YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Children Services is asking Mahoning County commissioners to put a replacement five-year levy on the ballot for them this November.

Following authorization from the Children Services Board recently, Randy Muth, Children Services executive director, told commissioners the decision to place a levy on the ballot resides with the county commissioners, not the Children Services Board, Muth said.

On Thursday, Audrey Tillis, county administrator, said the commissioners have yet to decide whether they will approve placing the request on the ballot.

Children Services would like to replace the current 1.85-mill levy with a new 1.85-mill levy, which would bring in more money than it currently does.

The reason it is considered a replacement levy and not a renewal is that a 1976 Ohio law says this type of levy can never cost the owner of a residential property more than it did when it was originally approved by voters.

To ensure that this happens, the Mahoning County has to adjust the millage amount based on inflation. In this case, the millage on the existing levy will drop to 1.6 mills, Muth said.

Children Services is asking that the millage remain at 1.85 mills for five more years, which will increase the amount of money the levy will generate by $866,795 per year. It currently generates $8,024,253. The current levy expires at the end of 2024.

But under a replacement, it would generate $8,891,048, Muth said. The levy currently costs the owner of a $100,000 home $56.07 per year. That would rise to $64.75 per year, an increase of $8.68 per year.

“This levy was originally passed in 2014,” Muth said Thursday. “So we’re tasked with protecting children in 2024 and beyond with fifty percent of our funding frozen at 2014 levels. Because expenses steadily increase but our revenue stays the same or decreases, this creates a gap between what it costs the agency to protect children and the money it has to do that with.”

Muth said “That gap will get bigger the further away we get from 2014. We understand that prices are going up for everyone. They are for us, too. We want to give the public the opportunity to decide whether to reset our funding to today’s level.”

The levy currently provides CSB with 45 percent of the agency’s funding. The board’s annual budget varies depending on how many children are in CSB’s care, Muth said. But the average budget over the past five years has been about $18.5 million.

As of Jan. 1, the board had about $14.7 million in reserve and has 114 employees, according to a fact sheet Muth provided to The Vindicator.

With the additional revenue, the board would intend to hire more staff “as part of an integrated strategy to respond to the increasing complexity of cases we’re seeing as a result of the (COVID-19) pandemic,” Muth stated.

CSB is obligated to provide pay raises to employees over the next two years because the agency is “a little over one year into our three-year collective bargaining agreement,” Muth noted.

The agency currently gets 54.8 percent of its revenue from real estate taxes, 25.4 percent from the federal government, 14.5 percent from the state government and 5.3 percent from other sources, such as child support payments from parents.

During a recent Children Services board meeting, Muth explained that House Bill 1 was introduced in the Legislature Feb. 27. It would reduce the amount of money that would be collected on real estate taxes from 35 percent of a home’s valuation to 31 percent and make other changes.

Mahoning County Children Services property tax funds are “primarily for the support of the children in the children in the custody of the agency,” Muth stated in the fact sheet. The agency has 283 children in its care. The agency also uses the funds “to offset the local share of business operations such as staff salary, training and supplies.”

Muth is leaving the agency in June 8 to become executive director of Lucas County Children Services in Toledo starting June 20. The personnel committee of Mahoning County County Children Services will meet March 28 to review changes to the executive director’s job description that Muth has proposed. The description was last updated in 2006.

The committee also will discuss what steps to take to advertise the executive director’s position.

erunyan@vindy.com