By Steve Kemme
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HAMILTON - Butler County Children Services will seek a 2-mill replacement tax levy in November as agency officials hope changes they have made at the once-controversial agency are noticed by voters.

"We believe we've dramatically altered the business operations of this agency," said Jann Heffner, who was hired as executive director in November.

County commissioners Monday approved placing the levy on the November ballot.

The 5-year levy would replace an existing 2-mill levy that expires at the end of 2004. This replacement levy would increase property taxes because it would be based on current property values.

If the levy passes, the owner of a $100,000 home would pay $29.62 more per year in taxes.

It would generate $7 million more in annual revenue for the agency, which protects abused, neglected and dependent children.

Under Heffner's leadership, Children Services has slashed $5 million from its budget, revamped its organizational structure and continued reform efforts that began more than three years ago.

Instead of emphasizing child removal from families, the agency now focuses more on services to preserve families and protect children.

Dennis Yavorsky, a long-time critic of county children services agencies in southwestern Ohio, had successfully led campaigns that helped defeat two previous Butler County Children Services levies.

After Heffner assured him Monday that the agency is in the process of hiring an ombudsman to handle citizen complaints, Yavorsky said he will not oppose this levy.

The ombudsman would be hired by the Children Services Board and would work with Heffner and the staff. The ombudsman could present issues to the board when necessary. "Without an ombudsman, there's no way anything in this reform system can work," Yavorsky said.

Al Risch, national investigator for Victims of Child Abuse Laws (VOCAL), has bitterly criticized Butler County Children Services in the past for unnecessarily removing children from homes.

But on Monday, he said he will support the current levy campaign.

John Wade Sloan, vice chairman of the Children Services Board, said the agency is much more open and accessible than it was during his first stint on the board in the late-1980s and early 1990s.

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E-mail skemme@enquirer.com