Commissioners present projected 2017 general fund budget
Lead Summary
By
Rory Ryan-hcpress@cinci.rr.com
Highland County Commissioners Shane Wilkin, Tom Horst and Jeff Duncan and Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley have submitted the projected 2017 estimated general fund revenues to be $9,810,000, with $5,750,000 of that coming through permissive sales taxes and $1,800,000 from property taxes.
At the Wednesday, Dec. 7 commissioners' meeting, the board presented the tentative departmental budgets that will be distributed among department heads this week.
"With the loss of anticipated revenue next year, we're going back $190,000," Wilkin said at the Nov. 30 board meeting.
"Unless the state does something about the sales tax, 2018 will take a major hit," Fawley said.
Wilkin, Duncan and commissioner-elect Terry Britton attended this week's County Commissioners Association of Ohio Winter Conference in Columbus.
Discussions at the CCAO Winter Conference this week indicated “There will be budget challenges statewide,” Wilkin said.
“That could make their way down to us in 2017 and ’18,” Wilkin said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich also announced this week that “We are on the verge of a recession in our state. Total tax revenues for November came in $99 million below estimates, putting it off the mark by 5 percent, including income taxes that came in more than 10 percent under projections. This follows October, when revenues were off by $88 million,” according to a Dec. 6 report in The Columbus Dispatch.
“Are we (the state of Ohio) less than what we had or less than anticipated in revenues?” Fawley asked, in regard to Kasich's looming recession announcement.
“You'll have to ask Kasich,” Wilkin said.
Wilkin said this week the budget should be finalized at the Dec. 14 board meeting.
“I’m sure some department heads won’t be happy,” Wilkin said. “The original request was $10,661,756. We are now at $9,810,000 – to the penny.”
As reported in September, the county's loss in Medicaid-related tax revenues is approximately $800,000 out of the annual budget. These dollars end June 30, 2017.
* * *
• Commissioners also discussed the establishment of a board for the county’s land reutilization corporation (land bank). The land bank will consist of a director and five board members, as follows: the county treasurer or her appointee, two commissioners or their appointees, one member from the city of Hillsboro and one member from Paint Township. The county is asking the city of Hillsboro to submit a Land Bank board representative by the end of the month. The Land Bank board can be expanded to up to nine members, Wilkin said.
“We will need to send a letter to the city of Hillsboro asking for some names they might want appointed to the board,” Wilkin said. “I’ll draft a letter and send it to council and ask them to provide a name.”
Wilkin said that the land bank “can be used anywhere in the county that the board sees a need.”
“The idea is not a land bank to gobble up property,” Wilkin said. “It’s to take land that isn’t in the tax base and return it to the tax base. There is a set amount of money that has to be used at Rocky Fork Lake (through the RFL-ASAP federal funding).”
Commissioners plan to establish a board for the land bank in January. Their 2017 organizational meeting will be Jan. 9 at 9 a.m.
* * *
• Commissioners also met on Dec. 7 with Highland County Recycling Director Heidi Devine, who reported that she is placing more bins throughout the county, including new bins at the Paint Township building on U.S. 50 and at the Hillsboro Board of Education office on Willettsville Pike. Another bin will be added to Lynchburg after the first of the year.
Current bin locations are: the Greenfield Sunoco; Hillsboro Sunoco; Hi-TEC Center (by BMV); CM Recycling in Hillsboro; Premier Grain in Leesburg; Terry’s Grocery in Lynchburg; the Marshall Mini Mart; the Old Feed Mill in Mowrystown; and the Ameristop in New Market.
Materials that can be recycled are plastic bottles and jugs; glass bottles and jars; aluminum cans; steel cans and lids; paperboard (like cereal boxes); cardboard; office paper; envelopes and junk mail; newspapers, magazines and inserts; telephone books and catalogs; and cartons.
The organization is also working on a grant application, Devine said.
“You are doing great things,” Duncan told Devine. “We thank you.”
* * *
• Commissioners voted to approve contracts with Pro Kill for the Hi-TEC Center and the Probation Department for the year 2017.
* * *
Commissioners received a letter from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control regarding a license transfer at the Country Corner Market in Madison Township. Commissioners said they would wait until Dec. 14 to see if there were any objections.
* * *
Resolutions
In other action, commissioners approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:
• A modification within County from Transfers Out to SCORJDC in the amount of $19,287.99.
• A modification within County from County Buildings to Official Bonds in the amount of $20.
• A request from the Highland County Department of Job & Family Services for a transfer from Public Assistance to Child Support Enforcement in the amount of $5,859.19.
• A resolution to establish a new line item in O-19 and appropriate $8,092 and to repay County Advance from O-19 to A-00 $8,092.
