Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE Belmont County will be working with a budget comparable to that of 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Belmont County Commissioners J.P. Dutton, Josh Meyer and Jerry Echemann gave an overview Wednesday, saying a conservative fiscal policy in years prior to the pandemic and the frugal habits of many department staffs were invaluable, along with funding from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act.
Dutton said the total appropriation for 2021 is about $22,800,000 identical to last year’s budget.
“In general, we are in a pretty healthy fiscal position for what this year has been like. When we get the final numbers for 2020, we do anticipate there was a decrease in sales tax revenue but we don’t have those final numbers yet. There were some indications of things picking up toward the end of the year,” Dutton said.
Staff Writer
EDITOR’S NOTE: Through Thursday, The Times Leader presents Eastern Ohio’s Top 10 news stories of 2020, as voted on by the editorial staff.
MARTINS FERRY On top of a year already stressful because of the COVID-19 pandemic, voters also endured a wild campaign season in 2020 that culminated in the election of a new president.
Though official tallies and the Electoral College vote show Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential race on Nov. 3, President Donald Trump has yet to officially concede the election. Instead he filed several lawsuits, claiming voter fraud, to try and overturn results in various states. Nearly all of those legal filings have been rejected by the courts.
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Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE The Belmont County Board of Commissioners accepted and awarded bids for county projects Wednesday, adding to the Senior Services vehicle fleet and taking the first steps toward a slide repair on Blaine-Barton Road.
Commissioner J.P. Dutton also commented on the recent death of former Belmont village mayor Stan Sobel, who served a four-year term and did not seek re-election last fall. Commissioners and guests noted his dedication to the village, and Dutton mentioned the positive impact Sobel had on young people during his long teaching career at Union Local High School.
The commissioners awarded a bid to Thomas Garage Inc. for two all-wheel-drive, four-door sedans for $60,930, two four-wheel-drive hotshot vehicles with meal delivery package for $97,982, and one four-wheel-drive SUV for $28,477.
Times Leader Staff Writer
ST. CLAIRSVILLE Large-scale water and sewer upgrades are expected to begin next year in Belmont County, with a lower interest rate than was first expected, but the process of acquiring property or easements continues using eminent domain in some cases.
The commissioners finalized paperwork Wednesday to lock in the interest rate on a 40-year water improvement loan at 1.25 percent.
“We’ve been a little bit slow getting to this point. One of the benefits is that the rates were changing during that time and we ended up being able to lock in a lower rate than we would have been earlier,” Belmont County Commissioner J.P. Dutton said.