ADAMH Board makes pleas for funding increase
Sheriff also seeking more funds to update aging vehicle fleet
Capt. David Centner appeals to county commissioners for more money to replace the Sheriff Department’s worn out patrol cars. Photo by GLENN WOJCIAK
MEDINA – Like other social service agencies in Medina County, the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Board is facing financial challenges.
ADAMH Board Director Phil Titterington recently outlined some of those challenges for Medina County commissioners who are contemplating an 0.25 percent increase in the county sales tax that could raise $6.5 million a year to help fund the ADAMH board and other funding needs.
Among those other needs are replacing more cruisers than usual in the Sheriff Department’s aging fleet of vehicles. Sheriff Capt. David Centner told county commissioners recently that the sheriff’s patrol division is operating with 14 vehicles that have more than 150,000 miles on their odometers and six other cars with more than 100,000 miles.
Centner said maintenance costs to keep those aging cars running approached $200,000 in the last 18 months.
Centner estimated that it costs about $35,000 to purchase and equip a new cruiser and the department has been adding an average of two vehicles a year in recent years. That’s down considerably from the 10 vehicles a year the department replaced prior to experiencing budget cuts a decade ago when county revenue plummeted because of a deep economic recession.
According to Titterington, his agency needs additional funding to re-establish mental health services in Brunswick, Lodi and Wadsworth, reestablish elderly care management services and to increase treatment for those with opioid addictions, including support for Robby’s, a new recovery center in Medina.
The ADAMH Board had operated offices for mental health treatment in Brunswick, Wadsworth and Lodi until it was forced to close those offices in 2009 when state funding for the agency was cut by $1.7 million.
Reopening the satellite offices would make mental health and substance abuse services more accessible to about two-thirds of the clients the ADAMH Board served in 2015 when voters turned down an 0.8-mill levy to provide additional funding for social service agencies. Many of the clients served in Wadsworth, Brunswick and Lodi dropped out of treatment programs when those offices closed.
Most of the funding in the agency’s $3.8 million budget this year comes from state and federal government. However, county commissioners contribute about $192,000 a year to the ADAMH Board.
Titterington told commissioners that many of his agency’s funding goals could be achieved if commissioners increased their annual funding to about $397,000 per year and there are no additional cuts to state and federal funding.
ADAMH Board Director Phil Titterington recently outlined some of those challenges for Medina County commissioners who are contemplating an 0.25 percent increase in the county sales tax that could raise $6.5 million a year to help fund the ADAMH board and other funding needs.
Among those other needs are replacing more cruisers than usual in the Sheriff Department’s aging fleet of vehicles. Sheriff Capt. David Centner told county commissioners recently that the sheriff’s patrol division is operating with 14 vehicles that have more than 150,000 miles on their odometers and six other cars with more than 100,000 miles.
Centner said maintenance costs to keep those aging cars running approached $200,000 in the last 18 months.
Centner estimated that it costs about $35,000 to purchase and equip a new cruiser and the department has been adding an average of two vehicles a year in recent years. That’s down considerably from the 10 vehicles a year the department replaced prior to experiencing budget cuts a decade ago when county revenue plummeted because of a deep economic recession.
According to Titterington, his agency needs additional funding to re-establish mental health services in Brunswick, Lodi and Wadsworth, reestablish elderly care management services and to increase treatment for those with opioid addictions, including support for Robby’s, a new recovery center in Medina.
The ADAMH Board had operated offices for mental health treatment in Brunswick, Wadsworth and Lodi until it was forced to close those offices in 2009 when state funding for the agency was cut by $1.7 million.
Reopening the satellite offices would make mental health and substance abuse services more accessible to about two-thirds of the clients the ADAMH Board served in 2015 when voters turned down an 0.8-mill levy to provide additional funding for social service agencies. Many of the clients served in Wadsworth, Brunswick and Lodi dropped out of treatment programs when those offices closed.
Most of the funding in the agency’s $3.8 million budget this year comes from state and federal government. However, county commissioners contribute about $192,000 a year to the ADAMH Board.
Titterington told commissioners that many of his agency’s funding goals could be achieved if commissioners increased their annual funding to about $397,000 per year and there are no additional cuts to state and federal funding.