Highland County sets 4th straight annual record for permissive sales tax receipts; commissioners OK broadband agreements

For a fourth straight year, Highland County has collected an annual record total of permissive sales tax receipts, topping $9.3 million in 2023, as discussed at the Wednesday, Dec. 20 Highland County commission meeting.

Highland County Auditor Alex Butler told Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades that the county received $820,880.20 for December 2023. A $7,451.93 increase over December 2022, those receipts brought the year-to-date total to $9,394,398.30. That is a $129,650.05 increase over the 2022 yearly total.

As previously reported, 2020 began the record-breaking trend with $7.5 million in receipts, which increased to $8.8 million in 2021, then $9.2 million in 2022. 

Despite four straight years of increases, Butler cautioned that this may not be the case in 2024, as he discussed the annual totals and said the county is “starting to see a plateau.

“Just for a little perspective, the the difference between ’20 and ’21 was an 18-percent increase, $1.3 million and some change,” Butler said. “The difference between ’21 and ’22 was a 4.5-percent increase. Just shy of $400,000 was the difference. But the difference between 2022 and 2023 is 1.4 percent, just under $130,000. 

“Even though we did see an increase from ’23 over ’22, that increase is only 1.4 percent, significantly less than the increase over the last couple of year. I think we're starting to see that plateau. What next year we'll bring, I don't know. We may still be stable, but we may not.”

Daniels thanked Butler for the “perspective.

“We have talked about this possibility for going on five years that at some point or another, that was going to happen,” Daniels said.

Britton added that “it truly amazes me that through COVID” and the ensuing years that the totals have continued to increase. 

In other discussion:

• Following an executive session to discuss compensation, commissioners met with Charter Communications/Spectrum Director of Government Affairs Sam Bain and voted to enact legislation related to previously earmarked American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for the company.

As previously reported, in November 2021, commissioners approved “a resolution to support, by monetary contribution and public resolution, a Residential Broadband Infrastructure Project by Spectrum Mid-America, LLC as managed by Charter Communications, Inc. in Highland County.” According to the resolution, the county “pledged to contribute … $500,000 for Charter’s Residential Broadband Infrastructure Project in Highland County,” in addition to offering a letter of support for the company’s application for an Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant Program.

In March 2022, the Ohio Governor’s Office announced that Spectrum had been awarded $5,812,813 for their Highland County project, affecting 1,232 households. According to that announcement, “Upon completion of the proposed project build, residents in Highland County will have access to Spectrum Internet Gig service, with speeds of up to one gigabit download and 500megabit upload. Utilizing Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) technology, Spectrum is able to scale this project to support future growth to support consumer and data demands.”

Overall, Bain said that is “about an $11.1 million project,” which will be covered by the $5.8 million grant, the $500,000 commitment from Highland County and “private investment” from the Charter/Spectrum company.

“I really appreciate the county’s contribution on that,” Bain said. “We have that project in 12 of the 17 townships here in Highland County: Fairfield, Penn, Union, Liberty, Paint, Marshall, Washington, New Market, Hamer, Dodson, Salem, and then we have a handful of locations in Brushcreek as well.”

In addition, Bain said the company has a second project, through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF), affecting “2,732 locations in all 17 townships” in Highland County.

“It’s an $11.1 million project, and we received about $2.2 million from the FCC on that,” Bain said. “The balance would be private investment from Spectrum.”

Thus far, Bain said that “walkout validations are complete,” where Charter/Spectrum “sends a team that physically walks out” to map out the area to verify house locations. Now, he said, design plans are underway. 

“We’ve done a little bit of underground construction and some work on aerial lines, mainly in the northern part of the county near Leesburg, and I believe we have some activated locations in the townships of Salem, Hamer and Dodson,” Bain said.

Daniels asked what having “activated” locations means.

“We have passed their house with the fiber line, and if they wanted service, that they could call today and activate it,” Bain said.

Britton said that the “big underserved area” as far as internet access in the county is mainly the Jackson, Washington, Brushcreek and Marshall area. Bain said they would likely be impacted by RDOF projects. 

