MANSFIELD — Pat Dropsey and Tony Vero both have a keen interest in how Richland County’s investment interest income finishes in 2023.
A mealtime interest, that is.
Dropsey, the Richland County auditor, and Vero, a county commissioner, renewed their annual lunch bet Thursday on how they think the county’s general fund revenues will end the year.
Who can come closest — without going over?
The difference in their predictions is only about $500,000 — most of it based on differing predictions on the final investment income collected by county Treasurer Bart Hamilton’s office.
Regardless, it’s been a record year for Richland County in terms of general fund revenue, according to both men.
Dropsey predicted a final number of $46,684,153. Vero clocked in at $47,184,196. The biggest difference is the auditor is forecasting the final investment revenue to come in at $3.4 million while Vero has it at $3.8 million.
That’s a marked general fund revenue increase over 2022 ($43.9 million) and 2021 ($42.2), despite sales tax revenue that has lagged for the last several months. It’s sales tax that provides the biggest chunk of a county’s general fund revenue.
“All I know is we have a very healthy (general fund) balance,” Dropsey said.
Vero quickly agreed, pointing out the county’s 7 percent sales tax rate is one of the lower rates in the state. Around north central Ohio, only Wayne County is lower at 6.5 percent while Ashland is also at 7 percent. Sales tax rates in Knox, Morrow, Crawford and Huron counties are all at 7.25 percent.
“When (Pat) says healthy balance, that’s been done without a tax increase and oe of the lowest sales tax rates in the state of Ohio,” said Vero, who won the bet last year.
Dropsey said, “Plus we are one of the only counties in the state that shares a portion of the sales tax with their townships, villages and cities.”
The county will end the year between $8.2 and $8.9 million in revenue over expenses. Commissioners, including Darrell Banks and Cliff Mears, will have to make decisions on what to do with the funds.
An additional $2 million or so could go into the county’s “rainy day” fund, which is now at just over $5 million. More could also be put into the capital expense fund, now at $8.4 million.
Commissioners could also elect to pay down existing debt. A year ago, they used $1.3 million from the year-end carryover in that fashion. More could also go into the current county carryover, now at about $8.4 million.
“I would think a good portion of that would go into capital,” Vero said. ” It’s a give and take between having too much money as taxpayers or spending it wisely.
“Would we look at unique projects during good times and get those squared away? One of the things we’ve talked about is completely getting the (county administration) building taken care of … bathrooms, the remainder of the floors.
“So whenever Cliff, Darrell and I are gone, whoever walks into these seats, they will have a building that is redone and the roof is taken care of. We want whenever we’re gone for the next group to come in better than when we came in.
“So there’s been some initial discussions as to what to do with the dollars,” Vero said.
Commissioners are also continuing 2024 budget sessions with department heads and other elected officials. The three-member panel has a balanced budget policy, meaning they won’t appropriate more in expenses than estimated revenues in a given year.
At this point, those requests will need to be trimmed by about 13.5 percent, or around $5.7 million, according to commissioners, who will finalize the 2024 spending plan by the end of December.
