Commissioner aims to leave county in good financial shape

By PATRICK COOLEY, Special to The News
MARIETTA — Regardless of the results of the November general election, Washington County will have at least one new commissioner.

Steven Weber won Ohio’s Republican primary race against two-term incumbent John Grimes and will face Belpre attorney Thomas Webster, a Democrat, in the fall.

On Friday, Grimes expressed some concerns about the two individuals who will be vying for his position.

“Neither has been to one of our meetings,” he said. “Not that that would give them an idea of what this job entails. There are facets of this job you don’t find out about simply by attending the meetings.

“When I was running, I attended almost every meeting and I was made aware of some of the things that the commissioners have to do. If they think they are going to do this job part-time, they are sorely mistaken,” he said.

Webster said he has been working in and out of the courthouse as an attorney since 1975 and has seen how the county commissioners operate.

“I’ve been involved in the courthouse, watched many county commissioners and what they have done,” he said. “I wouldn’t commit to run for the office if I didn’t think that I had the time, the energy or the ability to handle the position.”

Webster, who was unopposed in the primary, said he hopes to make some changes to the budget process.

“I think that you have to determine how much money is available and what are the priorities for all the citizens of Washington County when determining how the money is allocated and expended,” he said.

Weber, a retired Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper, said he plans to spend the summer attending commission meetings and memorizing a copy of the commissioners’ handbook in order to better understand the job they have to do.

“This is not something I’m doing for the money or the insurance. I could live off my pension if I wanted to,” Weber said. “This is something I’m doing because I want to do it.”

Weber said he plans to advocate making payments on the Washington County Jail from the money made from the jail itself. If that is not enough, he said, he would try to find some way to raise the money without taking it from the general fund.

Since 2003, commissioners have taken payments for the jail out of the sheriff’s sales tax rather than the general fund, because they said the original wording of the resolution meant it to include capital improvements. Both Weber and Sheriff Larry Mincks said they believe it was the intent of the voters and those who were on the commission at the time the tax was approved that the money would be used for the criminal division.

According to the county auditor’s office, as of March 3, the cash balance in the county permissive sales tax was $2,676,584. The amount available that has not been appropriated or encumbered for bills, salaries, equipment, utilities and other operating expenses is $1,223,192.

On the same date there was a cash balance of $1,977,240 in the sheriff’s sales tax. But the amount available after money was appropriated pay various bills and operating expenses, including the jail payment, is $217,809.

Grimes said if the payments for the jail are not taken out of the sheriff’s sales tax fund, cuts to 4-H, the Ohio State University Extension office and Soil and Water Conservation would be likely.

“This is a very agrarian county,” he said. “The dollars spent on those programs are some of the best economic development dollars spent in this county.”

Grimes said the goal he has for the remaining nine months of his term is to leave the county in as good a financial shape as he possibly can.

“Next year is going to be extremely difficult,” he said. “The renewal of our health insurance is going to be a problem, (and) we continue to worry about the sales tax figure.”