Answers to frequently asked questions

The Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services (MHARS) Board makes our communities safer and stronger by serving as a hub for Butler County’s mental health and recovery needs. The MHARS board directs funding to important services that Butler County residents use every day including education and prevention programs for children and teens, intensive homebased family counseling, the Butler County Behavioral Health Crisis Line & Drug Hopeline, lifesaving overdose treatment, drug Quick Response Teams (QRTs), in-home depression treatment for seniors, and support for people who have lost loved ones to suicide or overdose. In addition, the MHARS board helps providers be as effective as possible through coordination, oversight, advocacy, ongoing needs assessment, quality control, and strategic planning services. Learn more about the services supported by the MHARS board here.

Each year, the MHARS board funds mental health and addiction recovery programs that serve more than 40,000 people, or about 1 in 10 Butler County residents. People who use MHARS board services reside in nearly every Butler County community and represent all races, genders, income brackets, education levels, and age groups.

About 25% of all people each year, and 50% of all people over the course of a lifetime, will experience a significant mental health challenge. While mental illness and addiction spiked in recent years due to the COVID pandemic and the opioid epidemic, the need for these services has been trending upwards for years. The MHARS board served over 40,000 people in 2023, more than six times as many as 6,500 people served by the separate mental health and addiction boards in 2006. Furthermore, comparing 2012 to 2023, overdose deaths increased by 28% (101 to 130) and suicide deaths are up 54% (37 to 57).

The results of the drug epidemic and COVID pandemic placed increased demand on Butler County’s mental health and addiction providers and the MHARS board rose to the occasion. In 2017, the county had 232 overdose deaths – its worst year yet. In 2022, on the heels of COVID, suicides spiked at 64. The MHARS board has taken an all-hands-on-deck approach to saving lives – using research-backed methods such as a mobile crisis team, harm reduction programming, Narcan distribution, intensive home based family therapy and counseling, and permanent supportive housing (PSH). They prevent suicide and overdose deaths by supporting hotline services, crisis intervention, education, training, counseling and outreach programs. As a result, last year, 30% fewer people died from an accidental overdose compared to 2022 and suicides fell by 11%.

Veterans are more likely to struggle with addiction and mental health issues, so the MHARS board plays an active role in supporting veterans' needs. Although they represent just over 5% of Butler County’s total population, veterans make up almost 16% (or about one in six) of county’s suicide deaths. The MHARS board supports specialized community services especially designed for veterans, active-duty military personnel, and first responders.

The MHARS board has been able to go 18 years without asking Butler County residents for new money by being good stewards of public dollars. About 57% of the board’s budget comes from two local tax levies, a 0.5-mill tax levy passed in 1985 and a 1-mill tax levy passed in 2006. Adjusting for inflation, the 0.5 mill levy brings in about one-third of what it did in 1985. To maintain the board’s current levels of service, it would be most effective to let the 1985 0.5 mill levy expire and put a new 0.5 mill levy on the November ballot, which will lock in revenue at 2024 values for the next five years.

If the issue fails this November, the MHARS board will dip below its required cash reserve next year. The board may be forced to scale back or eliminate funding for programs such as suicide prevention, counseling for children and teens, services that support seniors’ mental health, and addiction recovery treatment.

The 0.5 mill November issue will require an additional cost of less than $13 a year – or about $1 a month – per $100,000 of appraised property value. The MHARS board will allow the old 1985 levy to expire before collecting on the new levy, which will begin in 2025.

No. The cost provided is per your current property values as appraised by the County Auditor.

The 2024 General Election takes place Nov. 5. The deadline for voter registration is Oct. 7, and early voting begins on Oct. 8. You can find your polling location, how to request an absentee ballot, and other information by visiting the Butler County Board of Elections website.

Learn more about the MHARS board and the services it provides at the MHARS board website.