October is here, along with falling leaves, harvesting, and cool Friday nights for High School Football. Autumn in Darke County is truly one of the prettiest times of the year. With the year nearing its close, everyone will be getting ready for Halloween, then Thanksgiving, and finally Christmas, and wrapping things up for the year.
We in the Commissioners office are winding things down for the year also. This month begins the yearly appropriations for all county offices. Carol Ginn, the County Auditor , and her staff have been preparing the appropriations, and we will be meeting with the department heads shortly. We are keeping our fingers crossed, as it looks like we should be able to keep the budget that we sent to the Budget Commission in July. Thanks to all department heads for diligently keeping their offices on budget and helping us through this really tough economic stretch. We can tell the people of Darke County this, we are in a better position than most other counties. Our department heads, their staffs, and the Commissioners office have worked together for the last several years, and that has allowed us to suffer less than most other counties. Please be sure to thank your department heads and their people for all they have done to get us through this difficult time. John Cook, our very capable business manager, has informed us that our county health insurance rate for next year has actually dropped 4 tenths of a percent! We have been working hard to maximize our dollars, and because of our efforts our insurer, CEBCO ( County Employee Benefits Consortium of Ohio) has seen fit to lower our premium a little. We are one of 5 counties in the state whose rate was below a 4.9% increase. A decrease in premiums for insurance is almost unheard of. Thanks to John and all the employees who continue to work hard and lead a healthier lifestyle to keep our premiums manageable.
On the economic development front, things are still progressing very well in the County. Marc Saluk, the Economic Development Director, continues to keep us on a positive roll. Marc is currently working with several companies on expansion, and a few new companies that are exploring our County. On October 19th, Our Partnering 4 Progress group met at Family Health Services for our monthly meeting. Partnering 4 Progress (P4P) is a collaborative effort between the public, private, and individuals to promote economic growth. Matt Kolb, the treasurer of the group, presented the group with these numbers: Total partner investment has been approximately $638,000. The approximate yields on this investment are: New Capital Investment- $23,950,000 (a 37.5% return for every $1 invested)- Annual Payroll(retained/created) $19,178,000 (a $30 to $1 return) – and State/Federal funds secured was $18,725,000 (a $29.4 dollar to $1 ratio). The best number of all though is in the jobs area. So far P4P has assisted in the creation or retention of 525 jobs. The Commissioners and Partnering 4 Progress will continue to aggressively promote our local businesses, help with expansion, and seek new business at every opportunity. One County business that needs to be recognized is Dynamic Weld of Osgood. They were recently awarded the “Supplier of the Year” for Honda. Dynamic Weld makes custom material handling and returnable shipping containers and have been in business since 1981, employing about 35 people. Dynamic Weld has been named Partnering for Progresses “Business of the Quarter”. Congratulations to Harry Heitkamp and Gene Neikamp, the owners, for this excellent achievement. We hope they continue to grow and prosper.
The Darke County Commissioners hold public meetings every Monday and Wednesday at 1:00 p.m. at the Commissioners office located at 520 South Broadway, just south of the Courthouse. Everyone is always welcome, and we hope to see you there!
- The Darke County Commissioners
I don't understand why the county has a business manager. I thought it was the job of the commissioners to manage. Must you try a business and fail to become qualified to be a manager?
ReplyDeleteTo B. Martin,
ReplyDeleteSurely you don't expect the Commissioners to work more than 3 days a week! The last board to do that was ten years ago.
Sounds like more government waste. They just take and take until the people have nothing left. Most people are having a hard time keeping their home and these guys want to build a new courthouse.
ReplyDeleteThe county has plenty of money due to the good work of the business administrator. The solution to the financial problems was to carry the loss over to the next year. That way the county budget always balances. The tax payers should do the same so they can afford more levies. Just write it off.
ReplyDeleteMust be nice to hire someone to do your job for you so you can blog about how everyone needs to be in favor of a levy for a school district that mishandles money in the same way.
ReplyDeleteLast time I check, people elect commissioners and they go into the job as a part-time position. Maybe you should try changing THAT little fact before you whine and complain if you don't like it. That said, I believe most weeks, for the most part, they do work more than the average "part-time" job. Just because they are only required to be in the office at certain times does not mean they aren't doing other things for the county at other times.
ReplyDeleteI assume you're all running next year, right? Because you would all be better at it and work more hours, right?
I would run, but I'm already tied up eliminating your waste in local government. We need less government positions. Everyone is making sacrifices. If that means working more hours to do a good job, so be it. Part time work for full time pay is unacceptable.
ReplyDeleteMr.or Mrs. 3:52, if you will check you will find that all of elected positions are part-time. An elected person devotes as much time to the position as his intetgrity or conscience tells him. Commissioners office used to be filled by ones that were on the job everyday. That stopped about ten years ago and must have been by some mutual agreement. Yes it is their own decision.
ReplyDelete5:06pm.... you're not telling me anything I don't already know. Anyone with any sense does.
ReplyDeleteMy point still stands.
Most part time jobs don't provide health insurance, fuel expenses or pickups.But county and state part time jobs do pay into retirement.
ReplyDeleteIs'nt all this enough to require the extra hours?
Just like school board members, they also get a retirment, pick ups and most get health care. Seldom do part time positions offer health care. People in these areas of employment are spoiled in these lines of work on tax payers buck. So If you wont to grip it should not be with extra helpers but with the system.
Anon 7:56, you're smoking somethiing. Bring in the sniffing dogs. Health care for school board members? No way. Prove it.
ReplyDeleteTo 10:22PM Why don't you go to a school board meeting when the daily adv. is their and ask them. Then it will be on record.
ReplyDelete