• A modification within County from Transfers Out to Soil & Water in the amount of $27,000.
• A request from the Treasurer for a modification within DETAC-Treasurer, Equipment into Other Expenses in the amount of $3,445.
At the Wednesday, Dec. 7 commissioners' meeting, the board presented the tentative departmental budgets that will be distributed among department heads this week.
"With the loss of anticipated revenue next year, we're going back $190,000," Wilkin said at the Nov. 30 board meeting.
"Unless the state does something about the sales tax, 2018 will take a major hit," Fawley said.
Wilkin, Duncan and commissioner-elect Terry Britton attended this week's County Commissioners Association of Ohio Winter Conference in Columbus.
Discussions at the CCAO Winter Conference this week indicated “There will be budget challenges statewide,” Wilkin said.
“That could make their way down to us in 2017 and ’18,” Wilkin said.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich also announced this week that “We are on the verge of a recession in our state. Total tax revenues for November came in $99 million below estimates, putting it off the mark by 5 percent, including income taxes that came in more than 10 percent under projections. This follows October, when revenues were off by $88 million,” according to a Dec. 6 report in The Columbus Dispatch.
“Are we (the state of Ohio) less than what we had or less than anticipated in revenues?” Fawley asked, in regard to Kasich's looming recession announcement.
“You'll have to ask Kasich,” Wilkin said.
Wilkin said this week the budget should be finalized at the Dec. 14 board meeting.
“I’m sure some department heads won’t be happy,” Wilkin said. “The original request was $10,661,756. We are now at $9,810,000 – to the penny.”
As reported in September, the county's loss in Medicaid-related tax revenues is approximately $800,000 out of the annual budget. These dollars end June 30, 2017.
* * *
• Commissioners also discussed the establishment of a board for the county’s land reutilization corporation (land bank). The land bank will consist of a director and five board members, as follows: the county treasurer or her appointee, two commissioners or their appointees, one member from the city of Hillsboro and one member from Paint Township. The county is asking the city of Hillsboro to submit a Land Bank board representative by the end of the month. The Land Bank board can be expanded to up to nine members, Wilkin said.
“We will need to send a letter to the city of Hillsboro asking for some names they might want appointed to the board,” Wilkin said. “I’ll draft a letter and send it to council and ask them to provide a name.”
Wilkin said that the land bank “can be used anywhere in the county that the board sees a need.”
“The idea is not a land bank to gobble up property,” Wilkin said. “It’s to take land that isn’t in the tax base and return it to the tax base. There is a set amount of money that has to be used at Rocky Fork Lake (through the RFL-ASAP federal funding).”
Commissioners plan to establish a board for the land bank in January. Their 2017 organizational meeting will be Jan. 9 at 9 a.m.
* * *
• Commissioners also met on Dec. 7 with Highland County Recycling Director Heidi Devine, who reported that she is placing more bins throughout the county, including new bins at the Paint Township building on U.S. 50 and at the Hillsboro Board of Education office on Willettsville Pike. Another bin will be added to Lynchburg after the first of the year.
Current bin locations are: the Greenfield Sunoco; Hillsboro Sunoco; Hi-TEC Center (by BMV); CM Recycling in Hillsboro; Premier Grain in Leesburg; Terry’s Grocery in Lynchburg; the Marshall Mini Mart; the Old Feed Mill in Mowrystown; and the Ameristop in New Market.
Materials that can be recycled are plastic bottles and jugs; glass bottles and jars; aluminum cans; steel cans and lids; paperboard (like cereal boxes); cardboard; office paper; envelopes and junk mail; newspapers, magazines and inserts; telephone books and catalogs; and cartons.
The organization is also working on a grant application, Devine said.
“You are doing great things,” Duncan told Devine. “We thank you.”
* * *
• Commissioners voted to approve contracts with Pro Kill for the Hi-TEC Center and the Probation Department for the year 2017.
* * *
Commissioners received a letter from the Ohio Division of Liquor Control regarding a license transfer at the Country Corner Market in Madison Township. Commissioners said they would wait until Dec. 14 to see if there were any objections.
* * *
Resolutions
In other action, commissioners approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:
• A modification within County from Transfers Out to SCORJDC in the amount of $19,287.99.
• A modification within County from County Buildings to Official Bonds in the amount of $20.
• A request from the Highland County Department of Job & Family Services for a transfer from Public Assistance to Child Support Enforcement in the amount of $5,859.19.
• A resolution to establish a new line item in O-19 and appropriate $8,092 and to repay County Advance from O-19 to A-00 $8,092.
• A modification within County from Transfers Out to Soil & Water in the amount of $27,000.
• A request from the Treasurer for a modification within DETAC-Treasurer, Equipment into Other Expenses in the amount of $3,445.