Hamilton County residents will have an opportunity this summer to weigh in on a potential tax increase.
The Hamilton County Board of Commissioners is considering a recommendation to increase the children’s services levy, which supports care for children facing abuse and neglect.
The levy funds child protection investigations, foster care, adoption and family reunification, which is when courts return children to their parents or guardians. It was first passed in 1996 and then increased in 2018. Voters last approved it in 2021 at a rate of 4.51 mills. It currently costs taxpayers $81.15 per $100,000 home and generates about $81 million per year.
Why isn’t the current levy money enough?
County officials have said that, because of an increase in the number of children in foster care and the acuteness of their needs, $81 million per year is no longer enough to care for the children in the county’s care.
The Jobs and Family Services agency is tasked with providing state and federally-mandated services. The Tax Levy Review Committee presented its recommendations to the commissioners at their meeting on Tuesday, May 19, which included increasing the levy so that it generates $60 million more per year, an approximately 78% increase.
The county did not have information on what increased levy revenue would mean in terms of cost per $100,000 of property value as of May 19.
What do the new recommendations mean for children in Hamilton County?
The committee also recommended $36 million in reductions to Jobs and Family Services.
Those reductions would include a hiring slowdown, as well as cuts to funding for child support enforcement, the Youth Employment Program and Women Helping Women, which supports survivors of domestic violence.
The recommendations also include a $1 million cut to kinship payments, which are stipends Jobs and Family Services gives to relatives and family friends who care for a child when their parents cannot. The agency prioritizes kinship care as the most desirable living arrangement for children who can’t live with their parents.
“I do think that this community does understand that we, through JFS, are trying to do our best work to keep kids safe in this community. And in the end, that’s what we’re talking about,” Hamilton County Commissioner Denise Driehaus said at the meeting.
Hamilton County Commission President Stephanie Summerow Dumas said the county is in a “quagmire” when it comes to money for children’s services.
“We want to provide these mandated services and we want to convince the people that you need to give a little bit more money so we can make this happen. And how do we convince them when you don’t have money for your own children?” she said. “We pray that people will vote the way we need them to vote.”
What comes next?
The commissioners will hold three public hearings on the levy recommendations:
The commissioners will vote on ballot language for the levy at their meeting on Aug. 3.
Regional politics reporter Erin Glynn can be reached at eglynn@enquirer.com, @ee_glynn on X and @eringlynn on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Hamilton County faces potential $36M in cuts to children’s services
Reporting by Erin Glynn, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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