Mental Health and Recovery Board tax levy to be on Portage County ballot

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Employees from Mental Health and Recovery Board ofPortage County , Portage County Board of Elections and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) discuss Issue 15.

Video: Sharie Ellison 

Words by Faith Riggs

The Mental Health and Recovery Board’s (MHRB) replacement tax levy will appear as issue 15, on the November ballot for Portage County.

According to the Issue 15 notice of election document, the levy will provide funds for the MHRB’s programs in Portage County. This includes the maintenance, improvement and operation of the services.

“We gather the funds and then we disperse the funds to our local nonprofits, and they are the ones who have the case managers, the social workers, the clinicians who actually are doing the direct care in helping people,” said Karyn Kravetz, the MHRB’s director of community relations.

 

According to the MHRB website, The MHRB is a government entity in which duties are set by the State of Ohio.

To fund many of these programs, the board can decide to propose a levy.

The replacement tax is set at .5 mill for every $1 of valuation. This amounts to about 5 cents for every $100 of valuation.

“For someone who owns a home, a property worth a $100,000, it would only be $17.50 per year Kravetz said.” “That’s you know, less than $2 a month.”

The MHRB currently has three tax levies including the proposed replacement, according to Terrie Nielsen, director of the Board of Elections.

“Mental health and recovery board has more than one levy, so if you’re a political subdivision you can have more than one levy,” Nielsen said. “If they found that the levies that they had were not raising enough money, what you can do is… you can do a replacement.”

Nielsen said a replacement levy usually updates a prior levies to current property values.

If the levy passes, the Mental Health and Recovery Board will obtain funds to provide needed support many local  Portage County mental health resources.

The board currently funds  Coleman Professional Services, Townhall II, Family and Community Services, Children’s Advantage, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI.)

 

 

 

 

The MHRB has helped many organizations and individuals like Karen Cox, the founder and treasurer of NAMI Portage County.

“Our family is a success story,” said Cox. “My son has bipolar, depression and he also has autism. He has a foot in DD (developmental disabilities) and a foot in mental health.”

While struggling with her son, Cox turned to NAMI. The organization provides small group family gatherings centered around raising awareness and support towards mental illnesses.

 Cox searched for support and attended her nearest NAMI.

After attending the support group in Summit County, she visited the MHRB to inquire about the Portage County NAMI support group.

“NAMI two years before that had shut the door because they had some issues that could not be resolved,” Cox said. “I did not know that at the time. They handed me a box and said this is NAMI.”

With the help of the board, Cox rebuilt NAMI. She said the board has pushed her in ways she never imagined.

“They liked me so much that they put me on the board of mental health,” Cox said. “I was on it for 10 years.”

She has a passion for supporting, connecting and finding resources for individuals affected by mental illness because for her, the issue hits close to home.

“The board has been more than willing to talk to me, they put me on all kinds of boards… they always want to give us a voice,” Cox said. “I’m not a professional, I’m just a parent.” 

The Levy will appear during the Portage County midterm elections. In-Person voting will take place on November 6 and the voter registration deadline is October 9.

 

Election Day is November 6. Issue 15 is a Replacement Tax Levy for the Portage County Mental Health and Recovery Board. To find out more about Issue 15, keep an eye out for my story with Faith Riggs. #jmcrpp

— Sharie Ellison (@sdeethicswksp) September 25, 2018

On November 6, the Mental health and Recovery Board’s replacement levy will appear on the Portage County Ballot. Find out what the board has to say in my upcoming story.

— Faith Riggs (@faith_riggs) September 24, 2018

 

Faith Riggs – written piece, interviews, tweet, mental health infogram, organizing layout
Sharie Ellison – video piece, interviews, Voting infogram, tweet, headshots, polling link