Bain also shared a handout explaining a November announcement by the company on a “nearly $1.25 billion” investment in Ohio “through a network evolution project and broadband expansion commitments.” According to the handout, “nearly $750 million, offset by $200 million in federal, state and local grants,” is being dedicated toward reaching “nearly 140,000 unserved homes and small businesses” across the state, including those mentioned in Highland County.

In addition, Charter is dedicating “nearly $500 million in a network evolution project in Ohio,” which is a “100-percent Charter-funded investment” targeted for completion by the end of 2025 “across the company’s Ohio’s service area.” Bain said that is primarily for their “legacy network,” or existing customers, to give them “multi-gig-capable” internet “as well as providing symmetrical speeds.”

“This is putting our network through that evolution for the current legacy network, and setting them up to be future-proof as well,” Bain said.

Daniels asked what the company’s “percent completion” on the project is.

“On the state grant, I would say we're more just getting started on that, just because we're waiting on the pole permits issues on that,” Bain said. “It’s hard to give a percentage on the RDOF program. 

“The pole issue has really delayed things in that regard. But on the RDOF program, we have some areas activated, and we're in that design process right now. I can't give an exact percentage, but we're pushing through on that as well.”

Bain added that he would be “happy to stay in touch” with the commissioners office throughout the construction process and share “regular updates.”

Britton then asked about deadlines for the broadband grants.

“On the RDOF program, the deadline for that is December of 2026,” Bain said. “On the state grant program, the deadline for that is December of 2025.

“I talked to our construction team, and again, this is all very much dependent on the pole issues that we're going through right now, but we hope to make a lot of progress next year. There’s going to be a lot of activity here.”

Roades asked if the plan would be to offer “internet, TV and telephone” or only internet to new customers. 

“They can do whatever they want,” Bain said, and added that their mobile phone network will also be an option.

Bain also thanked commissioners for passing a resolution at their Dec. 5 meeting in response to pole permitting delays for the various broadband expansion projects in the area. The resolution was to “agree to support the safe and rapid deployment of essential broadband connectivity and investment in Highland County, and to strongly urge the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to quickly resolve the unprecedented pole permitting delays by Investor-Owned Utilities that are preventing high-speed broadband from reaching unserved and underserved county residents.”

“That's kind of one of things we're waiting on with the state grant is those pole permits, so that can cause delays,” Bain said. “We have conversations with those pole owners — with AEP, with South Central Power and the other ones you have in the county — just to make sure that they're moving that forward. We appreciate your support on that.”

In addition, Bain asked the commission to pass along thanks to the Highland County Engineer’s Office.

“One thing our construction team did tell me is that they really appreciate the county's permitting process through the engineer,” he said. “They said it's one of the most user-friendly and intuitive processes they've worked with, so I just wanted to thank the county for their support on that.”

After their discussion, commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a resolution to “authorize funding for the Ohio Residential Broadband Expansion Grant project by Spectrum Mid-America, LLC as managed by Charter Communications, Inc. with Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery funds as established under the American Rescue Plan Act,” as well as a Broadband Infrastructure Grant agreement contract with Spectrum Mid-America LLC/Charter Communications, Inc. 

“Funds will be released sometime this afternoon,” Daniels told Bain. “I think the agreement calls for a 50-percent payment now. We’ll send that in, and then the agreement then calls for a second payment, I think at 50-percent completion of the project.”

Commissioners also thanked Bain for the company’s investment in the community.

“We've seen not only with Spectrum/Charter, but we've also seen other companies that are taking an interest in getting our underserved areas of the county some better services,” Daniels said. “I’m glad that everybody is kind of stepping up and working together to provide service to our residents and a lot of underserved areas. 

“We appreciate all that you're doing. I'm glad we were able to help.”

• Commissioners also met with Ethan Reynolds, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s new Southwest Regional Liaison. Reynolds attended commissioners’ 9 a.m. session, as he said he was trying to meet elected officials across the region he serves, which includes Highland, Adams, Brown, Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton and Warren counties.  

“I've been with Governor DeWine for about a decade now in different roles,” Reynolds said. “I was an aide for a while, then became a constituent liaison, then the deputy director and now this.”

Reynolds encouraged commissioners to reach out if they have “an issue with one of the state boards, commissions or agencies” so he can assist if possible and to also include him in invitations for “community events,” such as ones hosted by the Chamber of Commerce.

