Perry County Tribune: The Only Thing Constant, Is Change
This article, written by Ben Carpenter, was first published in the Perry County Tribune on January 13, 2017.
On November 8th, the voters of Perry entrusted me to serve as one of their County Commissioners. My goal is to work to insure progress in Perry County continues in a positive direction. Many people have asked me, “What to the Commissioners do?” To help answer that question for everyone, I want to actively work to get more information to the public.
I am working with the Perry County Tribune and the other Commissioners Jim Obrien and Dave Frericks to bring to you, this regular column from the office of the Board of Commissioners. The Tribune staff does a great job reporting on the weekly actions at each Commissioner meeting. However with this new column, we hope to further explain the details, considerations, successes and challenges that we face every day as your County Commissioners.
We have also established a monthly appearance for the Commissioner’s Office on WHIZ-TV during the “live at noon” broadcast. This will air the third Tuesday of each month. With the monthly TV appearance, our goal is to explain many of the projects that we are involved with. We also hope to bring onto the program, other county office heads and elected officials to help share their message as well.
Starting in 2017 the Commissioners will hold their regular weekly meeting on Thursdays. If anyone wants on the agenda to meet with the entire board of commissioners you should contact the office no later than noon of the Wednesday prior to the meeting.
There have been many things happening in the first two weeks of 2017, the physical move of our Board of Elections office is nearing complete. The new office for the Perry County board of Elections will be located at 200 South Jackson Street, in New Lexington.
The Perry County 911 Center will be leaving the current location in the Village of New Lexington building and move into the space vacated by the Board of election. To make these moves possible, there were many factors considered and many hours of planning that were spent to ensure this is an efficient and productive change for both of these county offices.
The county budgets for 2017 and 2018 will be faced with cuts due to the national changes in the Medicare tax law. The reduced revenue to Perry County has been estimated to be approximately $950, 000 over the next two years. That is more than a 10% reduction in the counties total General Revenue budget.
No one likes to make cuts to departments but we are required to work within a balanced budget. Only the Federal Government has the option to operate with an annual deficit. The State, Counties, Townships, and village must balance their budget. Throughout 2017 and 2018 we will be aggressively looking at every opportunity to make logical cuts where possible and still insure all our county offices have the funds necessary to operate and cover budgetary needs.
If you have questions or concerns, please call the commissioner’s office at 740-342-2045. Or email us at perryco@perrycountyohio.net.
For the Board of Perry County Commissioners,
Ben Carpenter
