A levy for the Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health (ADAMH) Board was voted unanimously Wednesday to be placed on a Nov. 2, 2021 General Election ballot, according to Bill Showman, manager of prevention and evaluation services at the Paint Valley ADAMH Board, during the Wednesday meeting of the Highland County Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition (HCDAPC).
A document Showman presented, paid for by the Friends of ADAMH, said the 10-year levy property tax levy, if passed, would raise $4.7 million annually. But because it is a renewal level, it would not raise taxes. The document pointed out the following:
* The levy would cost a property owner $2.63 per month for each $100,000 of valuation.
* More than 12,000 residents received services across the ADAMH network.
* Renewal of the levy maintains mental health services for children and families that cannot afford them, have nowhere else to go, and could go untreated.
* The local levy provides 56 percent of the annual ADAMH operating budget.
* In 2020, over 10,000 youths were served by ADAMH prevention programs.
* Renewal of the level would preserve treatment and housing for those with several mental illness.
* Without the levy, current crisis programming would be severely impacted.
In other news, Showman said Red Ribbon Week will continue this year, taking place from Oct. 23-31. He said this event is for all Highland County schools and that planning “usually” starts in September. However, that changed to August this year because organizers found September of last year was a little late.
Showman said the theme for this year is “Drug-Free Looks Like Me.”
Showman and Creed Culbreath, president of the HCDAPC, discussed the 2022 community plan. Showman recommended shifting the 2021 plan to 2022, but Culbreath said there were some people that said there were some groups that might need changes, so he said he would conact various chairpersons and make sure the’re comfortable shifting the 2021 plan to 2022, or if they want some changes made to the plan.
Also discussed was the Quick Response Team (QRT). Culbreath said it continues to see people and transports people when they don’t have transportation available. He also said QRT was at a public event where it distributed naloxone and provided training for distributing the naloxone for those that wanted to help in the event of a possible overdose emergency.
Culbreath also gave an update on REACH for Tomorrow. He said the organization is about to receive a new certification and will have news of the specifics of that atthe next meeting.
The next Highland County Drug Abuse Prevention Coalition meeting will take place from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 22 at the North High Business Center.
Reach Jacob Clary at 937-402-2570.
