New Columbiana County sales tax in effect Sunday)

An official said county officials are working with their lean appropriations.
By D.A. WILKINSON
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Columbiana County's new 0.5-percent sales tax goes into effect right after tonight's late show.
That's 12:01 a.m. Sunday to be exact.
The tax will cost consumers an extra penny per 2 on most goods and services, said Mike McKinney, a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Taxation.
Eating out after the show? Those eating at a restaurant pay the tax. Food taken home for consumption is not taxed.
There are exceptions to the tax collections, such as for drug prescriptions and some medical equipment, McKinney said.
Commissioner Dan Bing and former county Commissioner Sean Logan voted to enact the tax earlier this year. Voters had renewed a 1-percent sales tax but rejected the 0.5-percent tax.
If collected for a full year, the tax should bring in about 4 million.
Because of the time it takes the state to collect and distribute the money, the county isn't expected to get any revenue until around July 1.
The county expects to receive about 2 million from the tax this year.
Before the tax was passed, some officeholders, including the common pleas court judges, were considering closing when they ran out of money. The commissioners gave small amounts to the courts and the county coroner's office to keep them open.
Appropriations
Overall appropriations for this year were based on the county having the extra 2 million.
While the money hasn't arrived yet, there have been no financial crunches that once were common.
Commissioner Jim Hoppel, chairman, said Friday, "Everybody is working together to try and make this work. We're really trying to work with the situation."
Over the years, there had been intense debate about which offices could set their own appropriations, which offices had other legal claims to money and which offices got to take whatever the commissioners give them.
"Everyone is coping as best as they can," Hoppel said.
County Auditor Nancy Milliken said her office has prepared sales tax charts for county merchants.
She said she has not heard of any problems in making the changeover.
Milliken has worked with the commissioners and said the financial problems in a sense had helped the county. She said the problems forced officials to look for new ways of operating with less money.
Merchants can get refunds from Milliken's office for the cost of reprograming their cash registers to collect the new tax. That's 100 per store with one register. A store gets 50 more for every additional register.
wilkinson@vindy.com