County Auditor Gives Context on “Full Plate” of Projects and Funding Complications
Ross County — The state requires a draft budget from city and county governments in July, and Ross County is working on theirs…though a little behind, with several big projects on their plate.
The so-called “Tax Budget” is meant to guide agency budgeting for the actual year-end budget, but it helps show what condition the government finances are mid-year.
The Ross County Commissioners held a workshop on their Tax Budget on July 14th with county auditor Jeff Lehner. The commissioners admitted they were not ready to meet the deadline and opted for an extension to the end of the month.
Afterward, I had a long conversation with Ross County Auditor Jeff Lehner to get more context on the situation. While the job of the commissioners is to decide on how to spend county money, the auditor watches over it.
In a previous conversation with the Ross County Port Authority on county involvement in developing the canal warehouse at Main and Mulberry streets, the commissioners had expressed concerns about the county budget.
They cited a possible loss of the state property tax, the impact of the paper mill being shut down on tax revenue, and several big-budget county projects. This fed my interest in what the Tax Budget would show.
Regarding the first concern, Auditor Lehner explained that a citizen-led state-wide revolutionary initiative to eliminate property taxes had been planned to come to a vote in the fall elections, but he said that has been delayed to May.
He said this initiative is part of the effort to reform the state property tax system, which allows jumps in de facto taxation without any direct action.
He said the governor’s veto of similar reforms from the state legislature have complicated the issue. One of those reforms would give county budget commissions more power to adjust various county tax streams. The Ohio House of Representatives is working on overriding the vetoes, with the Ohio Senate also a part of the process, as reported by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Lehner listed several projects the commissioners have committed to, which are in various stages of planning and have various levels of local, state, and federal funding: renovating county jail cells; restoring the exterior of the Courthouse and Old Jail; renovating the Ross County Service Center; building the State Route 104 sewer line; a possible county airport expansion; and a change in funding for Children’s Services.
Hear him explain it all in his own words in the below two-part video, a total of 26 minutes.
