News hounds (5/24/12)
Fenwick vs. Felicity
Meadowdale graduation 2012
Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > August > 14 > Entry
Furmon: Levy surplus ‘an honest mistake’
A decision to ask for a 2-mill county senior services levy in 2005 that has left more than a $20 million surplus is being described as “an honest mistake” by leaders of the campaign.
But architects of the levy said if they had to do it all over again, the result would be the same.
Commissioner Charles Furmon said Thursday, Aug. 14, that he spoke with Mel Baker, the then-treasurer of the Elderly Services Board, about their projections, “and he said it was an honest mistake.”
Commissioners were informed earlier this month about a projected $21 million surplus in the 2-mill senior services levy of 2005. Financial documents provided by the Council on Aging of Southwestern Ohio show the levy fund currently has a nearly $14 million excess. It’s not expected to grow to $21 million until 2010.
“In retrospect, perhaps it was a mistake. But we thought we had good facts. It was an honest evaluation (of the need) at the time we did this,” Baker said.
Initially, Commissioner Gregory Jolivette said he would like to give some of the money back to Butler County property owners in the form of a $100 property tax rollback. He said Thursday his desire would be to cut back a percentage of property taxes depending on the size of residents’ tax bills.
“The person paying $200 a month on their property shouldn’t be getting the same amount as the person paying $20,000 a month on their property,” Jolivette said.
At this point, how much could be rolled back — Jolivette has suggested $14 million — is still up in the air. He will be meeting with officials from the county auditor’s office in the coming weeks to determine how the whole process would work, and whether residents could see some relief on their January or July 2009 tax bills.
The remaining surplus, Jolivette said, could be given back to service providers for programming or capital improvements.
Some senior services providers said reducing the levy fund could put a strain their businesses, and that allocating money away from the levy’s primary function — in-home care — could set a negative precedent.
“I think it (the levy balance) is critical for the continuance of the programs to keep that money there,” said Cynthia Stever, chief executive officer for LifeSpan.
Voters approved the 2-mill levy in 2005 to provide money for in-home services for county seniors. And the surplus occurred as a result of several factors, COA officials said, among them: Tax collections exceeded expectations by nearly $600,000; a waiting list of 900 shrunk to 536 because people moved away, moved into retirement communities or died; and the number of new clients grew stagnant, which mirrored provider rates and staffing requirements.
On a related note, we ran a pair of stories this week about an impending decision by COA to contract with LifeSpan or with a conglomerate of Partners in Prime and the Middletown and Oxford senior centers to administer its case management services.
The decision, expected on Aug. 22, could mean Partners in Prime may be forced to close their satellite locations in Hamilton, Fairfield and West Chester Twp. Partners in Prime CEO Stephen Schnabl said if LifeSpan is awarded the contract, his organization would be ill-equipped to deal with the resulting financial loss (he said the agency would lose about $614,000, or a third of its budget).
Many residents said the projected surplus should be used to fund those senior centers. By law it cannot. The money was approved by voters to be used on in-home services, and not senior centers.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Senior Services
Comments