Delaware County seeks tax hike for services for disabled

As Delaware County grows, so does the need for services for disabled people.

The Delaware County commissioners voted Monday to place a proposed tax increase on the Nov. 6 ballot to provide services for the county’s 2,500 clients, most of them children.

The proposal will be sent to the county’s board of elections for review and certification. If approved by voters, the 0.4mill continuous levy would raise $3.1 million annually and cost property owners $14 per $100,000 of home value in new taxes.

The county has two existing property taxes for such services, including a 0.56-mill levy that would not be renewed when it expires in 2020. That costs property owners about $16 per $100,000 of valuation.

A 2.1-mill levy, also due to expire, would be evaluated. It costs homeowners about $56 per $100,000.

“We would like to be able to reduce it,” Anne Miller, spokeswoman for the Delaware County Board of Development Disabilities, said of that levy.

The cost to provide speech or physical therapy and serve other needs of a child is about $2,100, the board says. And as children grow into adults, the cost for employment services, transportation or medical and personal care rises to about $16,000 annually.

“Because the need is continual and actually grows as people get older, so does the need for funding,” said Kristine Hodge, superintendent of the county developmental disabilities board.

Almost three-fourths of the agency’s $21.5 million budget comes from property taxes, according to its 2017 annual report.