LEBANON — The mental health levy for Warren and Clinton counties coasted to approval late Tuesday.

        “We're really gratified that the voters have seen fit to give us an additional two years of funding,” said Bill Harper, executive director of Mental Health Recovery Services of Warren & Clinton Counties. “I think the outcome reflects the quality service our staff has been providing for years.”

        The 1-mill renewal levy — Warren's only countywide tax issue — was passing with 61 percent support, according to unofficial results.

        The two-year levy will keep property taxes at about $21 a year for a $100,000 home.

        If it hadn't passed, more than 40 mental health employees would have been laid off, Mr. Harper said, because the current levy expires in December.

        Mental Health Recovery Services contracts with private companies to provide counseling, housing assistance and other services to the mentally ill on a sliding fee scale. About 160 people work for the system, he said.

        “I have several friends who take advantage of that,” Lebanon resident Mary Pat Austing, 43, said after voting for the levy. “I feel like they do a good job here.”

        The agency sought the two-year renewal after earlier efforts to pass a replacement levy failed. The campaign was complicated in July, however, when the Warren County commissioners aired concerns about raises — some 20 percent or more — given to employees to equalize pay for similar jobs.

        On other tax issues, fire levies in Salem and Massie townships passed while operating and police levies in Maineville lost.

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