners.
Though she did not stand with the other two commissioners at a news conference following the levy vote, Reece made a point of stating during the meeting that she is supportive of funding children.
Lack of state funding
A committee that reviews all county levies has determined Job and Family Services (JFS) needs the levy to generate $144 million annually to continue to provide base-level, mandated services.
The commissioners have repeatedly expressed anger with the state and state legislators for not providing enough funding to local communities for the services local agencies are required to provide. According to a previous report from the Tax Levy Review Committee, the average amount a state contributes to child welfare is 42%. Ohio ranks second lowest at 18%.
The agency has already made $36 million in reductions to help deal with a budget shortfall created by a rising number of kids in the system, and increased costs of care. Other cost-saving measures underway include: looking for changes to the intake model; placing more children in kinship care rather than traditional foster care or residential homes; maximizing reimbursements; reviewing levels of care to ensure they're balanced; identifying non-mandated services; and lobbying state leaders to provide more support.
The state of Ohio is also reviewing its rate card, which sets rates for levels of care across the state, so it's unclear how changes there could positively or negatively affect the JFS budget.
Hamilton County already leads the state in the number of children placed with family members — the least costly option — rather than foster care or residential centers.
"I'm putting out a clarion call to the state of Ohio to help with these quality of life issues," Summerow Dumas said. "Last time I checked, the state of Ohio had $3.94 billion in the rainy day fund, but they keep asking us to fund these mandated services, and that balance is the highest ever in the state of Ohio, $3.94 billion."
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