County receives favorable financial news

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Whether 2014 will be a good year for the county, or  one that’s not so good, depends largely on what happens with a $365,000 repayment levied in connection with federal grants awarded for two county sewer projects.

County Commissioner Thad Lichtensteiger said he and fellow Commissioners Stan Owens and Todd Wolfrum are cautiously optimistic that the county’s insurance carrier will cover the repayment.

“And that’s enough of a difference-maker that it moves us from $180,000 in the red to $180,000 in the black, just by that one decision there,” Lichtensteiger noted.

Lichtensteiger said the county’s risk-liability insurance carrier recently asked for more information on the issue and is preparing a document for the commissioners to sign related to that issue, making the commissioners hopeful that the company will cover the repayment amount.

The repayment stems from a sewer construction project south of Van Wert on U.S. 127 and Ohio 118. While there was no misuse of funds, some documents related to the project were not filed in a timely manner, resulting in the federal government seeking repayment of grant money awarded for the project.

Having the insurance company cover the repayment obligation is the county’s last hope to avoid having to pay the money, since appeals to state and government officials were unsuccessful.

“We’re hopeful that, in the next month, we’ll see some positive outcome from that,” Lichtensteiger said.

Owens added that, if the insurer doesn’t pay the money, the county should file a lawsuit against the company. “We’re just not going to walk away when we feel we have a legal avenue to pursue,” he noted.

Other positives for the county’s finances include continued increases in permissive tax revenues, according to County Treasurer Bev Fuerst, and a possibility the county could save as much as $750,000 on its health insurance in the coming year.

One insurance quote would cut county premiums from approximately $2.25 million to between $1.5 and $1.75 million.

Lichtensteiger said the commissioners are continuing to research the issue to ensure coverage would be consistent with the county’s current insurance plan. “We’re doing a lot of research and a lot of due diligence before we make an ultimate decision,” he said, adding, “We’d like to save a bunch of money for the county, but we’d also like to save (county) employees some money. I think that’s our ultimate goal.”

In addition to the low insurance quote, more money could also be saved if the county used a private health exchange, while Lichtensteiger said the commissioners are also looking at raising employees’ deductible, although he said the county would pick up the difference between employees’ current deductible and a larger deductible that would be implemented.

The commissioner said that, since few employees actually exhaust their deductible, the county is betting on that happening in the future in offering to make up the difference on any higher deductible.