Hamilton County residents are again being asked to tax themselves to provide help for abused and neglected children.

        A 2.77-mill children's services levy will be on the Nov. 6 ballot. The tax, which would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $64 per year, would pay for a multitude of programs such as a hot line to report abuse and investigations of abuse or neglect.

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        The programs help one of every 12 children in the county.

        Voters approved an identical levy in 1996. But additional federal and state funding became available to the county after passage, so it gave some of the local tax money back.

        After the rollback, the effective tax rate — or the rate homeowners paid — was 1.48 mills, costing the owner of that same $100,000 home about $43 a year.

        The federal and state dollars have since dried up, so all of the tax will be needed in this five-year cycle.

        “In a number of ways, the tax is more important this year than ever before,” said Barbara Manual, interim director of the county's Department of Job and Family Services. “Local funding is important because we don't know how we'll come out in the state budget.”

        The levy has been supported by voters since its inception in 1986. Suzanne Burke, the county's budget director, who will take over as director of Job and Family Services on Jan. 1, called the levy “critical.”

        “The issues children face grow when there is a slowdown in the economy,” Ms. Burke said. “The level of services required are significant.”

        That may be true, but Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes said it's “bothersome” that the county relies on a special tax for services it is legally required to provide. County Administrator Dave Krings has said there could be severe cuts to the county's budget if the levy fails.

        “It should be up to people whether or not we provide those services,” Mr. Rhodes said. “When government begins shilling for these things and threatening cuts if it doesn't pass, you don't really have a choice.

        “Why not just (have commissioners) mandate the thing and be done with it? Why bother voting?”

        Many of the services provided by the levy are required under state or federal law. If the levy were to fail, those programs would have to be paid for out of the county's general fund.

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