Bergman provides county update
NEW BREMEN — Auglaize County Commissioner John Bergman was on hand Tuesday morning at the New Bremen New Knoxville Rotary Club meeting, providing an update on the status of Auglaize County.
Bergman went over the Coronavirus, Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding that the county has received this summer.
The county has allocated $100,000 to 33 businesses in Auglaize County so far.
To meet the criteria, the businesses must have had a revenue decline of 10%; have 50 employees or fewer; be owned and operated in the county and the company’s gross receipts cannot exceed $2 million.
The first round of funds allocated ranged from $5,000 to $1,000.
Three businesses from New Bremen
and three from Wapakoneta received $5,000; six businesses from Wapakoneta, four from St. Marys, two from New Bremen and one in Minster and New Knoxville received $3,500; four businesses in Wapakoneta, two in St. Marys and one each from New Bremen and Minster received $2,000 and three from Wapakoneta and two businesses in St. Marys received $1,000.
Bergman said he expects the county to receive more money soon and will be allocating a second round of grants.
Monies from the CARES Act has to be spent by Nov. 20 and any money that’s leftover must be returned so Bergman said the county is looking to utilize it wherever they can.
He mentioned that the Mercer County Sheriff’s Office recently got approval to purchase four new police cruisers.
Bergman wondered how the county could use CARES money for the purchase.
“How are you going to use CARES Act money for that? Well, they must have cruisers available now that have a different type of interior that’s easier to clean out and sanitize in between trips and they have cars that will heat up to a certain degree to kill the coronavirus. There’s money out there for that.
“In order to maximize the value back to the local communities, it’s very important to keep this process going,” he said.
Following the shutdown because of the pandemic, Bergman said the commissioners implemented a 10% sales tax reduction in the county.
“The state of Ohio — you talk about the decline of revenue in sales tax with the slow down we can expect. We immediately went into action,” said Bergman. “We implemented a 10% reduction here locally. [We] thought that was the prudent thing to do. We prepared for a 20% reduction if things really went south. We live in a fairly conservative county, people don’t spend every dime they make so when things do slow down they still have money to spend.”
Bergman said the 10% sales tax is “holding its own” adding that through three months, the county is at 75% of their estimated goal for the end of the year.
“We have three months to go yet. That’s good news,” he said. “We’ve ranged anywhere from 85% of collection per month compared to a year ago, to 111% compared to a year ago. It all depends on how the state works through their numbers and how quickly we get the money back. The figure could be higher or lower.”
Finally, Bergman spoke about early voting that begins in Ohio on Oct. 6 for the upcoming election.
He said that county residents can vote in the administration building located on Blackhoof Street.
“There’s also a dropoff box. As it stands right now, each county has one drop-off box,” said Bergman. “We have our one box in the alley on the north side of the administration building. It has to be illuminated and it is. We have a camera on it so we’ll be fine.”
Bergman is running for re-election against independent candidate Duane Steinecker.