Final county tax collections set another record

NORWALK — Huron County Auditor Roland Tkach said 2022 was a very good year for sales tax collection. The county finished the year collecting $12,670,156 — a record topping the $12,454,209 set last year. This year's mark surpasses the $9.75 million estimated total. Here are the totals for the last 10 years: 2013 — $8,674,439 2014 — $9,256,291 2015 — $9,986,008 2016 — $9,850,695 2017 — $10,553,760 2018 — $9,898,208 2019 — $10,082,130 2020 — $10,661,726 2021 — $12,454,209 2022 — $12,670,156 "We are doing just fine," Tkach said. "It's a great way to start the year. One of the reasons I come out and talk about income tax is so people know about this when they make their economic decisions." Tkach said there are many things that go into these numbers. "I was looking back when the bridge (on U.S. 250 north) was closed," he said. "Back in 2011 when they were re-doing the bridge over Rattlesnake Creek ... it made 250 a dead end road and that year we saw an increase in sales tax. "A lot of people realized they could spend their money in Huron County and not go north." The sales tax in 2010 was 7,496,310. In 2011 it jumped to $8,101,587. He reported a big boost in the taxes collected is from internet sales, which started in August 2019. The biggest jump in the last 10 years was 16.81% in 2021. This year the jump was 0.17%. Even the COVID year of 2020 saw an increase of 1.57%. There were two drops over the last 10 years — 1.01% in 2016 and 6.21% in 2018. Tkach reported the carry over stands at $6,495,089. "I feel good about it ... we can live with that. We always make it work. I went through 08, 09 and 10. We've been through it." Here are the carry overs for the last 10 years: 2013 — $2,084,842 2014 — $2,239,049 2015 — $2,518,028 2016 — $3,678,425 2017 — $4,044,092 2018 — $4,689,028 2019 — $4,684,386 2020 — 4,887,262 2021 — $7,361,579 2022 — 8,399,791 2023 — $6,495,089 In other business on a relatively quiet day, Huron County network administrator Joel Riedy and Pete Welch, Huron County director of operations, talked about their upcoming projects and an update of current projects. A suggestion was made to move the uptown mural, which was damaged by wind in a recent storm and taken down for repairs, from its present location — on the side of the county building facing Linwood Avenue on East Main Street — to the side of the Frontier building facing Suhr Family Park on West Main Street. It is hard to see now, and Welch said Suhr Park would be a more visible spot. Welch said Steve Minor is looking into the possibility. Jackie Hug, one of the coordinators of the mural project, said it belongs to the Bicentennial Committee, which commissioned the work for the town's celebration in 2017. "The banner is kind of in rough shape," Hug said. "It was only supposed to last one year, so we were happy to get five out of it. People have talked about finding an inside place for it, and that is something we have to talk about. "I know a lot of people were heartbroken when it went down." Commissioners will meet again at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the county administration building.