Smail addresses Leadership Wooster Class of ‘23
Wayne County commissioner Sue Smail, right, recently addressed the 2023 Leadership Wooster class at the municipal building. Smail gave an overview of county government projects along with a discussion about the budgetary process.
Wayne County commissioner Sue Smail recently spoke to community leaders taking part in the Leadership Wooster program sponsored by the Wooster Area Chamber of Commerce about the role of county government and elected officials.
Smail began the presentation by asking a series of questions, to which there were some surprising answers.
“True or false,” Smail said, “the capacity of the Wayne County Jail is 120 inmates?”
With much of the class in agreement, Smail said the capacity of the jail is currently 80. “That is why we need to build a new one,” she said.
Another fact Smail cleared up is only a small percentage of sales tax stays local.
“On a $100 purchase, you pay $6.50 in sales tax, but only 75 cents of that stays local,” Smail said. “That is the amount we get to operate the county with.”
Smail said the commissioners are responsible for appropriating $34 million in the general fund and $183 million in all 123 managed funds.
“The sheriff has the largest budget at $7.5 million,” she said. “The justice system in total is the largest; that includes the courts, employees and their affiliated (entities).”
According to Smail, Wayne County received $22.3 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, which will go toward the jail and infrastructure projects and will not require an increase in income tax.
Smail discussed other projects the county has undertaken including the following:
—Moving adult probation from the courthouse basement and relocating the law library to the Municipal Court building.
—The closing of the Linda Martin facility due to nonuse.
—The completion of a mile-long taxiway at the Wayne County Airport that can accommodate small jets.
—The Wayne County Land Reutilization program that was implemented to stop neighborhood blight.
—The Community Improvement Corporation helping to bolster the economy in villages.
—Workforce-development initiatives to assist business owners.
Information about Wayne County can be found online at www.wayneohio.org.
Dan Starcher is the public communications coordinator for the Wayne County government.