Post-meeting release 7/18

Commissioners hear from several officials during Stacy’s final meeting

[Tiffin, OH July 18, 2019] – The Seneca County Board of Commissioners received updates from several agencies Thursday morning during Commissioner Holly Stacy’s final board session.
State Rep. Bill Reineke and Seneca County Juvenile and Probate Court, Seneca County Department of Job and Family Services and Seneca Crawford Area Transportation personnel each addressed the board.
Some of the highlights of the budget include two lower tax brackets being eliminated, a four-percent personal income tax decrease for all Ohioans, an increase in funding for Foster Care and record funding for education.
Seneca County Juvenile and Probate Court Judge Jay Meyer thanked the commissioners for their support in making the court successful. He also thanked many other community partners and his staff. The court’s 2018 annual report is available here. http://senecacountyohio.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2018-Annual-Report.pptx
Seneca County DJFS Director Kathy Oliver also presented a report on Children’s Protective Services. She said there were about 56 children in kinship care in 2018 and about 25 in foster care. Kinship care is the placement of children with family or close friends. Oliver said the cost of the placement of children is likely to hit an eight-year high this year, after costing about $733,000 last year. The previous five years had been significantly lower costs. Beth Anway, DJFS business administrator, said this year’s cost could be greater than $1 million.
Protective services are funded by the federal, state and local government, but Oliver said the county has not needed to add funding for it in the past two years. Over the past four years, the county has contributed about $150,000 for CPS, compared to about $1.35 million over the previous four. Oliver requested the county fund $250,000 for the rest of 2019, and $500,000 for 2020. The board did not act on the request. The entire report is available here. http://senecacountyohio.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/2019-Placement-Cost-Presentation-July.pdf
In other business, the board agreed to sign a letter allowing SCAT to continue its services in the county for the next three years. The commissioners must renew the letter every three years and the letter allows state and federal funding to be disbursed to the agency. The organization made 114,444 trips in 2018, including 91,000 in Seneca County. This represented a 33-percent increase from 2017. The agency’s budget is about $2.1 million.
Also during the meeting, the commissioners and several constituents and county employees thanked Commissioner Holly Stacy for her service with the county during her final board session. LuAnne Cooke, from Lt. Gov. Jon Husted’s office, presented Stacy with a proclamation signed by Husted and the governor. The Proclamation thanked Stacy for her public service.

During new business, the commissioners approved all resolutions from Tuesday’s release.