bethel-journal-081209

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THINGS TO DO

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Car and Motorcycle Show at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Aug. 16, at Williamsburg Community Park

JOURNAL B-T hopes third time a charm Your Community Press newspaper serving Bethel, Chilo, Felicity, Franklin Township, Moscow, Neville, Tate Township, Washington Township E-mail: clermont@communitypress.com

T h u r s d a y, A u g u s t 1 3 , 2 0 0 9

By Kellie Geist Vol. 110 No. 31 © 2009 The Community Press ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Celebration of life

Marine Gen. Robert Ruark presents a Marine Commendation Medal to Teresa Dillinger, the mother of Marine Staff Sgt. Mark Anthony “Tony” Wojciechowski, who was killed in Iraq in April. A celebration of life and service for Wojciechowski was held Friday, Aug. 7, at the Union Township Civic Center. FULL STORY, B1

Nine nominated for Gatch award

To honor the spirit of the women who fought for the right to vote, the Clermont County League of Women Voters hosts the annual Suffragist Dinner and honors one woman for her volunteer contributions to the community. This year nine were nominated for the Orpha Gatch Citizenship Award to be presented Tuesday, Aug. 25, at Receptions Eastgate. FULL STORY, A2

Place Matters in Felicity

The Place Matters program in Felicity is going strong. The group of volunteers, assisted by project manager Sue McKinley, has worked to improve and remove troubled properties and help residents with housing assistance. They also helped the Clermont County Sheriff Office make 16 drug-related arrests and assist children in the village with after-school activities and lunch programs. FULL STORY, A4 For the Postmaster

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kgeist@communitypress.com

The Bethel-Tate Local School District is hoping the third time will be a charm when it comes to the ballot. The board voted Thursday, Aug. 6, to put a 4.3-mill emergency property tax levy on the November ballot. The district was unable to pass a one-percent earned-income tax in February and a 5.9-mill emergency property tax in May. If the 4.3-mill levy passes, it would generate $750,000 for the district each year for the next five years. This levy would expire after five years. School board and finance committee member Pam Sandker said that while this levy would not

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B E C A U S E C O M M U N I T Y M AT T E R S

alleviate all of the district’s financial woes, it would help. “It’s not the whole amount we need ... But we tried to come up with a number that would work for the people and the schools,” Sandker said. “This is really just a Band-Aid. A small Band-Aid.” The district needs an additional $1 million to bring back the extracurriculars, busing and staff positions cut within the last year. Sandker said the board could ask for a smaller amount than they did in May because of some additional funding the district received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That $157,000 was used to bring three staff members back after being laid off. However, board Treasurer Amy Wells said that money will last

two years, at which time the district will have to make some additional cuts to stay within the budget. Bethel-Tate is funded 19 percent by local funds and Gov. Ted Strickland’s new plans call for districts to be funded between 40 and 50 percent through local funds, said Wells. Although the board members agreed a levy will be a hard sell in this economy, it’s something they have to keep trying. “We can’t give up. I don’t think we can throw our hands up and just take what we’re getting,” said board president Ed Dyer. “We need the money. We need to fight for this.” Dyer said that, without additional money, the board will have to make cuts that could affect the

quality of education students receive. “At some point, our cuts are going to affect the education. When you don’t have any money, you have to cut something,” Dyer said. “We can’t survive like this anymore. We need something or we’re not going to be the same school district we’ve been.” The resolution will be sent to the Clermont County Auditor’s Office for certification. The board is expected to vote to proceed with the levy at their regular meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 18, at Bethel-Tate High School, 3420 Ohio Pike. Since this information has not been sent to the auditor’s office, the amount it will cost voters is not available.

Bethel village has $585,000 deficit By Theresa L. Herron

Money is available to pay village bills, however, there is no backup in case of an emergency.

therron@communitypress.com

Bethel’s audit is not complete, but preliminary details show deficits totaling about $585,000. The information was presented to the village’s finance committee Aug. 3. The largest is the general fund that is short $450,000. The others are water, $83,000; police pension, $32,000; sidewalk assessment, $16,000; and trash, $4,000. Fiscal Officer Angel Burton said no money is missing. Instead, she said each fund essentially has checking and savings/investment accounts. Each fund has money in the checking account, but nothing in savings/investment. It appears the former administrator and the former fiscal officer took those savings/investments, rolled them into one fund and used the money to purchase things like the three lots next to the municipal building, Burton said. The cost of the land and demolition of the houses was about $300,000. Current village Administrator Travis Dotson said the money spent involved the “rainy day” fund. When starting work on the books, Burton said the village had $1.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2005. That number dipped to $92,928 by Dec. 31, 2008, with no savings/investments. Burton said the village is not spending in a deficit situation now. Money is available to pay bills, however, there is no backup in case of an emergency. The numbers are not expected to change significantly, said Dave

Thompson from the auditor of state’s Local Government Services. He told committee members the village could be placed in fiscal watch or fiscal emergency status. The state would not assume responsibility for the village under either designation, Thompson said. Council and the mayor would continue their work, but the state would monitor finances in the case of fiscal watch. If a fiscal emergency is declared, a financial oversight commission would be established and members would approve all financial actions, he said. Under fiscal emergency, village officials must create a five-year financial plan showing how the situation would be corrected, Dotson said. The village is “recovered” when fund balances are positive and sustainable for five years, Thompson said. Dotson said the village has been working on a recovery plan since becoming aware of problems. That includes cutting employees earlier this year. He is hopeful some money can be recovered by selling the old water property to the county park district. No official declaration of fiscal watch or fiscal emergency will be made until the audit is complete and an analysis done, Burton said. That could be January.

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Keeping step

KELLIE GEIST/STAFF

Junior Jana Monde, a clarinet player, works to keep her step sizes exact while staying in line. For more photos from band camp, see page A5.

Tiger Fest Saturday The Bethel-Tate High School Tiger Boosters are putting on a fundraiser to help support the district pay-to-participate program. To keep the cost of participation fees as low as possible for being involved in an extra-curricular, the booster organizations agreed to donate a total of $20,000 to the program. To help raise that money, the Tiger Boosters are putting on Tiger Fest from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 15. The festival will start with a pan-

cake breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. For $4, visitors can get a plate of pancakes, sausage and a drink. At 11 a.m., a carnival style event will be held behind Bethel-Tate High School complete with inflatable rides, games, booths and food. A beautiful baby contest will be held at noon and a cornhole contest will kick off at 2 p.m. The Kenny Welch Band will perform at 3 p.m. followed by the Patrick Family Band and Maddie Davis at 8 p.m. Admission to Tiger Fest is free.


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