Boose: 'We should be flush in money'

NORWALK — What's the big deal? Terry Boose had that question to auditor Roland Tkach at Tuesday's Huron County commissioners meeting. Tkach made a presentation at last Thursday's meeting about the county's sales tax, but Boose left the meeting before Tkach's presentation. Boose responded to what he read in the Norwalk Reflector and an online publication concerning the auditor's numbers, which stated how positive everything seems to be on sales tax percentages. "We heard over and over, again on a month-by-month basis last year, of how we were doing so outstanding in sales tax," Boose said. "We were reaching all kinds of records and whatever. We got our first report of 2023 and I want to point out one thing. ... You would swear that we were flush in money in sales tax. "The difference in sales tax between 2022 compared to 2021 was about .17 percent for the whole year. That's not 1.7. That's not 17... the total sales tax for 2022 was up .17 percent over 2021. I would say that is a little different from how he puts out his reports." Boose said he has heard from many people on the subject. "They are all saying we should be flush in money according to the monthly reports we get from the auditor," he said. "The .17 percent is not a very big increase when you are talking about inflation last year being anywhere from 5 to 8 percent. "No one can agree what that actually is but I think you can say 5 — that's a pretty safe, conservative number." Boose continued. "As I have stated in this meeting over and over again, how disappointed and how misinterpreting the auditor's monthly reports are," he said. "Is he not telling the truth? No. You can manipulate the numbers any way you want. But, you know, it frustrates me to continuously see the headlines that everything is very positive in sales tax. "To me when inflation goes up 5 to 8 percent and your total sales tax goes up .17 percent, I can't repeat that enough, .17 percent, it's not a good year. That's all I am going to say about that. I have said it over and over again, you know how to really look at the number and what it means to the county. But our auditor continues to make it sound like we are flush in sales tax money." Boose was not done there. "I'd also like to point out we got something from him that shows our cash balance is $1.5 million less at the beginning of 2023 than it was in 2022," Boose said. "And it also shows that carry-over is $1.9 million less. I don't know why we are waiting on budget, but it going to be a challenge. And $1.9 million is a lot to look at." When contacted for a response, Tkach said he wasn't there and couldn't respond. He did say, "I always like to let the numbers speak for themselves." Here are the sales tax 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 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