Uncertain future for county budget; Commissioners optimistic
By Kyle Valentini
August 27, 2011
277
Summary: A legislative luncheon hosted by the Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce at Union Country Club on August 25 allowed the Tuscarawas County Commissioners to share vital information about the county budget, the oil and gas industry and the new Multi-County Juvenile Attention System facility with members of the business community.
Representatives from nearly sixty local businesses gathered for a Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce legislative luncheon on August 25 at Union Country Club at Dover.
Tuscarawas County Commissioners, Chris Abbuhl, Kerry Metzger and Jim Seldenright guided attendees through an hour long Power Point presentation that outlined the county budget, the oil and gas industrys recent influx to the region and the new Multi-County Juvenile Attention System facility at New Philadelphia.
At a recent meeting, the County Commissioners Association of Ohio met with a representative from the office of Governor John Kasich where they learned they would have to eliminate services and find alternative sources for revenue as Local Government Funds would be cut.
Tuscarawas County is scheduled to receive $700,000 for the first six months of 2012 and only $370,000 for the remainder of the year. 2013 will be even worse. We dont want to raise taxes. We will continue to make adjustments, said Commissioner Jim Seldenright.
The writing is on the wall, said Commissioner Kerry Metzger. The state will eventually eliminate Local Government Funds completely.
We dont want to make this all gloom and doom, said Commissioner Chris Abbuhl. We just want to be factual.
Sales tax revenue for the county is up with $9.5 million expected to be collected in 2011, the highest ever for the county. With oil and gas, tourism, the new Performing Arts Center, increasing business and businesses hiring new employees, things are on the turn-around, said Abbuhl. Even with sales tax up it doesnt fully compensate for the lost revenue from the state.
Investments for the county are down in 2011. We are limited as to how we can invest our money. There is no reward for going long term. At one point we took a snapshot and figured our investment revenue would be as low as $1 million. We never imagined wed see rates this low, said Seldenright.
In 2007 the county earned $2.7 million in investment income. In 2010 it was down to $434,000. Were not even going to make our projected $220,000 this year, said Abbuhl.
The Commissioners were confident the oil and gas industry could provide an economic benefit to the county. A controversial process called hydraulic fracturing or fracking as it has come to be known by allows oil and natural gas to be extracted from the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations present in the region that were unattainable before the process was used.
This is going to be huge for our area, said Abbuhl. We are researching this and want to be sure we have control over site location. There might be an opportunity to get money up front from companies like Chesapeake Energy, one of the companies interested in the area. Columbiana County was able to get $1 million upfront and a 17.5% royalty. Columbiana County has signed a lease with Chesapeake on 568 acres of county-owned land.
Our county engineer has been working with Chesapeake. There are some environmental issues and road maintenance issues. Keep in mind there will be hundreds of trucks travelling our roads every day in the fracking process, said Abbuhl.
We have been approached by residents to ban the process of horizontal drilling and fracking. We cant stop it. Its going to happen. Its happening, said Seldenright. Were just going to have to trust the state government to regulate it. We have to be careful who is coming into our area.
Oil and natural gas extraction is regulated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR). On June 30, 2010 SB165 was passed to help ODNR beef up their inspectors. It allowed them to hire more people, said Abbuhl.
Critics say hydraulic fracturing has been linked to the contamination of water wells. Several attorneys in the area are becoming experts as they are writing lots of leases. Citizens must do their due diligence and be careful. Citizens allowing drilling on their property must have their water tested by having a certified tester come to their home. Test at the same time and for the same things the oil and gas companies are testing so you can compare apples to apples, said Abbuhl. If you take your water to a tester it will never stand up in court in the case your water does become contaminated.
To conclude the luncheon the Commissioners announced the Multi-County Juvenile Attention System (MCJAS) is finally to a point where things are moving forward. MCJAS serves Carroll, Columbiana, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne Counties. The new 14,000 square foot, 24 bed facility for Tuscarawas County will break ground in September or October 2011 and be located near the Tuscarawas County Justice Center at New Philadelphia on land donated by the county.
60% of the funds needed to build the new facility came from the state with the rest coming from local sources. Nobody does anything alone but Commissioner Metzger did a fantastic job securing those state funds. A lot of the credit goes toward his great leadership, said Abbuhl.
Bill Harding, the Tuscarawas County Chamber of Commerce legislative committee chair thanked the commissioners for their presentation and said; We are so fortunate to have the three of them serve us so well.
