By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - After suffering drastic federal and state funding cuts in recent years, the Butler County Mental Health Board will turn to county voters for help.

Because of its financial crunch, the board has slashed $3 million from its budget in the past two years, including $1 million last month.

These cuts have reduced services to the point that only people on Medicaid have access to Butler County mental health programs, said John Staup, executive director of the Butler County Mental Health Board.

"The working poor and the middle-class families are being shut out of affordable, accessible mental health services," he said. "We're cutting into the bone of our program."

Staup outlined the board's dire position to county commissioners Thursday.

The board wants to place a levy on the March 2 ballot so that some services can be restored.

Commissioners told him they recognize the need for a mental health levy and will support it.

"This is another example of the effect that federal and state cuts are having on the needy," Commissioner Mike Fox said.

The mental health board, which has a $14 million budget this year, will decide soon how big a levy to place on the ballot.

Butler County voters haven't approved a mental health levy increase since 1985. Since then, they have rejected proposed mental health levy increases five times, most recently in November, when a five-year, 1-mill levy increase was turned down.

The existing half-mill mental health levy generates $2 million a year, 15 percent of the board's total revenue. Most other community mental health boards receive stronger local support, Staup said.

On average, local taxes provide 30 percent of the revenue for community mental health boards in Ohio, he said.

In the next year, the board probably will have to make further budget cutbacks, reducing the availability of subsidized housing, residential care and emergency care for severely mentally ill people, Staup said.

"We risk seeing increased homelessness for people with serious mental illnesses," he said.

"There are an increasing number of people who have dire mental health situations in their families, and we're not able to serve them."

More revenue is critical to meet these rising mental health needs, he said.

The board has nowhere else to turn except to the county taxpayer, he said.

"We don't anticipate that the federal and state governments will come in and rescue us," he said. "The needs are clearly there."

E-mail skemme@enquirer.com