Daniels told Reynolds that the county has “put our requests in the portal” for various proposed capital funding projects.

“As those things move through the legislature, and then finally end up finding our way to the governor's desk, we would hope they would look favorably on the things we’ve asked for,” Daniels said. “We've got things that actually increase public health and would help to increase public safety. We've got a couple of projects that will enhance our parks. We're trying to look at all different kinds of opportunities.”

Daniels added that the county is still working on plans for an already funded project for a new MARCS tower.

Commissioners and Highland County Emergency Management Agency Director David Bushelman met with Angela Canepa, the Ohio Department of Administrative Services’ Deputy Director of First Responder Communications Initiatives, Oct. 24. The county has been awarded $750,000 in state funding for the construction of a new MARCS tower, and funding coordinator Nicole Oberrecht said the county is “going to put a local match of $530 [thousand], for a total of $1,280,000” for the project. Thus far, a site for the tower has not been identified, as their preferred location would be in Marshall Township.

“We’ve been working with [the Ohio Department of] Public Safety,” Daniels told Reynolds. “I think it's fair to say we've had a couple of hiccups, but I think that we've kind of straightened some of that out now, and the ball’s back in our court to find some property to put that on.

“Those are things that we've been working on that have direct correlation with state government, and so that’s probably the things that I'm thinking about that we've kind of got going on or that the governor can be helpful with.”

Reynolds said that “as the budget moves forward,” commissioners can “let me know exactly what” they are requesting and he would pass the message along “to our legislative staff that reviews the budget.” 

Britton added that the county will also be communicating with “our representatives to make sure that they understand what we're” seeking, but “any help you can give us on that would be greatly appreciated.” 

On a more personal note, Reynolds told commissioners he was “very happy” to find out that Hillsboro had a Ponderosa and took his parents to the restaurant last weekend. “It was a good childhood memory,” he said.

As Reynolds said he was going to Greenfield later in the day, Daniels also spoke of “hometown pride” and encouraged Reynolds to take the time to tour McClain High School.

• Britton noted that commissioners will be holding a special meeting to pass the 2024 budget, with the date and time to be announced. It is tentatively planned for Friday, he said. According to commission clerk Mary Remsing, there will be no regular meeting Dec. 27.

• Repairs on the Highland County Administration Building’s elevator are underway, as mentioned by Daniels. The elevator has been out of order since October.

• After their session with Bain, commissioners entered another executive session to discuss compensation.

Commissioners also approved the following resolutions, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A resolution to reclassify Resolution 23-40, with the original date of March 15, as a Transfer Out instead of an Advance Out in the amount of $200,000.

“We advanced Children Services $200,000 for child care, and because of their shortfall, they're not in the position to repay that, so we need to change that,” Daniels said.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the Dog and Kennel (2000) fund in the amount of $1,500.

• A budget modification within Engineer’s Repair MVL Fund (2065) in the amount of $468,000. 

• A budget modification within DETAC Treasurer’s Fund (7200) in the amount of $5,440.13.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the County General (1000) fund in the amount of $12,000.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the Dog and Kennel (2000) fund in the amount of $2,000.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the Dog and Kennel (2000) fund in the amount of $100.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the Wireless 911 (4030) fund in the amount of $3,800.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the County General (1000) fund in the amount of $250.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds within the County General (1000) fund in the amount of $800.

• An additional appropriation from unappropriated funds to County-Transfers Out in the amount $5,500,000.

• A transfer from Transfers Out to 2540 Victim Witness in the amount of $80,000.

• A transfer from Transfers Out to 2460 Child Emergency in the amount of $200,000.

• A transfer from Transfers Out to 2360 IT Upgrades in the amount of $100,000.

• A transfer from Transfers Out to 2000 Dog & Kennel in the amount of $50,000.

• A transfer from Transfers Out to 4050 Capital Improvement in the amount of $5,340,000.

• A budget modification within County General (1000) fund in the amount of $468.10.

• A budget modification within Victim-Witness Assistance Fund (2540) in the amount of $39.98.

• A budget modification within the Tax Map Office budget in the amount of $3,584.80.

• A budget modification within the DETAC-CO Treasurer (7200) budget in the amount of $124.24.

• An additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the August 2023 Special Election Fund in the amount of $3,468.34.