Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging to seek levy renewal in May
The Richland County commissioners have taken the first step to put a levy renewal on the May 2 primary election ballot that would allow the Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging to continue and expand services. The board voted at its meeting on Tuesday to approve a resolution of necessity asking Auditor Pat Dropsey to certify the amount of revenue that would be generated by a five-year renewal of the agency’s current 1.5 mill senior services levy.
Agency Chief Executive Officer Duana Patton told commissioners that the levy “is truly a gift” for the organization and all the people it serves across Richland County.
“It has allowed us to do a lot of great things to serve seniors to keep them in their home and the innovation we’ve been able to have and the opportunities that we’ve had really to leverage more federal funds and to also kind of be pioneers in setting up some programs that have been done across our region of nine counties and even across the state,” she said.
Trae Turner, the agency’s chief of community living who oversees operation of the services, said some of the direct services programs that the levy supports include home delivered meals, transportation, emergency response, and chore, personal care and homemaker services.
Services help many who don’t qualify for other programs
“Some of the services are for those individuals who are 60 and over that aren’t eligible for Passport, Medicaid funding or possibly other funding sources,” he explained. “It really gives us that funding stream that we can support those individuals to either alleviate some of the burdens that maybe the family or they themselves are able to support but not all of it.”
Over the past several years, Turner said the work force capacity in virtually every organization and the providers they contract with have been impacted by the ability to hire and retain state tested nursing assistants. He pointed out that while the aging agency’s care coordination program contracted with 43 personal care and homemaker providers, only 18 had been actively able to accept cases.
Turner told the board that the agency had conversations with community partners such as the workforce development arm of Mansfield-Richland Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development and State Senator Mark Romanchuk to come up with solutions. Since August of 2021, he said levy funds enabled the agency to hire a registered nurse and an STNA who provided nearly 900 hours of service to 55 individuals who otherwise would have been without help when providers were unable to staff cases.
Turner said officials are expecting that the problem will not be going away and are looking to hire more STNAs to be prepared to meet the need. He noted that while the “Mansfield Zip Codes” are easier for providers to service, the agency is struggling to get providers to go to areas such as Shelby, Lexington and the more rural communities partly because of the travel costs.
Because of how the agency uses levy funds, Turner said it was able to get a waiver from the Ohio Department of Aging to use state and federal funds to provide direct services. He explained that allows local officials to grow capacity with funds that are available and use levy funds in other areas where there are known needs.
“We’re the only ones in the state doing this right now as far as area agencies and there are 12 area agencies. We’re the only ones to have gotten a waiver,” Turner said. “This funding gives us flexibility and allows us to be innovative.”
Levy dollars used to combat social isolation
Turner told the board the agency put local dollars to use to help seniors deal with social isolation during COVID and is continuing to do so as the area comes out of the pandemic. Some examples included programs with community partners such as “grab-and-go” meals, activity and wellness kits, field trips and luncheons provided by the North End Community Improvement Collaborative, and transportation programs in Shelby.
“A lot of the funds we were able to get through the pandemic would not have been available without using the county senior services levy as a local match,” Turner said.
A handout provided by officials pointed out that the agency received $39,000 in grants to combat social isolation and spent $153,794 overall to enhance the well being of Richland County seniors through the NECIC programs, group technology classes provided by the Richland Academy of the Arts, and the purchase and distribution of smoke detectors. It also noted that over the last three years there has been a 237% increase in the number of clients receiving meals, an 80% increase in home repair jobs, and a 30% increase in transportation services.
Commissioners will consider a second resolution to put the levy renewal on the May ballot after they receive the revenue certification from Dropsey. The deadline for political subdivisions to file issues for the primary election with the Board of Elections is Feb. 1.
The Richland County Senior Services levy was first passed in 2008 as a 5-year, 1 mill levy, was renewed in 2013 and increased to 1.5 mills and renewed in 2018. The Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging administers programs funded by the Richland County levy.
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