MANSFIELD — A half-mill levy renewal for Richland Public Health was approved county-wide by voters on Tuesday.
According to final, unofficial results from the Richland County Board of Elections, the tax levy earned 58.12% of the vote, or 20,728 votes.
As a renewal, the levy will not cost local property owners additional taxes. Currently, the owner of a $100,000 property pays about $17 a year to help the health department provide public services.
The half-mill provision will continue to generate about $800,000 per year.
“On behalf of myself and the staff and the board of health at Richland Public Health (RPH), we’re extremely excited, as well as honored and very appreciative to all the residents of Richland County that supported us for this .5 mill levy,” said Julie Chaya, Richland Public Health commissioner.
RPH has two 10-year levies totaling 1.4 mills that provide about a third of the agency’s funding. The rest comes primarily from grants and fees.
Chaya said tonight’s passage of the levy will primarily fund operational costs, but also allow her to leverage local funds toward receiving state and federal funds.
“I’m always really interested and aggressive at getting unique opportunities and grants for the Richland County area,” she said.
“Now with these levy funds, we can continue to do those high-quality, superior public health efforts throughout the entire community. We’re very enthusiastic and look forward to doing that soon for the Richland County area.”
Operational costs at RPH include staff salaries, supplies and materials, and resources that are provided at little to no cost to the community.
In previous coverage, Chaya said she’d like to increase staffing in the future, among other expansions that will bring community health services to every corner of the county.
Her first priority with the levy renewal is striving for excellence in the environmental health program, she said on Tuesday. This includes food, water and septic inspections, as well as the mosquito and tick programs.
“As the community continues to grow and we continue to attract really big, unique opportunities to the Richland County area, we’re striving for excellence in providing services, especially for our environmental health program throughout the whole community,” she said.
“If you haven’t been aware of some of our environmental health services, you’re definitely going to know about it in the months to come.”