Wayne Allen

PDT Staff Writer

The Scioto County Financial Planing and Supervision Commission met for the first time in 2013 on Thursday and approved $180,000 in funding for various projects.

Chris McCoy, of the Auditor of State’s office updated the commission on the positive financial position of the county.

He said the county had a $1.5 million carryover in its general fund at the end of the year, with all other funds showing a positive balance.

“When you start the year with a balance of $360,000 to a $1.5 million carryover, that’s a pretty nice jump,” McCoy said. “You’ll also notice the Juvenile Detention Center deficit is no longer in existence. The county, with some of the extra funds they received they were able to pay of the remainder of that deficit.”

It was also reported at the meeting the county’s permissive sales tax ended the year $528,000 above estimates. The county budgeted receiving $750,000 in contract housing and received $873,341. Leaving the fund with a surplus of $123,341.

“As of the end of the year, the county appropriated a little over $17 million dollars and only spent $16.4 million. So they came in $700,000 below what they appropriated,” McCoy said. “As you can see, all of the hard work and sacrifices the county has made is beginning to pay off.”

During the meeting Mike Crabtree, Chairman of the Scioto County Commissioners, asked approval to proceed with several projects.

The projects include an expenditure of $99,990 to replace the roof on the courthouse.

On Tuesday, the commissioners met in special session to approve a contract with Five Star Commercial Roofing to do the work. Final approval on the project needed to come from the commission before work could begin.

Crabtree said the scope of the work includes the installation of a seamless roofing system that’s expected to last 20 years.

He said the current roof was installed about 20 years ago and has caused damage to the fourth floor of the courthouse, the extent of the damage has made the majority of the fourth floor uninhabitable. Damage has begun to appear on the third floor of the building.

The commission also approved the expenditure of $26,000 for the installation of security fencing around a portion of the Scioto County Jail. They also approved the expenditure of $55,000 in expenses related to setting up an office for Fourth District Court of Appeals Judge Marie Hoover.

To pay for the projects, Crabtree said the county set aside $250,000 dollars in 2013 in debt reduction that will not have to be used and the projects will be paid for using those funds.

“We got approval to do the things we have to do anyway. The money we have to spend is not going to use up all of the money we’ve set aside for debt reduction and it’s going to touch the carry over we had into this year,” Crabtree said.

He said Five Star Commercial Roofing will be given the green light on Thursday to get started on replacing the roof as soon as they can.

Another meeting for the Scioto County Financial Planing and Supervision Commission has not been set while work continues to bring the county out of finical emergency status with the state auditor’s office.

Wayne Allen may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 228, or tallen@civitasmedia.com.