The Summit County ADM board asked voters to approve Issue 1, a 3.45-mill renewal and additional levy, in the Nov. 4 election.
With absentee and about 25% of poll results in, the levy was winning with about 60% of the vote, according to unofficial election results.
The Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services board garnered more than 68% of the vote in its last two levy requests, but these were both renewals of the 2.95-mill levy that the agency has long had in place for operations.
This time, ADM requested a renewal, as well as an additional .5 mills that leaders said is needed to meet a demand for recovery services that has continued to increase since the COVID-19 pandemic. The request was made at a time when property taxes are under increased scrutiny and many in the community are struggling because of higher prices and the federal government shutdown.
The agency’s leaders emphasized that most people have been impacted by addiction or mental health issues or know someone who has. “Someone you know is struggling. Together we can help,” said one of the ADM board’s mailers. It featured a smiling photo of a woman saying the ADM board “turned my life around.”
Summit County Issue 1 ADM levy results
The board is one of 50 across Ohio that provide oversight for mental health and addiction services. It provides funding to Summit County agencies like Community Support Services, Oriana House, Portage Path Behavioral Health and IBH Addiction Recovery.
The 3.45-mill levy would cost the owner of a $100,000 home $75 a year or $6.25 a month. The levy would last for six years.
Aimee Wade, who has headed the ADM board for nearly five years, said the levy would sustain the services it currently funds as well as help pay for the operation of a new step-down facility in Sagamore Hills that is expected to open in April. The Frese Center is aimed at helping people who are leaving psychiatric hospitalization and need additional support before they return to the community.
ADM’s current levy generates about $37 million a year, which is 77% of the agency’s budget. The rest is provided by state and federal grants.
Wade said the levy is one question – not two for the renewal and additional millage – so the levy’s defeat would result in a detrimental loss of the funds that have sustained the agency for 50 years.
“Summit County would look and feel a lot different without the support of the levy,” Wade said.
If the levy fails, Wade said the agency will collect on its existing levy through 2026 and will then need to “make significant decisions about how we prioritize the highest-need services.”
“We definitely would lose access to a lot of the resources that we have,” she said. “That would just be devastating to the behavioral health system.”
At two polling places in Akron, more voters said they voted against the ADM levy than those who supported it.
Christine Smith, who voted at Voris Community Learning Center, was among them.
“I don’t want my property taxes to go up,” she said. “They’ve already gone up enough this past year.”
This story will be updated as election results are released.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3705. Beacon Journal reporter Kelli Weir contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Summit County ADM levy is ahead with early results. See election results:
Reporting by Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal / Akron Beacon Journal
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