VW commissioners adopt 2014 budget

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

The Van Wert County Board of Commissioners adopted a budget for Fiscal Year 2014 that includes some red ink, mostly due to a possible repayment of $365,000 for a grant received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, the commissioners are hopeful they can blot out the red ink before the start of the year.

The commissioners joined County Auditor Nancy Dixon to cut some expenses out of the budget, including reduction of a 3-percent pay increase for county employees to 2 percent, while also cutting discretionary funding for the Van Wert County Regional Airport and Main Street Van Wert — at least for the moment.

Commissioner Todd Wolfrum noted that the county can potentially save some substantial dollars on its health insurance in the coming year — hopefully enough to overcome the deficit currently shown in the FY 2014 budget and restore funding to the airport and the downtown Van Wert development organization.

On Tuesday, the commissioners worked to cut the deficit to an estimated $148,000 from the $180,000 originally projected because of the grant repayment.

Wolfrum said the county continues to look at ways to avoid repaying the grant money, especially since the money was spent appropriately on a sewer project along U.S. 127 and Ohio 118. The commissioners talked with County Prosecutor Charles F. Kennedy III about the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the county’s insurance carrier, if the insurer does not cover the grant repayment expense — something still under negotiation at this time — while also finding a new ally in the dispute in Van Wert native Angela Snyder, who works for the state’s Common Sense Initiative.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners held a conference call with Steve Irwin of the Ohio Power Siting Board related to a question posed by a group in Delphos over the possible costs of decommissioning a wind turbine.

Although the need to decommission a wind turbine doesn’t seem likely, at least in the near future, the process could be costly, especially since, in addition to demolishing the turbine itself, the base of the turbine would also need to be removed, down to five feet below ground level.

Decommissioning access roads could be more of a problem, since it doesn’t appear that County Engineer Kyle Wendel and wind turbine companies have signed an agreement on that subject, according to Wolfrum.