Commissioners discuss consolidation of government, talk county budget

By Tay­lor Kaser -

Con­sol­i­dat­ing ser­vices and cut­ting local gov­ern­ment costs were the main top­ics at the com­mis­sion­ers’ June 6 meeting.

Com­mis­sioner Tom Whis­ton said that the bud­get will have to be reviewed in July.

An audi­ence mem­ber asked how much money the county is receiv­ing from the state for local government.

Com­mis­sioner Olen Jack­son said that the county has received about $200,000 from the state, so far this year.

“We prob­a­bly get about 10% of what the state man­dates cre­ate for us.” said Whiston.

Jack­son explained this year they have received less and will con­tinue to do so. The county will receive 75% of what it received last year in the first six months, then 50% in the next six. Last year the county received $750,000.

Whis­ton dis­cussed the state’s steady decline in local fund­ing and the state’s push for con­sol­i­dat­ing ser­vices and offices as a pos­si­ble money sav­ing strategy.

He noted Cuya­hoga County has changed their form of gov­ern­ment — instead of three county com­mis­sion­ers, they have one county exec­u­tive and a council.

The only other elected offi­cial is the County Pros­e­cu­tor, all other posi­tions are appointed by the County Exec­u­tive and Council.

Ear­lier in the meet­ing, Whis­ton observed, “If you look at Ohio, from the stand­point of gov­ern­men­tal enti­ties, we way out-do any other state in the coun­try. With our town­ships, munic­i­pal, and school dis­tricts– we’ve got a lot,” he said, “Our biggest cost [is] pay­roll; schools — 85% of their costs are for payroll.”

A dis­cus­sion regard­ing the ben­e­fits and dis­ad­van­tages of con­sol­i­da­tion followed.

”If you con­sol­i­date,” asked Com­mis­sioner Tom Harden, ”what ben­e­fit is it going to be to the county and it’s cit­i­zens? Is it going to save us money or cost more?”

Speak­ing of con­sol­i­da­tion on a larger scale, Whis­ton described a sce­nario in which Mor­row and Mar­ion Coun­ties merged, with every­thing cen­tered in Mar­ion, as an example.

“They say they’re going to have a sav­ings,” Whis­ton said, “but they don’t account for the fact that then peo­ple would have to go to Mar­ion for all of their ser­vices. So they don’t account for the time, gas, or frus­tra­tion. We as gov­ern­ment have to under­stand that we’re here to pro­vide essen­tial ser­vices, and it takes a min­i­mum stan­dard to be able to do that. I think we’re below that in Mor­row County.”

Also in the meet­ing, a trans­fer of $5,000 from util­i­ties to cover jail repairs was approved from the gen­eral fund.

Keith Acker was appointed to the Mor­row County Local Emer­gency Plan­ning Committee.

Grant money received from Ohio EPA, $75,000, for the home sewage treat­ment sys­tem pro­gram, was placed in the HSTS Grants account.

A sub­sidy grant agree­ment for community-based cor­rec­tions pro­grams for the court of Com­mon Pleas, was approved at the com­mis­sion­ers June 11 reg­u­lar meet­ing. The amount, $89.901, will prob­a­bly be used for pro­ba­tion offi­cer salaries, noted Whiston.

For more spe­cific infor­ma­tion regard­ing how the money will be used, Whis­ton sug­gested check­ing with the court itself. The grant was a renewal, con­firmed Harden.

A motion for the county to enter into an agree­ment with the Depart­ment of Reha­bil­i­ta­tion and Cor­rec­tion for grant fund­ing was also approved.

A trans­fer of funds at the Com­mu­nity Ser­vice Build­ing to cover jan­i­to­r­ial sup­plies, $1,500, was approved.

Whis­ton announced that the county has received its 1812 flag and will be rais­ing the flag on June 18 at 11:30 a.m at a cer­e­mony at the Johnsville Library. Each county in the state received a flag.

Posted by Randa Wagner on Jun 13 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.