COLUMBIANA COUNTY Officials agree to use $1M from debt fund

The loan will help the county financially until sales tax revenue arrives in full force.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County will return with interest the $1 million it is borrowing from itself to pay bills, including some that are overdue.
Commissioners approved a measure Wednesday to borrow from a fund set aside to retire long-term debt.
To borrow from the fund for operating needs requires that the county pay 3 percent interest and retire the loan within three years.
Monthly payments will be $29,081.
"It's sad we have to do it," Commissioner Dave Cranmer, board president, said of the borrowing. "But we're saving money by not having to go outside these walls."
He was referring to the fact that interest on a commercial loan probably would have been higher than the 3 percent the county is paying by borrowing from itself.
"We need to do something. We've been going day to day, paying bills," county Auditor Nancy Milliken advised commissioners.
Bills: Among the county's debts are bills from 2000 that are overdue. Those include a $411,000 charge for prisoner housing costs at the county jail in October, November and December.
First-quarter 2001 bills and expenses amounting to about $2.3 million also are coming due, Milliken said.
By borrowing $1 million, the county can meet its debts until cash begins coming in from the 1 percent county sales tax approved by voters in November.
"Once we get over this period, we should be fine," Milliken said.
Sales-tax funding is expected to begin arriving in full force next month, when April revenue of about $500,000 is expected.
It was voters' defeat of the sales tax in May 1999 that led to the cash-flow shortage that prompted Wednesday's decision.
The loss of the tax forced the county to stretch the budget thin all of last year and end 2000 still owing money.
The fund had a $1.4 million balance before commissioners approved borrowing from it.
Milliken said borrowing from the fund, which is fueled with property taxes, will not interfere with the county's ability to pay long-term debts.