Highland County's permissive sales tax receipts top $8.8M in 10 months

Highland County commissioners Terry Britton, David Daniels and Brad Roades reviewed a favorable permissive sales tax receipt report in a meeting full of updates about ongoing county projects Wednesday, Oct. 28.

The county’s permissive sales tax report for October showed monthly collections of $921,901.43, a 0.26-percent increase over the same month last year ($882,192.21).

According to the report, October marked a fourth straight month of totals above $900,000 for the first time in the county’s history. The year-to-date totals have also surpassed $8.8 million, as the 10-month total of $8,870,989.83 is 4.5-percent higher than the same time frame a year ago. The county collected a record $9.8 million for the entire year of 2025.

In other discussion, commissioners approved a change order for the new truck storage and office facility for the Highland County Engineer. In a separate motion, commissioners voted 3-0 via resolution to authorize a budget modification within the 4110 Engineer Building Improvement Fund in the amount of $200,000.

As previously reported, plans for a new truck barn and office space for the engineer’s office have been going for several years, as Highland County Engineer Chris Fauber made a proposal for the idea back in 2022, then estimated at $1.4 million. 

State Senator Shane Wilkin (R-Hillsboro) announced the investment of $1 million from the One-Time Strategic Community Investment Fund (OTSCIF) to support the project in June 2024. In a move that caused a contentious meeting with the engineer in April 2026, commissioners reallocated that money to renovations to the Highland County Courthouse instead. 
 
Commissioners voted in November 2024 to direct $2 million of their American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to the project. In December 2024, commissioners also committed another $500,000 in ARPA funding toward engineer services and contract administration by the WDC Group for the project.

In February 2025, commissioners voted to enter into a purchase agreement for the adjoining property to the engineer’s office, the former Pike Gas property at 144 Bowers Avenue in Hillsboro, at a cost of $390,000. The property includes two parcels, for a total of 0.3742 acre.

Commissioners also voted to authorize the issuance of not to exceed $4.6 million in building improvement bonds in June and closing documents for the financing in July 2025.

Commissioners awarded the project bid to Jay-Car Construction in the amount of $5,029,738, both through a motion and by passing a resolution, in September 2025. 

“We've, over the past several weeks, been compiling change orders just for the mere facts we haven't had true numbers on them yet, so we are compiling them all at one time,” Roades said Wednesday. “There's 19 of them. Some are deducts, some are adds.

“There will be an increase in the bid price of $225,224.57, making the new building cost $5,254,962.57.”

Also during Wednesday’s meeting:

• Commissioners voted 3-0 to approve a $19,274.30 quote from Snider Recreation for a swinging bench for the Highco courtyard from a 2024 Community Development Block Grant project, after meeting with CDBG coordinator Mary Remsing.

As previously reported, commissioners voted in May 2025 to submit an application from Highco for Community Development Block Grant funding. The proposal was for an outdoor space for an autism center courtyard, with swings and other equipment, according to Mary Remsing. Commissioners eventually held three different bid openings before awarding the project to Dance Excavation earlier this year.

“We allotted [$102,900],” Remsing said of the original project. “Highco matched $3,500 to go toward engineering services.”

After a “shortfall” with the project, which was awarded with a $108,500 bid, Remsing said Highco “committed $5,600 toward the courtyard project itself” and asked for the swing, which Remsing secured through a state purchasing contractor.

“We had some people step up, which was very nice,” Remsing said. “The Board of Developmental Disabilities gave us $5,000 toward the swings. Merchants [National] Bank was gracious and gave us $2,000, and Highco added an additional $2,722, bringing our total toward the project of $9,722. We had a shortfall of $9,552.30, and the Revolving Loan Fund approved funding to go toward the remainder of the estimate. 

“It took a village, but we got it done, and so this will complete this portion of the project.”

Remsing added that the contractors should have the work done “before the end of the year.”

• Commission clerk Ashleigh Willey announced that commissioners are seeking requests for qualifications (RFQs) for architectural/design services for the Hi-TEC building renovations, which will be due Nov. 20. An on-site tour will be available for firms Nov. 13 at 9 a.m. at the Hi-TEC building. 

As previously reported, the renovations involve the reconfiguration of offices seeking additional space.

• Commissioners said they may have further discussions but are currently learning toward not converting their payroll software to the cloud.

“After discussions with our IT person, we are about as secure as we can get,” Roades said.

Britton also mentioned “the cost” of the proposal, which Willey and Remsing said would be $12,000 to implement and over $20,000 per year.

Daniels suggested that instead, the county should draft a “contingency plan” for their software “in case something should go wrong” and their IT person is not available. 

• Willey reported that Highland County Law Librarian Debbie Zile wrote a letter to commissioners regarding a recent meeting of the Law Library board. 

According to Willey, Zile said that the board has recommended “not relocating” the law library to the county records center, as commissioners have proposed as part of courthouse renovations. The letter detailed the space that would be needed, which would be reduced due to downsizing their number of physical books.

Daniels asked if there was “an allowance for that much space” in their drawings for the courthouse renovations.

“If I had to guess, it probably would be included because [the architect] looked at the current space, and it's in the current space,” Willey said. “It would be just how we reconfigure that.”

• Commission clerks advised that the County Commissioners Association of Ohio sent a survey asking for suggestions on potential revisions to the Ohio Revised Code. 

Roades said that the constant prevailing wage changes cause problems for both the county and contractors. Britton said the increase in crashes involving vehicles and Amish/Mennonite buggies is also an issue, although “I don’t know if there’s anything there that needs to be changed” as far as laws.

• Records manager Jennifer Maynard said that she is searching for a WPA cemetery plat book, as requested by a citizen, but has had no luck with county or state offices she has contacted. 

“One other thought might be to contact the city of Greenfield, the city of Hillsboro, and ask if this would be contained in their cemetery records,” Daniels said.

• Commissioners received a request from Sarah Kelch dated Oct. 21 for a “public town hall” on proposed battery storage sites to be held “before the Nov. 3 election.” They had discussed a similar request from Eric Mathews the past few weeks. 

Daniels told Mathews Oct. 21 that “the Ohio Power Siting Board has the ultimate authority” over the projects, not the county. Similarly, he said that it would be up to the OPSB to host community meetings.

As a related followup, Daniels said that the Ohio Power Siting Board contacted commissioners and said their “public liaison was out of the office” but would be contacting Mathews to answer his questions.

• Willey announced that Elizabeth Fryman has resigned from the Board of DD and said commissioners have been asked to appoint a replacement to fill the remaining year of her term. 

• It was also noted that the Nov. 11 commissioners meeting will be moved up a day, to Tuesday, Nov. 10, due to the Veterans Day holiday.

Commissioners also made the following other approvals, each by a 3-0 vote:

• A new vehicle maintenance agreement and new lease agreement among Highland County Commissioners, Highland County JFS and Enterprise FM Trust.

• In separate resolutions, commissioners approved a request from Veteran Services and a request from the Sheriff’s Office to declare listed items as no longer needed by the county and obsolete, ORC 307.12(G). Therefore, the board declares the listed item(s) to be surplus property and no longer needed by the county.

• A resolution to authorize a “then and now” purchase order and to authorize the county auditor to issue warrants for payment.

• A budget modification within the 5030 Rocky Fork Lake fund in the amount of $2,700.

• A budget modification within the 5030 Rocky Fork Lake fund in the amount of $4,000.

• A request from the Sheriff for an additional appropriation from unanticipated revenue within the 1000 County General fund – Sheriff in the amount of $30,000.

• A request from the Engineer for a budget modification within the 2065 Repair MVL fund in the amount of $2,000.