Opioid crisis forces Marion County Children Services to seek tax increase

MARION — Marion County voters would pay more than double what they are used to under a proposed levy that Marion County Children Services says is necessary to keep the lights on.

Marion County Children Services is seeking renewal of a 2.12-mill levy, as well as an additional 1.5 mills, over 10 years.

If passed, the levy would bring in an estimated $3.14 million per year, more than double what the current levy generates, according to Marion County Chief Deputy Auditor Angela Smith.

But homeowners would also be on the hook for more money. An owner of a $100,000 home pays $27.78 per year under the current levy, which is based off of property values from 1989 when the original levy was passed. The proposed levy would cost the same homeowner $80.28 per year.

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The proposed levy comes at a time when Marion County Children Services is experiencing increased caseloads and rising costs in the wake of the ongoing opioid epidemic.

"The opioid epidemic is hitting everyone very hard, none more than the silent victims who are your children," said Bryant Brown, community education coordinator for Children Services, at a meeting of the Marion County Commissioners.

The commissioners passed a resolution Tuesday to put the levy on the November ballot.

Children Services has been operating in a deficit for several years, pulling from its reserve funds to make up the difference.

The cost of placing children in foster homes and supporting the children while they are in foster care has more than doubled from 2013 to 2017, according to Brown.

Last year was the first time in recent years that those placement costs outpaced the amount of money Children Services brings in from its levy, with placement costs rising to $1.56 million last year, Brown said.

"And that is just placement costs. We have not turned the first light on or paid the first employee," Brown said. "Just placement costs for children's safety, we're not able to meet that under the local levy any longer."

The levy, which generated about $1.41 million last year, makes up about 44 percent of Children Services' revenue, Brown said, with federal and state dollars accounting for the rest.

Last year, the agency had nearly $4.12 million in expenditures, but about $3.79 million in revenue, according to Brown.

Staffing levels at Children Services have hung in the mid-30s, down from a peak of 59 employees in 2000, the Star has reported.

Under the proposed levy, the 2.12-mill portion would still reflect property values from when the initial levy was passed in 1989. Meanwhile, the 1.5-mill portion of the proposed levy would reflect current property values.

The current levy expires at the end of 2019. If the voters don't pass the proposed one in November, the agency will have two more tries at some sort of renewal levy before it loses the funding in 2019.

The last Children Services levy passed by county voters was a renewal of the 2.12-mill levy in 2013. Before that, county voters passed a reduction in what residents had been paying since 1989, from 2.5 mills to the 2.12. That was passed in 2009, but only after voters had twice rejected a replacement levy that would have updated the tax to reflect then-current property values, thereby bringing in more money to the agency but costing homeowners more as well.

In 2017, Children Services worked with one out of every nine children, or about 1,484 children, in the county, Brown said.

He urged voters to think of their own children when they go to the ballot box in November.

"Everyone ... always checks on the children and grandchildren before you go to bed every night," he said at Tuesday's commissioners' meeting. "I just ask that you don't forget to check on the kids Nov. 6."

svolpenhei@gannett.com

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