The Marion County Board of Commissioners met Nov. 26 in an $894,353 payday session.
County Clerk Carol Maggard reported the county will receive a near-record $57,068 in September sales tax from the state this month with the amount at least in part due to good receipts from the Hillsboro Arts & Crafts Festival and Marion Art in the Park.
Gayla Ratzlaff, coordinator of the Department for Elderly, told commissioners she is working with senior citizens to help outline their prescription drug plans for next year.
Commission Chairman Bob Hein mentioned a prescription plan with questionable legitimacy, and asked Ratzlaff to take care in keeping seniors in the care of legitimate companies.
Ratzlaff said helping protect senior citizens from frauds is an ongoing concern.
She said she is looking at bids for a new desk and a copier. Parts are no longer available for the copier currently used in her office.
Rollin Schmidt, solid-waste transfer station director, said the county continues to work toward developing a local construction-and-demolition landfill that could also serve neighboring counties. The establishment of such a landfill, plus recycling, could help lower the county?s waste disposal costs, he said.
Commissioner Dan Holub said Marion County will dispose of 8,000 to 9,000 tons of solid waste in 2008 with an average cost of $40 a ton. Taking paper out of the waste stream could result in an eventual 10 percent reduction in the amount of solid waste hauled to landfill, he said, and could save the county $32,000 annually.
Schmidt cautioned that recycling probably will start slowly, but will gradually increase the amount of trash removed from the waste stream.
The commissioners voted 2-0 in the absence of Commissioner Randy Dallke to approve a Cardie Oil Inc. of Tampa competitive road and bridge area fuel bid of $13,473 for 6,550 gallons of diesel over a quote of $13,825 from Cooperative Grain & Supply of Hillsboro.
Hein said the continuing decline in fuel prices to nearly half of their peak several weeks ago probably will help the county regain some momentum on its road projects.
