AKRON, Ohio – Summit County voters will soon be asked to decide Issue 1, a tax renewal and increase to support the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, which will be on the ballot Nov. 4.
Issue 1 is a combined tax renewal and increase to fund mental health and recovery programs for children, adults and families, and to support the acquisition, construction, renovation, maintenance and operation of Summit County ADM Board facilities, according to the Summit County Board of Elections website. The total proposed levy is 3.45 mills, a renewal of the 2.95-mill levy plus a new 0.5-mill increase. A “yes” vote is a vote in favor of the proposed tax renewal and increase.
“Mental health is literally on the ballot, and we’re in a place right now where we really need to make sure we’re taking care of our own in Summit County,” Summit County ADM Board Executive Director Aimee Wade told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. “Summit County has been a place where people have fought against the (mental health) stigma and made sure we take care of our folks with mental health and addiction issues, so we’re just looking forward to continuing that tradition of innovation and sympathy and empathy in Summit County.”
The new levy is estimated to cost about $75 per year for every $100,000 of a home’s appraised value. If approved, the tax will take effect in 2026, with the first collections scheduled to occur in 2027, according to the Board of Elections website.
“We go to the voters every six years for our levy, and this is the first time in 18 years that we’ve asked for any increase,” Wade said. “So we’ve historically had for the past 18 years a 2.95-mill levy, which has gotten us through an ongoing opiate epidemic, a mental health crisis, a pandemic, and allowed us to respond to many crises in the community.
“But at this time, after much thought and consideration from the board of directors, we are asking for an additional 0.5-mill increase. This will allow us to continue to move forward with some of the innovative projects that we’ve already invested in, such as updating our Crisis and Wellness Center and providing resources or transitional housing for folks coming out of psychiatric hospitalization who may need more transitional and clinical support before they reintegrate into the community.”
The Summit County ADM Board has served more than 50,000 individuals in 2024 through various programs and services–including prevention, treatment and recovery. The board has been spending out of its reserves to be able to meet current needs, which isn’t sustainable long-term, according to Wade.
“The renewal and increase is the amount that we feel would be best to help us weather any storms and sustain the things that we are currently paying for at a reasonable level, especially given some of the things that are being threatened through federal and state legislation, like the possible wind down of Medicaid,” Wade said. “We wanted to be able to respond to that, knowing that we could not meet all of the needs that could potentially be left out there, but we felt like we could be responsible if things were to come to fruition to create foundational services that could be sustained in Summit County.”
The registration deadline for the Nov. 4 general election is Monday, Oct. 6. Residents can learn how to register to vote, find their polling place, request an absentee ballot and view early voting hours on the Summit County Board of Elections website.