County commissioner Carolyn Rice urges Kettering residents to vote ‘yes’ on human-services levy renewal

County Commissioner Carolyn Rice urged Kettering residents to vote in favor of the county’s human-services levy renewal, Issue 1B, during the Kettering City Council meeting on Oct. 15. Rice said the measure is a renewal only and would continue roughly $58 million in levy funding that is routinely leveraged with state, federal and private grants to support mental-health and addiction services, senior programs, child-protection efforts, public-health activities, homeless services and emergency-preparedness efforts.

Rice told the council and about the standing-room audience that Montgomery County historically combines multiple human-services needs into two levies and that the renewal will not raise the tax rate from its current level. She said the last renewal was approved by voters at about 70 percent and that more than 100,000 county residents benefit from services supported by the levy. Rice encouraged residents to visit voteforhumanservices.com for details and to volunteer or pick up campaign materials she had brought to the meeting.

Mayor Peggy Laner and council members thanked Rice for the briefing. The mayor said the council would consider whether to formally endorse the levy at a future meeting but emphasized that the primary purpose of the presentation was public education.

The next step for voters is the Nov. 4 election; early voting had already begun at the time Rice spoke. Rice’s presentation focused on the breadth of services funded by the levy and the argument that renewal sustains programming that provides leverage for additional grant funding. The council took no formal binding action on the endorsement that night.

The council meeting packet listed “Montgomery County human services levy” material and the commissioner offered a contact website for volunteers and additional information.