A positive meeting for VSC, county commissioners

This week's meeting with the Highland County commissioners and the Veterans Service Commission was a positive step in clearing the air, so to speak, between the two county offices.

There were valid points from those on either side. There was no name-calling from either side.

There was a rational exchange of ideas on the budgeting process and the increases proposed by the VSC board.

Commissioner Shane Wilkin opened the meeting by putting the cards directly on the table regarding the alleged practice of a so-called "gentlemen's agreement" between the agencies to fund the VSC at an amount less than the "not to exceed .5 mill" allowable rate by state law.

Wilkin asked all VSC members present: "Is there any Veterans Service board member who is aware of a gentlemen's agreement?"

"I don't know of any agreements," Alexander said.

County Auditor Bill Fawley said he was not aware of any agreements to underfund the veterans.

While there may have been no agreements – gentlemanly or otherwise – there has been an ongoing county practice of funding VSC well below the maximum allowed by Ohio statute.

However, if past VSC budgets requested X amount of funds, and if past commissioners approved X amount of funds, we're all a day late and a dollar short (or $800,000 short) to complain about it. It's water under the bridge.

Today's county commissioners and today's VSC board members have to not only live with past practices, but more importantly, they have to plan wisely for future needs for county veterans.

Getting all of this out in the open was a very positive step toward that end which, we can hope, will provide a good starting point for better public relations in the future.

I will add, too, that it was good to see county commissioner candidates Randy Mustard and Brenda Losey in attendance. These are the types of issues they will be addressing should voters approve their respective candidacies in November.

One other thing, as reported by The HCP, in the latest permissive sales tax report from the county auditor, Highland County revenues continue to trend above 2011 monthly numbers.

That's a good thing. But it's also something that we cannot guarantee in future months. We can hope, but we can't guarantee.

The June report (for the previous month's receipts) was $493,866.62, a 4.56-percent increase from the same period in 2011. The May 2012 number was $470,553.84, a 10.23-percent increase from last year.

Year-to-date comparisons show the county's permissive sales tax receipts for 2012 are approximately $195,300 – a 7-percent increase – more than the comparative six-month period from one year ago.

Should these numbers continue to trend upward for the rest of 2012 and into 2013, commissioners surely will not be anticipating departmental cuts next year – even with the increase for Veterans Services.

That's good. County departments have been doing more with less for the last three years.

(And as I've said before, these are 2006 headlines for local private-sector workers.)

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.