Health Department Responds to 0.5 Mill Levy Passing

ZANESVILLE, Ohio – The Zanesville-Muskingum County Health Department’s 10 year 0.5 mill operating levy passed in yesterday’s elections.

This 0.5 mill operating levy is a renewal, so Muskingum County homeowners will not see an increase, they’ll simply pay the same amount they’ve been paying for the last ten years. Muskingum County Health Commissioner Corey Hamilton wishes to tell the voters, thank you.

“We strive to be the best public health department that we can be and passing this levy will allow us to move forward with the accreditation process that we’re required to go through in Ohio,” Hamilton said. “So we really look forward to being able to be better prepared and more effective and meeting the public health needs of this community.

Hamilton explained the local funding in general makes up about 45% of their total revenue annually.

“If we have a fee based system, if we have a grant, or if we have some other way to fund a particular service, then we will always choose that first and reserve our local levy funds for things that benefit our community and cannot be paid for any other way,” said Hamilton.

The funds raised through the levy will go towards addressing the opioid crisis and collaborating with other Mental Health Organizations to combat the problem. The levy funds will go towards mosquito spraying in the summer, and the community health assessment’s research.

“We partner widely throughout the community with other entities to figure out what are the health issues that we’re facing in Muskingum County,” Hamilton said. “Then our Community Health Improvement Planning , which is also a collaborative process to help determine what we want to do about those health issue that we’re facing in the community.