Lorain County Children Services is asking voters to sign off on an additional 0.45-mill levy on the Nov. 3 ballot, saying its budget is being squeezed by soaring placement costs and a steady rise in cases. Agency leaders stress this is a hold-the-line request aimed at preserving current programs and staffing, not launching new initiatives.
County commissioners moved the plan forward by putting a resolution on their July 17 agenda to send the 0.45-mill tax question to the November ballot, according to the Lorain County Board of Commissioners. The item describes the levy as a tax in excess of the ten-mill limitation that would start being collected in 2027 if voters give it the green light.
Lorain County Children Services’ own numbers show how dependent the agency already is on local taxpayers. The county levy currently supplies roughly half of LCCS funding: the agency's 2024 annual report lists “Children Services Levy and Other Local Revenue” at about $13.18 million, with total revenues and expenses in the mid-20 millions, according to the LCCS 2024 annual report. The same report documents more than 5,000 intakes in recent years, highlighting the heavy demand for investigations and casework.
Officials told reporters the proposed 0.45-mill bump would cost the owner of a $100,000 home roughly $16 a year and would be used to sustain existing services rather than expand them, as reported by the Morning Journal. Executive Director Kristen Fox Berki told commissioners the request is driven by steep increases in placement and care costs that have been draining the agency's reserves.
Rising placement costs
Internal financial notes and board records show just how fast those costs have climbed. Between September 2021 and September 2023, placement costs rose 52.9 percent, and per-diem rates for residential care jumped sharply, according to LCCS board minutes. Officials say the trends have already forced internal budget cuts and have pushed the agency to lean harder on placing children with relatives when possible.
What the levy would pay for
Levy dollars would be aimed squarely at the day-to-day work of child welfare: paying for placements, covering transportation for supervised visits, recruiting and licensing foster and kinship families, and supporting an upcoming visitation and independent-living facility. The agency points to kinship programs and foster-family recruitment as lower-cost alternatives to high-priced residential placements, a strategy highlighted in local reporting by the Morning Journal.
What’s next
With the commissioners’ vote, the measure now heads to the Lorain County Board of Elections and is expected to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot if all certification and filing steps are completed on time under the statutory schedule laid out in the Ohio Revised Code. Support ers will have several months to make their case to voters, while opponents could rally around a classic tax-increase argument ahead of the general election.
At its core, the campaign will test whether residents see the request as a modest, targeted investment in child safety or simply another bill in the mail. The November vote will decide whether Lorain County Children Services gets the extra, steady funding officials say is necessary just to keep existing services in place.
