Tuesday, August 17, 1999
Different goals for Hamilton Co. levies
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
One step up, one step back.
Hamilton County commissioners appear ready to put two replacement levies on the November ballot — one of which will represent an increase and one a decrease in taxes.
The Health and Hospitalization tax, which funds the Drake Center Inc. and a handful of county health programs, will appear as a reduction of about 10 percent.
Meanwhile, the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (MRDD) levy will take about 30 percent more from the county's property owners if passed.
Commissioners, who are expected to approve the levy amounts at Wednesday's regular meeting, have a Thursday deadline to get the information to the county's Board of Election.
The Health and Hospitalization levy will be reduced because commissioners are funding two of the five county health programs with another levy. That means the current 1.76-mill levy will appear at 1.59 mills on the ballot, costing the owner of a $100,000 home about $30 per year.
Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus suggested the reduction last week, saying that a surplus in the Children's Services levy should fund those programs.
“If we don't lower the amount (of tax) we're taking in during this type of situation, I don't know when we ever would,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “This really does represent a decrease.”
Meanwhile, the MRDD levy will ask for a renewal of 2.73 mills plus a 0.80-mill increase — for a total of 3.53 mills. That would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $108 annually.
The increase is necessary because the levy provides services to more people than ever before, commissioners said.
“Medical technology is allowing people with these disabilities to live longer than ever,” Commissioner John Dowlin said. “Sometimes they outlive their parents, and so then what happens to them?”
The hospitalization levy aims to raise $91.1 million over its five-year lifetime; the MRDD levy would raise $258 million over five years.
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