Hamilton County Job and Family Services is finding itself in a tough spot, according to the presentation during its latest Tax Levy Review Committee meeting of the year.
At the Monday evening meeting, which was held at their new complex on Patricia McCollum Way in Bond Hill, two consultants from Public Consulting Group, Kacie Schlege and Sarah Sparks, presented their recommendations on the financial way forward: a tax levy for the Nov. 11 election ballot.
The Consultants presented three potential levy scenarios for the committee to consider. To keep services at their current level, the county needs an extra $123,417,635 per year from a new five-year levy. This assumes there will be no money left over when the new levy starts in 2027. If there happens to be $15M left over, that number drops to $120,417,635 per year.
The $74M option assumes continuing the $36M in reductions to services continuing into the next levy cycle. The required levy drops to $74,044,169 per year. Those cuts would reduce services to children and families, but would leave roughly $15,000,000 in reserve heading into 2027.
A $65,000,000 per year levy is also possible, but would require deep cuts across the board, including slower hiring, less support for relatives caring for children, reduced services, and partially eliminating placements for youth 18 and older. Like the previous option, this also assumes about $15,000,000 in reserve at the start of 2027.
Hamilton County Job and Family Services oversees child services for the county, funding the mandated local match to state and federal revenues for child services as required by Ohio’s child welfare statutes. Local responsibilities include investigations of allegations of child abuse and neglect and providing services to aid families, including mental health and substance use treatment, emergency housing and parent training.
At the meeting, Schlege broke down current revenue streams for JFS.
She showed a slide that stated, “Local government remains the primary funding source for Children’s services, contributing 70 percent of total revenue over the past five years. Federal Funding accounts for about 18 percent, while state contributions remain minimal at 12 percent.”
The slide also presented the following numbers:
2021: Federal – $39,972,770 State – $6,919,789 Local – $ 81,887,015
2022: Federal – $21,7811,046 State – $9,026,158 Local – $81,495,378
2023: Federal – $25,188,983 State – $9,725,323 Local – $82,199,191
2024: Federal – $29,633,371 State – $8,347,634 Local – $83,326,099
2025: Federal – $21,880,222 State – $14,560,240 Local – $82,976,742
Now, there could be significant revenue changes over the next five years, affecting how Hamilton County Job and family services can pay for its services.
Beginning in fiscal year 2026, typically beginning in July, Ohio can no longer use Social Security income toward room and board for children in JFS custody.
“JFS estimates the financial impact of this will be about 900,000 annually,” Schlege said to members of the TLRC.
The need for Job and Family Services has risen over each year since 2021. In that year, there were 2,603 children in JFS’s care. By 2025, they had 3,156 children in their custody. This is a 21.2 percent increase in children needing their services.
Further, they spend about $40,000,000 on the 45 percent of children they send to a foster home. The annual cost of each child is approximately $41,000.
About 36 percent of their children live in kinship care with relatives or nonrelative adults who have long-standing relationships or bonds with the youth. This caretaker provides care to them in their home. This costs JFS approximately $7,000 per child.
The latest levy, passed in 2021, but because out-of-home care costs have increased by 92 percent, Schlege said JFS’ out of home care costs “are well over half of the budget”
At current spending levels, projections show a levy would run a deficit by 2027. At the meeting, the consultant identified $36M in cuts for 2026 to allow the agency to stay solvent.
Commissioners earlier this year approved the roughly 36M in reductions to keep JFS solvent into early 2027.
In a previous meeting, the Board of County Commissioners discussed the timing of the levy and selected the November ballot over the May, with the sentiment of wanting to educate public on the Levy and for the Tax Levy Review Committee to submit its recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners.