July 10, 2011
Dealing with the state budget
Collaboration, shared services will be key By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Union County and city of Marysville officials have been anticipating the approval of the new state budget, and now that it has been passed, the community can expect to see a collaborative effort to work through its effects.
Union County With the new state budget, the county is expecting to lose approximately $900,000 in tangible personal property tax (TPPT) reimbursements and $1.1 million in local government funds by 2013. Actual figures have not yet been computed.
Union County has experienced major growth and a tremendous increase in demand of services since 2003, commissioner Gary Lee said. “Our budget reached nearly $19.5 mil- Gary Lee
lion back in 2008,” he said. A $2-million loss would put Union County back to its 2005 spending level, commissioner Steve Stolte said. “The last several Steve Stolte
years, 2009, 2010 and we anticipate in 2011, that our revenues for those three years are going to average about $17.5 million,” Stolte said. “With the new state budget, we expect to lose potentially another $2 million in annual revenues by 2013. So by 2013, we’ll be faced with See COLLABORATION, page A2
Pay-freeze plan
MEA ‘disappointed’ by board’s June 27 vote By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
Photos by Eric George/ThisWeek
(Above) Valerie Hibbard chats with Dan Snodgrass and Gina Rie in Plain and Practical Foods, 117 E. Fifth Street, on July 6. (Below) Valerie and Craig Hibbard opened the business. which sells bulk foods and crafts with an emphasis on locally grown products.
New Uptown business emphasizes local goods and recycled products By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
After being sent on a mission to find a home in Marysville, Plain and Practical owner Valerie Hibbard instead found a space where she and her husband could build their dream bulk-foods store. “We pretty much wanted to have some kind of a business and we looked at a lot of different possibilities,” Valerie Hibbard said. “I knew I didn’t want to sell beer and lottery tickets at midnight. “I wanted to have a business that I could feel good about. I wanted to sell products that people needed,” she said. Plain and Practical, located at 117 E. Fifth Street, opened in May. The store sells a variety of items, including jam, jelly, honey, spices, eggs, wheat, flour, beans, rice, cutting boards, aprons, bag organizers, dishcloths and cookbooks. Valerie Hibbard has been selling her handmade goods since she was 9 years old. She makes most of the sewing products for sale in the store, while other products are bought locally. “Almost everything in here that’s sewn was sewn out of recycled materials,” she said. Her love for recycling can be seen in the store’s anti-paper towels (small square towels that are made by recycling linen and cotton tablecloths), pillowcases and tank-top tote bags and a jean-skirt apron. See PLAIN AND PRACTICAL, page A2
See MEA ‘DISAPPOINTED’, page A3
Hi-Point begins search for new superintendent By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
‘we’re going to operate without asking for any additional dollars.’We’re going to collect just that same amount of money for another 10 years.” Local health departments are not directly funded by the state of Ohio;
Ohio Hi-Point Career Center will begin a search for a new superintendent following the resignation of current superintendent Kim Davis. Davis, who has been Ohio Hi-Point’s superintendent for eight years, announced on June 24 she will be leaving to take the same position at Tolles Career and Technical Center in Plain City. Kelsey Giesler, Ohio Hi-Point communications coordinator, said Davis’ last day will be July 31. “It was an opportunity to take a superintendency with an outstanding school, an outstanding career center in a very progressive area of the state,” Davis said. “I’m just thrilled to have the opportunity.” Davis said she will miss the community partnerships she has established over the past eight years. “I’ve just gained so many great friends and colleagues here at Ohio Hi-Point,” she said. “I’m going to miss them all very much.” Anne Reames, Ohio Hi-Point Board of Education president, said Davis’ replacement will have
See RENEWAL LEVY, page A3
See HI-POINT, page A3
Union County Board of Health
Voters will see renewal levy on November ballot By BRITANY BYERS ThisWeek Community Newspapers
The Union County Board of Health will place a 0.5-mill renewal levy before voters this November. The Union County General Health District’s current 10-year, 0.5-mill
levy is set to expire in December. If passed, the renewal levy would start a new 10-year cycle after the completion of the current levy’s cycle. A renewal levy would not increase the cost to individual taxpayers and would allow the health department to continue providing public
The president of the Marysville Education Association said a board vote last week on an offer from the teachers union to freeze salaries and forgo a pay increase should have been a “no-brainer.” Instead, the board voted June 27 to table action on the proposal from the union to freeze teachers’ salaries for two years and forgo a scheduled 1-percent pay increase, saving the school district $2.78 million. A plan to freeze classified and administrative step increases and salary schedules was also tabled. The board scheduled a meeting at 6 p.m. Friday, July 8, after ThisWeek’s press time, to discuss the contract in executive session. Members could take the union proposal off the table and vote on the items following the executive session. MEA president Juliet Litzel said she and other union members who voted for the pay freeze “are really disappointed that the board didn’t accept this offer.” She said the MEA and the board have always worked well together. “We keep on giving back and for the board not to want to meet us halfway on this, I’m really surprised,” she said. The new contract would nullify the terms of the previous teachers’ agreement, which was set to expire Dec. 31, and would extend the contract between the district and the union for two years. “I think this is one heck of an offer,” Litzel said. “It’s a two-year deal: Things stay the way they are and you save nearly $3 million.” The board postponed its vote last week to allow members time to discuss the terms and impacts of
health services. Health commissioner Jason Orcena said the renewal levy is a “pretty significant commitment from our board to the community.” “We have gone 10 years with a certain amount of money, a fixed amount of money,” Orcena said. “We’re saying to our community,
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