Ross County Commissioners review budget requests for 2022

CHILLICOTHE — Ross County Commissioners heard a series of requests Monday as budgets for the next year will be formed in the next two months.

Included in the hearings were representatives from the Ross County Engineer's Office, the Ross County Clerk of Courts, Ross County Soil and Water, the Ross County Parks District, the Ross County Board of Developmental Disabilities, and the Ross County Prosecutor's Office.

Ross County Engineer

The Ross County Engineer's Office had a total budget of $5,514,200.

In 2022, the Engineer's Office is requesting a total budget of $5,673,200.

In 2021, the budget underestimated revenue from gas tax and motor tax, according to Chief Engineer Charles Ortman.

The Ross County Engineer's Office is responsible for the maintenance of roads and thoroughfares, including road repairs and ensuring roads are salted during the winter, as well as maintenance and improvement of public infrastructure.

Clerk of Courts

The Ross County Clerk of Courts is spread into two divisions — title and legal.

The title division issues a certificate of title to document the ownership of motor vehicles including automobiles, watercraft and all-terrain vehicles, according to the Ross County Clerk of Court's website.

"An Automated Title Processing System links all 88 counties Title Bureaus into a common database. The computer system, provided by the State of Ohio, was completely upgraded in January 2016. New hardware and software have been installed, and all Title Division staff members were trained on the new procedures"

In 2021, The title division operated on a budget of $511,157. In 2022, the division requested a total budget of 567,621.

The extra $56,000 is to accommodate for salary costs, said Clerk of Courts Ty Hinton.

The legal division conducts a number of vital operations to the court, including filing, docketing, indexing, and preserving all court pleadings for civil, felony criminal, and domestic relations cases.

The Clerk of Courts must also follow procedure required by law and issue writs to carry out court orders, including summons, subpoenas, warrants to arrest and to convey to penal institutions, and the signing of the death warrant in capital cases.

In addition to processing all court paperwork, the Clerk of Courts must preserve the records for use by future generations. A computer system has been in use since 1989 to record the index and docket of court cases allowing faster access to the information.

The legal division operated on a budget of $621,133 in 2021. In 2022, they requested a slightly lower budget of $600,629.

Ross Soil and Water Conservation

The Ross Soil and Water Conservation District is an organization dedicated to the conservation of natural resources and providing leadership and education to the public in doing so.

The organization traces its roots to the dust bowl era, to prevent soil erosion.

"Out west, in the history books we saw everything was wind erosion," said Director Bob Neal. "In Ohio, then and now, it's mainly water erosion. Huge gullies will take out acres of farmland, so we work to implement practices that control drainage."

In 2021, the agency requested $250,000 from Ross County Commissioners, which remains unchanged in 2022. The funding from commissioners makes up 46% of their funding, with a match of $220,000 from the State of Ohio making up 41% funding from grants and sales makes up the remaining 13%.

Ross County Parks District

The Ross County Parks District, which runs and maintains Ross County's parks, requested $300,000 from commissioners in 2022, to supplement a $700,000 levy.

This is a slight increase from the $250,000 they requested in 2021. The biggest new line item on the Parks District is $148,000 in Capital Gains Improvement, which will be spent to repair the Paint Creek Trail, staff two new parks, and make improvements to programming.

"We have all the facilities now, they're even developed, and now we really want to get the public out there," said Board Member Jim Doersam. "The programming has been outstanding but we want to keep that growing."

Parks Director Joe Letsche said they are also always seeking grant funding to supplement funding from commissioners and the levy.

Ross County Board of Developmental Disabilities

The Ross County Board of Developmental Disabilities, also known as the Pioneer Center, aims to provide life opportunities for children and adults in Ross County who have developmental disabilities-those disabilities which arise in children before the age of 21.

The Pioneer Center provides assistance through programs for infants, preschoolers, school-age children and adults. These programs include early intervention, various therapy programs, preschool programs, k-12 assistance to those students attending regular school in all schools in the county, a school-age program at Pioneer School, and adult rehabilitation, residential, employment, and recreational opportunities.

In 2021, the Board of DD operated on a budget of $12,683,000. In 2022, the Board of DD has requested a budget of $13,527,000.

The rise in the budget is attributed to salary costs, as well as rising health insurance costs, said David Voskuhl, Administrator for the Board of DD.

Ross County Prosecutor's Office

The Ross County Prosecutor's Office ran on a budget of $1,114,000 in 2021. In 2022, the Prosecutor's office is requesting a budget of $1,238,000.

Almost all of the funding comes from the county.

The federal VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) grant and the similar state SVAA (State Victims Assistance Act) grant fund a portion of the prosecutor's Victim's Advocate Division Unfortunately, those grants have been reduced considerably by the federal and state government over the last few years, noted Prosecutor Jeffrey Marks.

The DTAC (Delinquent Tax and Assessment Collection) fund is also utilized to pay a portion of the salaries for one assistant prosecuting attorney and one administrative staff member, said Marks.

The increase in the budget comes from rising salary costs, with around $58,000 requested for another administrative assistant, cost of living raises, and funds reserved, if need be, to have another attorney hired.

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This article originally appeared on Chillicothe Gazette: Ross County Commissioners review budget requests for 2022