Greene taxes stable
WAYNESBURG – Greene County commissioners are expected to approve a motion today to advertise a 2016 budget that includes no increases in property taxes.
Budget details will not be available until today’s meeting, but the spending plan is expected to maintain the current property tax rate of 7.535 mills. The commissioners are expected to vote Dec. 17 to adopt the final budget.
This year, the commissioners for the first time in more than a decade held public budget hearings in September and October with each of the county’s department heads.
“Everyone had a wish list, and we were able to do a lot of what each wanted, but not everything,” Commissioner Blair Zimmerman said.
The budget does provide money for each department to conduct the functions it is assigned to do, he said.
“I think it’s a sound budget,” Zimmerman said.
The budget will be advertised and open for public inspection for 20 days. It will be available on the county’s website and can be reviewed at the commissioners’ office at the county office building.
In other matters related to finance, the commissioners agreed to place on today’s agenda the hiring of an underwriter and bond counsel for the refinancing of the county’s 2006 bonds.
The bonds, which also were refinanced in 2011, were for $5.8 million. Among other things, the money was used for improvements at the jail, Waynesburg swimming pool and fairgrounds, and to provide seed money to communities for water and sewer projects.
The refinancing is expected to save in excess of 2.25 percent of the current bond’s interest charges, county Chief Clerk Jeff Marshall said. Because of fluctuations in bond rates, the savings will not be known until the bond closing, he said.
Alisha Reesh of Janey Montgomery will be hired as the managing underwriter and Chris Brewer of Dinsmore Shohl will be hired as bond counsel.
The commissioners also are expected to approve today the certified tax totals for 2016 prepared by the county assessment office. The assessment indicates a $74.7 million increase in value for all surface property, improvements and minerals in the county. The total valuation will be set at $1.726 billion.
The county also is expected to approve the county’s allocation of 2015 Act 13 impact fee money. The county received $4.5 million in impact fee money this year.
Of that amount, $1.3 million is earmarked for infrastructure for improvements to county roads, buildings and property; $280,000 for water infrastructure; $140,000 for emergency services for fire company grants and 911 tower leases; $208,000 for recreation and environmental services including the conservation district and farm land preservation.
In Addition, $376,000 is earmarked for information technology upgrades; $1.2 million for human services; and $235,000 for law and order. The county also will place $706,000 of the funds in capital reserve,
The county has been using the Act 13 money primarily for “non-recurring costs,” Marshall said. This includes capital projects, such as improvements at the fairgrounds and the courthouse. For the most part, it does not include money to fund salaries and other normal operational costs, he said.
If the county for whatever reason did not receive Act 13 money, it would have few problems funding its existing operations, he said.
To date, Marshall noted, the county has loaned about $3 million of Act 13 money to the county Department of Human Services, which is not receiving state money as the result of the state budget impasse. The Act 13 money will all be returned to the county after a state budget is adopted, Marshall said. To help get through the period without state funding, the department also has cut all unnecessary expenditure, such as travel and purchases, he said.
The county also plans to seek a $4 million tax anticipation loan in December to help cover the continuing costs of funding Human Services if a deal is still not reached by then. Even if a state budget is adopted soon, state reimbursement probably won’t begin being disburse until later in the year. Marshall said.