The county and townships are quickly reconciling a ‘lost tax’ that will help pay for roadwork…hopefully this year.

The presidents of all 16 townships of Ross County gather once a month as the Ross County Trustee Association, and Jim Hatfield of Jefferson Township is their president. He recently ‘rediscovered’ a sales tax that had been created in the 1970s, but cut off from the townships about 2004.

The half-percent “piggyback” tax was added to the 7% county sales tax in 1979, but was apparently cut off from the townships without proper procedure. The county has been collecting it but not sharing any of it.

Hatfield first approached the commissioners on February 10th, and they had a friendly discussion about it. (Read ““Townships Asking Ross County About Undistributed Tax Revenue.“)

He came back to the commissioners on Monday, reporting that the Trustee Association had accepted his plan: Share last year’s tax revenue equally among the townships this year, and then next year return to sharing based on road mileage and condition in each township.

Hatfield explained that sharing equally will mean that the small townships will receive the same $55.5K as the big townships, even if the small ones have fewer roads – but will get proportionately more money to the small ones to help make up for the lack of payments at a time when the townships have struggled with dropping revenue.

The commissioners struggled with that idea, instead of just returning to the proportionate distribution, and were also reluctant to accept only Hatfield’s word that the trustee presidents had accepted the plan – but all agreed they wanted to move quickly to get the money shared.

After a discussion that included the Ross County Prosecutor (who acts as legal counsel for the commissioners and trustees), Hatfield agreed to get a vote from all three trustees of each township to make sure everything was legal.

The Ross County Trustee Association meets on second Wednesdays, so everyone agreed that they could get the deal signed off within the month.

Green Township Trustee and president Barry Bennett accompanied Hatfield in the meeting. Hatfield could not stay to chat with me, but Bennett explained the situation – including how Hatfield ‘discovered’ the ‘lost’ tax after thinking about a passing comment in a conversation.

Bennet acknowledged that trustees and commissioners come and go, and so even a fairly recent income stream can get lost in the shuffle of changing officeholders.

Hear Bennett in his own words in the below interview video in the article on the Scioto Post.

Kevin Coleman covers local government and culture for the Scioto Post and iHeart Media Southern Ohio. For stories or questions, contact Kevin Coleman or the iHeart Southern Ohio Newsroom.

Beth Christy