Franklin County to put Children Services levy on November ballot
Franklin County Children Services will seek a levy question on the Nov. 5 ballot that would increase property tax bills by about $21 a year for every $100,000 of appraised market value.
The proposal represents an 18.6% increase in what Franklin County property owners are charged to help support the agency.
Scott Varner, an FCCS spokesperson, said the agency has worked to efficiently use taxpayers’ money, but the agency faces a need for additional funding support to keep children safe.
“After four years of the historic impacts on child welfare exposed by the COVID pandemic, FCCS is faced with a need to further evolve how we truly keep children safer and make families stronger for longer,” Varner said.
The two-part levy plan involves renewing, or extending, an existing 10-year levy last approved at 1.9 mills in 2014, but which has been “reduced” by property-value inflation to a current value of 0.919 mills. That levy currently generates just over $28 per year per $100,000 of property value, and would continue doing so for another decade if voters approved the plan.
The agency also seeks a levy for an additional 0.6 mills, representing the $21 annual jump on each $100,000 of appraised property value.
Because FCCS is funded with two staggered 10-year levies, the other one, a 3.1-mill allocation that was last approved in 2019, would continue to generate revenue of $84.53 per year per $100,000 of property value.
In total, the new proposal would increase taxes for the child-welfare agency from $112.70 per year for every $100,000 of appraised property value to $133.70 annually.
FCCS has sent its recommendation to the Franklin County Commissioners, who are set on Tuesday to take the first of two steps that would eventually place the request on the November ballot.
“These levies are essential to our operations,” Varner said in an email. “More than 72% of our agency’s funding comes from these two levies. And we continue to remain one of the most fiscally prudent public agencies in central Ohio, having not asked voters for a millage increase for more than 20 years.”
Robin Ross, a spokesperson for the commissioners, said she expects the request from FCCS to receive full support from the commissioners because of the continued need to support children and families.
“FCCS has been a good steward of levy dollars over many years, so we support the (levy) recommendation,” Ross said.
FCCS’s total annual budget is approximately $225 million and the levy, if approved, would generate around $31 million each year, Varner said. It would be used on the 26,000 cases involving children and their families annually that are reviewed for potential assignment to prevention, protection, placement, and permanency programs.
“Last year, we received 27,557 calls and referrals to the Franklin County Child Abuse Hotline,” Varner said. “Of the calls for child abuse or neglect, more than half involved allegations of physical abuse,” and also can concern neglect, sex abuse, substance use in the home, and domestic violence.
Although FCCS has reduced the number of children in the agency’s custody, the cost of placement has increased 24% over the past three years, Varner said. “That’s due in large part to the growing complexity of care needed for the children we serve.”
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