OTTAWA – Franklin County commissioners reviewed several proposed cuts in next year’s spending and eyed a switch in health insurance for county employees Monday.
The county had been looking at a four- to five-mill increase in the county’s property tax levy for next year. With the health insurance switch and other cuts, the mill levy increase could be cut to two mills, said county administrator Lisa Johnson. Besides the employee health insurance, the sharpest cut discussed yesterday included the emergency management department, which could lose one of its two staffers. Alan Radcliffe, emergency management director, protested the plan to lay off his assistant. Cutting the position would cut what his office could do and would also cut some federal grants to the county, Radcliffe said. Johnson replied that the question is what is mandated by the federal and state government and what the county is doing extra. As proposed the mill levy would be around 58 mills.
