TOLEDO, Ohio — In an overwhelming show of support, Lucas County voters passed the Lucas County Children's Services levy as the county's unofficial results came in Wednesday morning.
Lucas County Children Services asked for and received the community's support to pass a 1.8 mill levy renewal that will fund salaries, benefits and various operations and services.
About 56% of Lucas County Children Services revenue comes from local levies so the funds are critical to their operation.
"Child protection in a community is only as good as the support given by the community," said Robin Reese, Executive Director of Lucas County Children Services. "We pay for casework services and casework is a service. We do up-front foster care payments out of that, support contracts for services for families, any kind of building operations. All of that comes out of the levy."
Cost to Average Homeowner
- $50,000 home- 50 cents per week = $26 annually
- $100,000 home - $1.00 per week x 52 weeks = $52 annually
- $150,000 home - $1.60 per week x 52 weeks = $83.20 annually
The levy would generate about $13,400,000 a year for five years. Reese says the need for children's services is greater than ever.
"Now that some children are back in school, we're seeing some new trends. A rise in domestic violence and child abuse and even the COVID period we've been through, the kinds of referrals we got were pretty severe," Reese said.
According to their data, the number of alleged victims of child abuse has risen 14% since 2015, and the number of children on referrals has increased 14% in that same time period.
Their current 1.8 mill levy expires end of 2021.