Marinella announces retirement, 2022 County budget reviews begin

DAYTON-The Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) began 2022 preliminary budget hearings on Friday, October 22, and these meetings will continue over the next couple weeks from the various Columbia County departments.

Judge Scott Marinella and Administrator Diane Dill were present to go over the proposed budget for District Court. At that time Marinella announced his retirement to begin in January after 20 years of "sitting on the bench." He provided the Commissioners with his recommendations and discussed the conditions to fill his position, which has one year of the current term.

The Commissioners will appoint a replacement from among applicants who will have to register District Municipal Court Judges Association and fulfill continuing education requirements during the interim. The candidates need to be a lawyer who resides or is willing to reside in Columbia County.

Marinella reported the Court spent up to the budget in 2021. A large pull on the budget is hiring interpreters needed for cases, however some grant money has been applied for to help cover the costs. Revenues have increased with civil filings. An updated scanning system for documents was also purchased this year. Marinella requested a step-pay increase for Deputy Clerk Liezel Johnson because of the training she providing the new clerk.

Planning Manager Dena Martin reviewed the budget for County Planning and Building. The current year's revenues are double what was projected partly due to large projects including the Assisted Living Project for the Columbia County Health System. "We were concerned last year with COVID and slowing down and this year with the building prices going up," said Martin "It has not slowed down at all. Now building prices are going back down."

Martin requested a part-time associate planner to help with being in the office for walk-ins, taking phone calls and inputting permit information. This would allow Building Official Clint Attebury to make inspections. Martin mentioned updates and projects that would be completed by the new hire. "The future of the planning contract with the City is unclear," said Martin.

The City has not received any applicants for their planning position but Martin says she plans to help the City Human Resources Committee to refine the job description and salary to attract applicants. She suggested that should the City contract be extended, falling back to the previous contract of $4,000 per month might be more beneficial than the current hourly billing particularly because of added workload. Martin believes the County will be involved in the City Planning for some time.

There are currently 26 properties at risk for foreclosure in 2021, according to the review of the Treasurer's budget. In comparison, there are usually two to three each year according to Columbia County Treasurer Carla Rowe. She estimated sales and use tax at $550,000 for the budget next year. End of year sales and use taxes for 2021 are projected to be almost that high which she said no one anticipated with COVID. She stated she suspects the firefighters being in town brought additional revenue but there is no way of tracking specifics. Also, construction revenue is up with buying and renovating houses and reselling them.

Tim Dyke of Information Technology requested additional funding to the budget for storage software for some of the County data. The I.T. budget is less than in prior years so there are funds available that could be allocated for the request according to Auditor Anne Higgins and she also budgeted some money for an additional hire needed for the department. Rundell affirmed, "It makes sense for each department to have a back-up."