MEDINA, Ohio -- Medina County voters will decide on two social services tax levies Nov. 5. One of the levies is a renewal; the other is asking for new money.
Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities renewal
Issue 12 is a renewal of the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities’ current 10-year, 1.12-mill levy, which currently costs taxpayers $2.71 per month per $100,000 of property valuation.
Issue 12 supporters emphasize that the renewal levy will not increase taxes. Clients and family members who receive services, meanwhile, call the work of the agency essential.
At a campaign kickoff rally in Wadsworth on Saturday (Oct. 5), 15-year MCBDD board member Wayne Carroll recounted his 29-year-old daughter’s experiences with the agency.
“I have been with the board a long time, but the work I do doesn’t have to do with the board, it has to do with my daughter,” Carroll said.
He told of how his daughter was enrolled in the MCBDD’s Windfall School 26 years ago. Carroll said she is now working full-time and enjoying social activities, such as an upcoming Halloween dance, all funded through MCBDD.
“It is things like that (MCBDD) helps to fund,” Carroll said, adding that local dollars have also leveraged more than $106 million in federal funding to Medina County. “That is why (the levy renewal) is important. And we are not asking for more money, just the same as you have paid for the past 10 years.”
Ryan Cash, 29, is an aspiring actor who has been an MCBDD client from the time he was 5 years old, after he was injured in a car accident that killed his brother and grandparents. Cash was disabled in the crash, left unable to “walk or talk or do anything on my own,” he said.
Today, Cash works at a local Home Depot, is in the process of moving into his own apartment and continues to pursue acting through local theater productions. Each of these achievements, Cash said, would not have been possible without the support and assistance of the MCBDD.
“It means a lot,” Cash said. “When you are growing up, you want to have some kind of independence and be able to make your way, on your own. Working at Home Depot has allowed me to do more for myself.”
The MCBDD, he said, has been with him every step of the way.
“They helped me find my job, find a roommate. They have connected me with (audition opportunities),” Cash said. “They have helped me reach a lot of my goals, and they never give up on anybody. If there is a problem, they find a way around it.
"Their main goal is to help people gain independence and live the same kind of life and have the same opportunities as someone without a disability.”
Stacey Maleckar, Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities superintendent, said the agency has seen an increase in the need for services throughout the county, particularly in early childhood intervention -- children from birth to 3 years old -- and for adults like Cash who are seeking employment and other opportunities.
Medina County Human Services levy
Issue 11 is a 1-mill, five-year human services levy that would partially fund the Medina County Office for Older Adults, Job and Family Services, and ADAMH (Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health) Board.
According to ADAMH Board Executive Director Phillip Titterington, the levy would generate $5 million per year and cost the owner of home valued at $100,000 an additional $3 per month.
If passed, funding would be split among the three agencies, with $2.5 million per year for Job and Family Services, $1.5 million to the ADAMH Board, and $1 million to the Office for Older Adults.
Titterington said the agencies are trying to provide access to more areas of the county.
These agencies are currently funded locally, through the Medina County commissioners, along with grant dollars and some federal and state funding.
Medina County Sheriff and ADAMH board member Tom Miller said it is rare among comparably sized Ohio counties that none of these individual agencies is funded through a levy.
Miller said the work of the individual agencies often overlaps, with an increasing senior population in the county, as well as a growing number of child protective services investigations and crises and recovery support cases.
“From a law enforcement perspective, we have to think of both law and order,” Miller said. “So a number of our calls may not be related to specific criminal activities. Some people need mental health or other types of help.”
Issues such as jail overcrowding also come into play, Miller said, with more than 60 percent of inmates found to have underlying drug addiction or mental health issues. Routing these people to proper rehabilitation programs more quickly and efficiently, Miller said, has been shown to be effective.
“It is all part of the criminal justice continuum,” Miller said. “If the judges had more options for treatment, they would do it. But that being said, where are the beds and how do we do this?”
Likewise, Miller said, the increase in senior housing throughout Medina County is illustrative of the growing need for agencies like the Office for Older Adults.
“This really is an important levy that impacts a great number of people,” he said.
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