MCBDD seeks 2-mill levy renewal

By William K. Alcorn

alcorn@vindy.com

AUSTINTOWN

Larry Duck, the superintendent of Mahoning County Board of Developmental Disabilities, said renewal of its 2-mill property tax levy on the Nov.8 ballot is necessary to maintain the agency’s programs.

The levy, which generates about $5.4 million a year, has been in place for 19 years without the board asking for an increase. The annual tax from the levy on a $100,000 home is about $70.

The board has for the past 10 years used a “no deficit-spending” approach to budgeting and spending and is committed to working within available resources to operate its programs for children and adults with developmental disabilities, Duck said.

The agency’s annual operating budget is about $24 million.

In response to declining state funding, the board reduced its staff and operating costs and used state and local funding as matching money to draw down federal Medicaid funding for waivers to replace lost revenue.

Using local levy dollars as matching funds for Medicaid waivers to pay for client services reduces the local cost share from 100 percent to 37 percent, he said.

Medicaid is medical insurance for low-income and disabled people. Medicaid waivers extend coverage to other supportive program costs for elderly and disabled persons.

Duck said the board uses two types of waivers: Level 1, which pays for respite care, home modifications, emergency assistance, adult day services and transportation; and Individual Options, which can pay for those same expenses plus residential-living support costs.

The agency has 569 waivers — 309 Level 1 and 260 Individual Option, and is now offering Level 1 waivers to children with intensive needs.

The most recent state biennium budget resulted in the loss of $540,000 in state financial support to the MCBDD in addition to the loss of $900,000 in tangible personal property tax, Duck said.

The program provides some 1,300 children and adults with transportation, residential, day programming and vocational services and education at its adult facilities and the Leonard Kirtz School in Austintown.

Duck said clients are served by the MCBDD staff and a network of private providers supported by the board so individuals can choose a provider and setting to best serve their needs.

As evidence of the quality of the MCBDD program, Duck said it received a five-year accreditation award in 2010, the maximum accreditation given by the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities.