~by Janice Harbaugh for GreeneCountyNewsOnline
The Greene County board of supervisors heard the first funding requests for FY2023 at the regular board meeting Dec. 6.
Elderbridge Agency on Aging requested $8,320 in a report of activities sent to the board. According to the Elderbridge report, the 2020 census figure for Greene County population 60 years of age and older is 2,728 compared to 2,546 people counted in 2010.
The population of Greene County as counted in the 2020 census is 8771. Seniors 60 and older make up 31 percent of the population of the county.
Chair John Muir said, “Elderbridge gives us good information.”
Doug Hawn and Josh Hedges presented the Greene County Fair Board annual report to the board and requested $24,000 for FY2023. According to auditor Jane Heun, it is the same amount that has been funded for the past 10 years.
The board asked about the possibility of a carnival at the county fair. Hawn and Hedges cited safety issues with rides and said the cost of rides makes them “not money-makers.”
The board took no action on the two budget requests as all requests are considered later in making the county budget.
Pam Olerich shared Beaver Creek Wind Turbine TIF (tax increment financing) valuation with the supervisors.
Olerich said 100 percent of the value generated by the turbines over the past two years has been used to generate TIF dollars to repay the bonds sold to finance the Career Academy.
Olerich said the payments have been used to pay interest on the debt, but going forward, payments will include principal. (Like a home mortgage, the amount of interest paid is greater in the early years of the bond.) The county can collect up to 100 percent of the total taxes in the TIF district to pay outstanding debt, or it can collect only enough to make the required interest and principal payment each year.
Jane Heun, speaking for the auditor’s office, recommended the county continue to collect 100 percent. She said collections exceeding the interest and principal due will accumulate in the TIF fund and can be used to eventually pay off the $5.8 million owed for the bond issuance.
The board took no action, but Muir said, “The quicker the better to put away debt. Right now, it feels like (we should collect) 100 percent.”
In other business, sheriff Jack Williams reported the newly formed Emergency Management Commission met last week. The board unanimously appointed supervisor Dawn Rudolph to the commission.
Engineer Wade Weis spoke about issues with the elevator in the Mahanay Memorial Carillon Tower during cold weather.
“There are tour groups by appointment now,” he said. “The elevator door gets sticky in cold weather.”
He described a situation with a group on the observation deck who couldn’t call the elevator up because it was stuck partially open on the ground floor.
“There are stairs from the observation deck to the lobby,” Weiss said, indicating people are not unsafely stranded at the top of the tower. However, it is 128 feet down to the lobby on ladder-stairs.
Michelle Fields, drainage clerk and Mahanay Maestro, spoke about lack of heat in the bell loft during holiday concerts.
“It’s pretty hard to play with cold fingers,” she said.
Muir said, “We need to have further conversation about the issues.”
Muir also said the treasurer’s office is closed this week due to COVID-19.
