Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“It’s really hard to get a sense of what that would look like, but it would put more of an emphasis on using subsidies that in the past were considered fairly safe but it would come back on the board’s local subsidy dollars,” he said. “It’s really hard to put a number on it, thousands of dollars, hundreds of thousands of dollars or more. We do have reserves to plan for unexpected things, but this is something that could be quite significant.”
The federal government is in the midst of trying to pass a new budget, and Medicaid and other funding is potentially on the chopping block. About 57% of the MHARS budget is supported by local funds the rest comes from the state and federal governments.
The MHARS Board doesn’t provide direct mental health and addiction services, it facilitates and pays for programs and services its partner agencies provide. He said the target is to serve 42,500 people, “which is a very large number, higher than 10%″ of the county’s population.
He said the key statistics for the agency show overdoses and suicides are projected to increase this year over last. In 2024 there were 88 overdose deaths and it is projecting 120 this year, a 25% increase. The county coroners’ office statistics show there have been 43 so far in 2025.
Suicides are expected to increase 10% from 57 to 62, but among veterans “they are up significantly, there’s already eight veteran deaths and if you project that out, that would be 23, that’s a 200% increase.” According to the coroner eight veterans committed suicide in 2024. Year-to-date the total number of suicides is 22.
Bruce Jones, president of the Vet Board, told the Journal-News the continued rise in veteran suicides is “disheartening,” but not surprising.
“What we’re all taught when we go in the military is that we have to succeed as a group but we also have to be tough on our own so the guy or lady next to me is just as tough,” Jones said. “We don’t show the emotional side of what may be bothering you. Unfortunately that builds up in anybody, I don’t care whether you’re a veteran or a police officer or whatever, things that happen while you serve, affect you in life later on and some have a tough time saying I need help.”
New tax levy to kick in
Trying to help people obviously costs money, and voters approved a new MHARS levy 56% to 44% in November. It will replace the existing .5-mill, 10-year levy that first passed in 1985 and was last renewed in 2014. The new levy will generate roughly $6.6 million when it kicks in next year and will cost taxpayers about $18 per $100,000 in value annually.
Rasmus said they intend to keep their campaign promise and retire the old funding source that expires in November. That levy costs taxpayers $5 per $100,000 and collects about $2.4 million.
The extra $4.2 million will help fund some new programs such as a dedicated staffer to work with the Veterans Service Commission and others to address the high suicide rate.
“We’re looking at things such as increasing the OSFR, the Overdose and Suicide Fatality Review, dedicating a staff member to address the veterans’ population annually,” he said. “To look at those deaths and look at factors and at risk components, we can better target our services through that evaluation. It’s not only about reviewing them, it’s about some analysis either qualitative or quantitative and applying them to the community.”
Another new initiative — Rasmus has several in progress — is to find a replacement site for the Syringe Service Program that was being run out of the Access Counseling parking lot in Middletown. The program shut down in September 2023. Rasmus told the county commissioners recently a large part of the uptick in overdoses could be attributed to that.
“I think that was a significant factor that has impacted that, maybe a little bit delayed but I think it has effected it,” he said. “Because it was the largest syringe exchange, blood-borne pathogen program in the southwestern part of Ohio.”
When it closed he asked Atrium Medical Center and Middletown Health Commissioner Jackie Phillips Carter about replacing it “the answer has been no.”
The Journal-News reached out to Atrium and Phillips Carter and they couldn’t be reached for comment. Middletown City Manager Ashley Combs said she had no comment.
At the time, this news outlet reported our sister station WCPO asked the city of Middletown if it was working with the program to find a new location. City Manager Paul Lolli provided a statement:
“The city of Middletown does not have any plans to open an alternative site at this time. We feel that the future of these programs and other programs, addressing homelessness, addiction, mental health issues and others need to be better addressed on a regional basis,” he said. “While the city acknowledges the problems, a collaborative effort would not unduly burden any single community.”
Locations are a concern
Rasmus said there are programs in Fairfield and Oxford but they are “off the beaten path.” He has been working with the sheriff’s office, the Health District and area hospitals to find a new location on the eastern edge of the county, “it’s not an easy approach and it’s not an easy job.”.
“I do have a hospital, I don’t want to mention it right now because it’s still in the works, but I do have an option,” he said. “That hospital is interested in supporting it but there’s things that need to be done, there’s bus routes and how that works and how do you get people from the bus route drop off to the hospital. There’s trustees in that jurisdiction that need to be informed about the potential and to elicit their support and then make a case why this is so important.”
Commissioner Don Dixon said he wants to add tackling addiction to the ongoing efforts of their “Summit on Housing Insecurity and Advocacy” group.
“I’d like to hear from the cities why they don’t really think this is a good thing and don’t want to participate,” Dixon said. “Maybe they do want to participate, which is what I think it is, they don’t want to see it either, see if we can come together as a group to address that.”
The MHARS Board is an independent entity but if they want to put a tax levy question on the ballot they need the county commissioners’ blessing.
“When we agreed to put the increase on this levy it was supposed to go to treatment, it was supposed to do counseling, it was the thought of the board that we capture this issue sooner than later, trying to prevent it before it happens,” Dixon said. “What’s happening with that.”
Outreach efforts to be made
Rasmus said in regard to suicide, they want to staff local emergency rooms — research shows intervening when someone has tried to take their life helps prevent a repeat attempt. Specific to veterans he said they are helping train Vet Board staffers and people in the mental health field to intervene when they identify when a veteran is in crisis.
Jones told the Journal-News they are targeting all of their various outreach efforts to attract the attention of not only veterans who are struggling but their friends and family.
“A lot of times the families have no clue that the veteran is at that point where they’re ready to take their life,” he said. “A lot of times it’s not planned out like a lot of people think, something clicks and they make that decision. That’s why we try to get the word out that we are there, there are programs.”
Dixon wanted to know if they are doing anything to catch people any earlier. Rasmus said they are working with the schools and elsewhere providing mental health and addiction prevention education, which is always the preferred course of action to tackle these issues.
“It may be $50 to $100 a student to do mental health and addiction prevention,” Rasmus said. “Then if somebody is hospitalized it could be $1,000 a day and think of a longer length of stay that’s $20,000. Think of prevention which is relatively inexpensive and prevention that didn’t occur or wasn’t successful can be significant dollars down the line.”
988 SUICIDE AND CRISIS LIFELINE
As life’s challenges can sometime overwhelm and be difficult, the state has a resource called 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline to help those facing mental health struggles, emotional distress, alcohol or drug use concerns, or just need someone to talk to.
It’s free and confidential and can help connect people with community-based behavioral healthcare.
Dial 988 from any phone to get support.
About the Author