Clermont County mental health director asks commissioners to place 0.5-mil levy increase on November ballot

Dr. Leeann (Leanne) Watson, director of the Clermont County Mental Health and Recovery Board, told the Board of Clermont County Commissioners on May 14 that rising demand for behavioral-health services and flat local levy revenue mean the board will seek a 0.5-mil levy renewal and increase on the November ballot.

Watson said the board would not ask for the levy unless it was necessary and described local service trends and funding limits that prompted the request. “So we are the mandated behavioral health authority under, o ORC 3 40,” Watson said, and she asked commissioners to support placing the measure before voters so the county can keep and expand crisis services.

Why it matters: commissioners’ support is the first step toward placing a tax levy on the ballot; the levy would fund services that Watson said already touch roughly 25,000 residents a year and would be required to operate a crisis receiving center 24 hours a day if it opens.

Watson presented local data showing increased use of crisis services: a 53% increase since February 2020 and a 365% increase since 2010. She said youth seeking services increased 43% since 2010, and the number of people receiving substance-use treatment rose 45% since 2015. Watson said the recovery board’s publicly funded system serves “1 in 8 residents” and that, without additional revenue, some nonmandated services would be vulnerable to cuts.

Watson gave a breakdown of current funding sources for board programs: roughly 41% state, 36% federal, 22% levy, and 1% miscellaneous. She said levy collections do not rise with inflation; the board’s last levy increase was in 2015. Watson said a 0.5-mil increase would raise the county’s levy rate so that, for a $100,000 home, the new annual cost would be $32.98 (up from $15.48 now), an increase of about $17.50 per year ($2.75 per month).

Watson described services the levy supports and which are at risk without added funding. Crisis services, she said, are used by county residents broadly, not only by people already in the publicly funded system. She emphasized mobile crisis and community response work funded by levy dollars, including a community behavioral response team that provides debriefings after traumatic events. Watson said those services are costly — she cited mobile crisis at about $600,000 per year — but credited them with diverting people from arrest and hospital emergency departments.

Commissioners asked procedural questions; county staff said the board must pass two resolutions 90 days before the election to put a levy on the ballot, likely in July. Commissioner comments praised first responders and noted the potential for crisis centers to reduce jail intake for behavioral-health incidents.

The board took no formal vote on the levy at the May 14 meeting. Watson said the board will return to the matter when the county prepares the formal resolutions required for a November ballot placement.

Ending: Watson thanked the commissioners and asked residents to use the county crisis hotline and 988 for immediate help. She noted the board continues to seek supplemental grant funds, including a one-time $1,000,000 award from the OneOhio Foundation that supports a local receiving center but does not cover ongoing operating costs.