If approved, where tax money will go for mental health

In the past 15 years, the property tax for the mental health levy hasn’t increased but the demand for mental health services has, counselors, patients and mental health professionals all agree.

This November, Hamilton County voters will be asked whether they are willing to pay more on their property taxes for mental health services.

Issue 9, if approved by voters, would raise the mental health property tax rate 32% and would be the first increase since 2007.

Here’s what you need to know about Issue 9:.

Question: How much are you being asked to pay?

A: The current mental health levy costs $40.93 per $100,000 of home value. The increase would raise the cost by $13.30 per $100,000 of value.

Q: What does the mental health levy pay for?

A: The $36.5 million generated from

Continued from previous page property because he believed it did not fit the quality of the surrounding neighborhoods. He made those comments at a Liberty Township Planning and Zoning Commission hearing in January 2021.

Reynolds also spoke at an August 2021ButlerCountyPlanningandZoning Commission hearing about a different potential development on the property. He said the development’s density would be too high for the area.

Reynolds denied Parks’ characterization of the events in court documents and said he was speaking at the meetings “in his personal capacity.”

Parks’ lawsuit also claims Reynolds made an illegal $500 campaign donation to Liberty Township Trustee Thomas Farrell.

Reynolds said in his answer that he made a donation to Farrell as he “routinely does” for Republican candidates the tax goes to the Hamilton County Mental Health and Recovery Services Board. The board then doles out the moneyamong25agenciesthatprovidea variety of mental health services. These can include mental health crisis hotlines, psychiatric help for low-income people, housing for people dealing with mental health issues, counselors that help people going through the mental health court and mental health outreach to the homeless among many, many more types of services.

Q: Who gets the most money from the levy?

A: The Talbert House, a mental health and addiction treatment facility, received the largest share in 2022 with $7.6 million.

The next largest share went to GreaterCincinnatiBehavioralHealthServices and its staff of 700, including psychiatrists, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, counselors, care managers and employment specialists. The organization got $6 million from the levy in 2022.

Q: What will the increase pay for?

A: The increase, if approved, would in Butler County.

Butler County GOP mum about its endorsement

The Butler County Republican Party has endorsed Reynolds for the Nov. 8 election.

Representatives from the party did not respond to The Enquirer’s questions about the endorsement vote and background check process for candidates.

In 2005, the party narrowly voted in favor of endorsing Reynolds over former auditor Kay Rogers ahead of the primary. Reynolds ran against Rogers in the 2006 Republican primary and said he hoped to restore respectability to the auditor’s office.

“I am going to lead by example and do so with honesty and integrity,” he told The Enquirer in April 2006, ahead of the primary election.

At the time, Rogers was embroiled in

generate an additional $9 million a year for the levy. It will pay for $2 million more annually in crisis response services and $2 million more in housing for the mentally ill. For many agencies that get levy money, it won’t mean additional services. The increase will keep the mental health agencies from having to make any cuts, officials said. The agencies get reimbursed for care provided that Medicaid and other sources don’t cover. Each agency has a budgeted limit for money they get from the levy, the limit determined by the mental health board

Q: What happens if the levy increase doesn’t pass?

A: If the levy fails, the entire mental health levy would be eliminated. Not only would the 25 agencies not get the additional $9 million in money from the levy, but they also wouldn’t get the cur- a scandal over a $4 million loan taken out in Butler County’s name without county approval for a fiber-optic network. Rogers later pleaded guilty to bank fraud, mail fraud and tax evasion. She received a two-year prison sentence.

Dalesandro, the Democrat running against Reynolds this November, said he wasn’t planning to run for public office again so soon, but decided to file after the charges against Reynolds became public.

Dalesandro went to Miami University before moving out west. He served two terms on the city council of Battle Ground, Washington and moved back to Butler County a year and a half ago.

Though he’s running as a Democrat, he believes the auditor’s role is about “doing the work of the taxpayers and the taxpayers are all over the political spectrum.”

“I’m running to represent everybody. I’m not running as a partisan to only rent $36 million from the levy. It would take at least another year for Hamilton County to attempt to put another mental health levy on the ballot.

Q: So why go for this increase?

A: Without the 32% increase, mental health services would need to be cut, Mental Health and Recovery Services Board president Patrick Tribbe and other mental health services CEOs have said. They wouldn’t say exactly what would be cut. That remains to be determined.

But budget projections show the levy would have run out of money by 2024 and would run a $37 million deficit over the next five years, according to a consultant’s report presented to the HamiltonCountyTaxLevyReviewCommittee.

Because we haven’t had an increase in the levy in a number of years, the additional money that we’re asking for is really to get us somewhat back on par with the current demand,” said Jeff O’Neil, president of Greater Cincinnati Behavioral Health Services, when asked why the increase is needed. “We’re not looking to add a lot of new things. It’s really to sustain where we’re already at.” represent folks that agree with me. This job is about being accountable and being transparent and being available to folks,” he said.

Election Day is Nov. 8. Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Early voting starts Oct. 12. To check your voter registration or polling location or to request a mail-in ballot, visit voteohio.gov

Erin Glynn is the watchdog reporter for Butler, Warren and Clermont counties through the Report For America program. The Enquirer needs local donors to help fund her grant-funded position. If you want to support Glynn’s work, you can donate to her Report For America position at this website or email her editor Carl Weiser at cweiser@ enquirer.com to find out how you can help fund her work.

Do you know something she should know? Send her a note at eglynn@ enquirer.com and follow her on Twitter at @ee_glynn.

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