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Response to John Q.
Public
Dear Mr. Taxpayer,
Thank you for the letter that you sent to County News online. It
is what we commissioners hoped would happen, people asking questions
and finding out what we intend to do. This subject is of vital
importance to the county we believe, but it seems to be on the back
burners in Columbus. We are told there will be a solution, but
what will that be? At this time, nobody knows, and we don’t want to
wait until the last minute to be told it is our problem.
Therefore, we have decided to take a proactive stance and try to
alleviate the problem without the help of Columbus, but with the help
of the Darke County citizens.
You are correct sir, none of the money we are asking for is for Roads
and Bridges. Road and Bridge money comes out of the Gasoline
tax. Mr. Surber has done a tremendous job using that money to its
fullest potential. Our roads and bridges are as good or better
than anybody else’s.
In answer to the question “ Why do we need $4 million dollars when we
have only proposed ½ million in expenditures? “ Actually, sir, we
are proposing approximately 1 ½ million in expenditures. We are not
sure if we want to make the tax for 3 or 4 years. We want to be
able to put enough money back to help the program for several years
after the tax goes off, but we don’t want to have an excessive amount
because it is the public’s money. That is one question that we
want you to help us decide. As for what we will be spending it
on, I have been giving a handout on the exact projects the money will
be used for. Of course, this handout does no good for online
conversation, so I will explain what we want to do with the
funds. I hope you will understand that these are costs for things
as close as we can determine now. Hopefully, they will be lower,
but there is the possibility of them being higher, so here
goes: 911 communication equipment upgrades-
$500,000 Jail door upgrades-$250,0000 Jail
sewer line upgrades- $150,000 Jail heating and cooling upgrades-
$75,000 Jail electrical upgrades-$75,000 Vehicles for
Sheriff- $500,000 (these will be bought on a rotating basis,
approximately 2 to 3 a year)- EMA command vehicle-
$45,0000. This comes to a grand total of $1,495,
000. In talking to Mr. Zumbrink, the County
Treasurer, we feel that interest rates at some point will have to
rise. We can then take the excess money and put it in an account
that will help the fund to grow. Hopefully, new upgrades for 911 will
not happen for 5 years or more, but who knows how fast technology in
this area will advance. Some people have asked why we are doing
upgrades on the Jail and EMA also. The reasoning we see is that
all of these systems are int
erconnected. Besides being housed in the Jail facility, The
Sheriff and the EMA also use the 911 system. In a lot of cases, the
Sheriff is the tip of the spear on 911 calls. His quick response
is vital to any and all situations that arise. Since Darke County
is the 8th largest county in the State surface wise, and with a fairly
the sparse population in such a large area, It just makes sense
to upgrade it all at once. Jail upgrades should last for a good
while, and they have needed to be done for a long time. Since we
are asking for the peoples help, we want to do things the right way and
not piece-meal this project. Fix it and be done with it, and then
we can better maintain what we have going forward.
One of your other sentiments was” why let this money languish in a
slush fund awaiting a new political epiphany?” Because this
tax will be titled “911/Capital Projects Improvements” Our auditor, Ms.
Ginn will make sure that a new line is put in the budget, and by law if
it says “Capital Projects” that is where it must go. Nowhere
else, and It cannot be used for salaries. Since we have
spelled out what it must be used for, that is where it must go.
Another great question you asked was “ what are we going to do with the
money we save for the General Fund?” We hope to take that
money and put it into other capital projects that have been neglected
since the economy went south. In order to make ends meet, the
Commissioners had to let some maintenance go, so we hope to start
taking care of that issue. I am sure that you will agree that
maintaining structures and equipment is far cheaper than building or
buying new.
I hope this has answered your questions on this subject, and
thank you for asking. Mike, Diane and myself appreciate questions
on what we are doing. We all feel that communication is the key
to successful government. If you have any further questions, you
may contact us at anytime. Thank you for your concern.
Mike Stegall- Darke County Commissioner
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