The 2.5 mill replacement levy should generate $2.8 million per year and provide half of the agency’s funding.

Although commissioners said they cannot publicly endorse any levy, Commissioner Ken Frayer recently acknowledged the fact that without the Children Services’ local tax revenue, the agency would turn to the county general fund to provide mandated child protection services.

With the current levy expiring in 2009, Children Services says they would be dealt a financial blow should the levy fail.

"It’s a serious situation,” explains Executive Director Eric Bush. “We have been diligent in steadily reducing our costs over the past several years without minimizing services. Our goal was to avoid going back to the voters of Marion County before our current levy expired. We achieved that goal and now are asking the community to continue their support for the next 10 years.”

Bush pointed out that he is “acutely aware” of current economic conditions which have resulted in financial hardships for many individuals, including those families the agency serves.

“We will continue to be aggressive in managing our costs,” Bush explained. “At the same time, the work we do to protect abused and neglected children is extremely important. If the levy is not successful, it would seriously weaken our agency and endanger our ability to protect children."

According to the Marion County Auditor’s Office, the levy would cost the owner of a $75,000 home about 15 cents a day, or $4.79 a month.

Children Services, which has 43 employees, investigates allegations of child abuse and neglect, and places children in safe kinship (relative) and foster homes. For children who cannot be reunited with their biological parents, the agency works to identify permanent homes through adoption.

Bush said Children Services receives over 1,200 calls annually and investigates more than 500 reports of abuse and neglect each year.

The services provided by the agency are critical for "the quality of life for the entire community both directly and indirectly," noted Bush, who first joined the agency 26 years ago as a caseworker.

"I genuinely believe that all of us have a stake in protecting the children in our community," he added. "When people vote for such a levy, they say, 'Yes, I'm part of this community, and I want to help support and care not only for my child, but my neighbor's child as well.' And that is an extremely important piece of community life – a sense that we're all together on the issue of protecting children."