Tri-County Mental Health levy passes

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MIAMI COUNTY — Voters in Miami, Shelby and Darke counties voted to renew the Tri-County Board of Mental Health Services and Recovery 5-year 0.6-mill levy on Tuesday.

“We are just extremely pleased and grateful to everybody who supported us, the voters who supported us and have confidence in us that we can continue the fight against the heroin epidemic, take care of folks in the area who need mental health,” said Brad Reed, Director of Community Resource Development. “We are very pleased, in a presidential election you never know what’s going to happen, but we couldn’t be happier with the results.”

In Miami County, unofficial results show 33,945 votes in favor of the renewal (67 percent) and 16,561 votes against the levy (33 percent).

According to Reed, the levy renewal was passing in Shelby County by 65 percent. Unofficial results in Darke County have the levy passing with 66 percent in favor of the renewal.

According to levy information, the cost of the levy is $19 per year for a home valued at $134,000 in Miami County.

Reed said the passage of the renewal levy reflects the increased awareness of the general public of the mental illness and addiction and the impact on the community.

“If we didn’t have services, it affects everybody,” Reed said. “So many more people are aware of the need for services and obviously they came out to support us.”

Funding from the levy purchases a wide variety of services throughout the tri-county area ranging from hospitalization, housing, medications, counseling, case management and prevention programs, the Safe Haven program, crisis services, crisis hotline, respite and hospital beds, detox services and a wide variety of services including vocational and training services.

The levy also funds services on a sliding fee scale for its partnering agencies.

The local levy raises approximately $2 million a year for services ranging from prevention and wellness, response to the local heroin epidemic, education and other mental health services to all residents in the Miami, Shelby and Darke counties. The levy accounts for 40 percent of the organization’s budget.

The levy was first passed in 1974, making it one of the oldest mental health recovery levies in the state of Ohio.

Mike Ullery | Daily Call Brad Reed of the Tri-County Board of Mental Health smiles as he displays the results from the board’s renewal tax levy that passed by a substantial margin, nearly 70 percent in Miami County, according to unofficial results.
http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2016/11/web1_110816mju_election_tricountyboard.jpgMike Ullery | Daily Call Brad Reed of the Tri-County Board of Mental Health smiles as he displays the results from the board’s renewal tax levy that passed by a substantial margin, nearly 70 percent in Miami County, according to unofficial results.

http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2016/11/web1_election-2016.jpg

By Melanie Yingst

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