Voters in Logan County turned down a 1-mill, 10-year Logan County Health District issue in Tuesday’s general election, in an attempt to secure operating levy funding that the agency has not seen since 2008.
Logan County Health Commissioner Travis Irvan said the health district and board of health were compelled to try again for a levy, as the issue had not been on the ballot since 2015, when it was narrowly rejected by voters.
According to unofficial totals in Tuesday’s election, 10,196 votes were cast against the levy, and 5,748 were cast for the issue.
“The voters have spoken; we understand it is a tough time to be asking for more funds,” Irvan said. “We’re still going to keep championing a safe and healthy community and building a better tomorrow.”
The 10-year levy would have generated more than $1 million per year for operating expenses for the agency.
In addition, its passage would have relieved a funding burden for the LCHD that currently rests on the townships and municipalities in the county. Currently, those entities contribute a combined total of $680,000 in inside millage per year to fund the health district, as appropriated by the county budget commission.
Despite the loss of the levy, Irvan said the agency will not see budget cuts as a result. Instead, he related the levy funding would have provided the LCHD with the opportunity to grow services and to expand beyond state-mandated programs.
“We can still do our state-mandated programs and you’ll still see us doing our same day-to-day duties, but with the levy, we were hoping to be less grant dependent and to be more sustainable for the long-term.”
Also with the levy, Irvan said the health district wanted to be more responsive to community needs. Each time a Community Needs Assessment Survey is conducted in Logan County, the health commissioner related that certain chronic conditions routinely come up, including cancer, diabetes and asthma.
“We would love to do more to address these community needs, but right now, we are pinching pennies and are grant dependent. Unless we get a specific grant, we can’t do a lot to address these chronic diseases.
“The grants have been helpful, but they only last for so long. So it can be difficult to build that longevity to retain staff as well.”
As far as future levy attempts or what direction the Logan County District Board of Health might pursue, Irvan noted that the board meets in regular session Wednesday (today), “so we’ll get some feedback right away.”