Selling new senior services levy won't be easy

The last levy collected millions more than it was supposed to.

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By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer 7:50 PM Friday, February 26, 2010

HAMILTON — If asking voters to approve a tax in the current political climate isn’t daunting enough, imagine doing so after collecting millions of dollars more than intended with the last levy.

This is the dilemma facing the Butler County senior services levy, which county leaders say may go before voters in November. The five-year, 2-mill levy expires this year.

Without it, programs such as Meals on Wheels, transportation and housekeeping services for impaired seniors would come to a stop, said Laurie Petrie, spokeswoman for the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio, which administers the levy.

But the agency has trust hurdles to overcome.

Commissioners cut the levy collection by one-third in 2009, after estimates emerged that it was on track to collect $21 million more than it needed. The program now is spending slightly more than the $11 million it’s collecting annually, but still plans to end 2010 with $13.8 million in reserve.

“The reserve is to allow us, if the levy fails ... to transition people off the programs and to end the programs through natural attrition,” Petrie said. “Without the levy, the program dies.”

Unclear is how much a levy proposal will be. A work group including the Council on Aging, levy oversight board Citizens for Elderly Services and other agencies is coming up with options for county commissioners.

Their projections have been flawed before, far over-estimating the number of people who would use the service.

Commissioners this week discussed forming a committee to review all levy requests.

Commission President Gregory Jolivette said he would support a new senior levy if such a committee found it imminently necessary.

“You should go (to the ballot) when the levy dollars are absolutely needed in order to continue the services that the people have come to expect,” he said.

Jolivette said the agency and county showed restraint by reducing the levy when they learned of the surplus.

“To me, it was a matter of trust to say we made a mistake with our estimates of what we needed, so here’s the money back,” he said. “Hopefully that gains them some credibility.”

Petrie said people still believe in the levy’s purpose — keeping people in their homes instead of in nursing homes.

“They understand that the program will absolutely go away if the levy is voted down,” she said. “And once it’s gone, people will find they wish they had something in their community so mom doesn’t have to go to a nursing home before her time.”

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