County Council Candidates Connect On Broadband Issue
May 16, 2020 at 4:32 a.m.
County Council Candidates Connect On Broadband Issue
By David [email protected]
Hosted by the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce and Kosciusko County Bar Association, the forum featured candidates in competitive primary races and was broadcast online due to the COVID-19 social distancing recommendations.
The at-large candidates include incumbents Sue Ann Mitchell, Kim Cates and Joni Truex and challenger Kathy Groninger. There are three at-large seats on the council.
Broadband was brought up during the third question when candidates were asked, “Growth is critical for businesses. What do you think Kosciusko County government can do to attract young families and top talent?”
“Well, growth is very critical and we can’t tax our way out of the issue. We’ve got to grow housing. I have served on the housing committee that Kosciusko County Community Foundation created. The shortage of that affordable housing is obviously a big deal here because those people who are not able to live here because they can’t find homes, they’re going someplace else to pay property tax and going someplace else with their income tax, so those are two of those things that kind of cover that,” Mitchell said.
She then said, along with that, is the broadband internet issue.
“We’re trying to work on that through the tower committee. That all ties back to home ownership, obviously. Nobody today – if you’re street savvy today – is going to be interested in a home without the internet,” Mitchell said.
Truex “echoed” Mitchell’s comments about broadband and homeownership.
“We do have to address the housing shortage here in the county. We have done a good job, I believe, of touting the things that make this county a good place to live, to work and to play: the lakes, the trails, the walking paths, all of those things combined, I think we’ve done a really good job,” Truex said.
Cates said she serves on the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCo) Housing and Placemaking Committee and at the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce where they’re working on housing and daycare options.
“I also do support the towers communication project, which I believe will, one, benefit first responders and also benefit the broadband expansion,” she said.
Cates also pointed out she serves on the KEDCo broadband committee so she’s familiar with the information.
“I think it’s fairly important that we work together with our partners and go forward,” she said.
Groninger said growth is really important and she agreed with the other three women about the housing situation in the county.
“To me, one of the big things is the internet,” she said. “The internet situation is really critical because young people are just not going to stay here ... without the internet. So I definitely support the broadband tower system that everybody’s been talking about. It’s a great thing.”
The women were then asked to identify two or three key county challenges that require action by local officials and what were their plans for addressing them.
Truex reminded everyone that the county council is “only the fiscal financial responsible part” of the county and does not make policy, but does support the county commissioners in their policies.
“I think it goes back to housing and broadband and daycare actually. We really need daycare facilities that are affordable in our area,” Cates said.
Groninger said she saw two challenges before the county.
“First off would be the internet, which I’ve already spoken about. I definitely think that’s a challenge and definitely think that’s something we need to focus on,” she said.
Groninger said the county needs to do “whatever is necessary” to get the tower system going, but there might be other options available to the county through state or federal funding.
The other challenge she mentioned as a challenge for the county was the increased cost of the criminal justice system, but ran out of time before she could elaborate on that too much.
Having served as the chair of the strategic planning committee for the county, Mitchell said they’ve worked on some of these issues. The committee includes two council members, a commissioner, county auditor and county administrator.
“We worked on these issues and we have identified, obviously, at one point we were to the place where we thought the jail was going to be our biggest problem. Now we have that population down a bit. But it’s not guaranteed to stay there, so we have to be cognizant of the fact that at some point, hopefully not too near in the future, we may need to look at a jail,” she said.
Mitchell said the Justice Building offices are becoming crowded, so that’s an issue. Another issue is the county highway funding.
“The county highway fund is probably our biggest” issue right now with the state having changed the funding formula for it, Mitchell said before the bell dinged.
When asked, “What is the greatest return on investment opportunity in our county?,” Groninger replied, “Again, I say, the internet is very important and then also housing. Housing is also very important.”
Mitchell said the greatest investment that the county will get the greatest return on is “obviously, trying to increase the assessed value based on businesses building, based on homes building. Not by raising the value of already existing properties, but by adding more of the assessed value into that pie. And in that pie, we all have an equal little bit of it, and if there are more of us paying into it, each one of us pays a little bit less, which certainly makes our county look better, which then brings more people to the county.”
She said Kosciusko County enjoys a pretty low tax rate.
“We’re at .18 cents for the county rate, just for the general fund. The total fund we’re at .2382. That’s very low for every county,” Mitchell said.
Truex said she believed the county’s return on investment is twofold: the county workforce and the businesses already in the county.
Cates said the “greatest investment we can make is in our children. I think the internet plays a part in having to be able to have better education, as well as all of the other physical things like our buildings.”
She said the county really needs to focus on the internet.
Hosted by the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce and Kosciusko County Bar Association, the forum featured candidates in competitive primary races and was broadcast online due to the COVID-19 social distancing recommendations.
The at-large candidates include incumbents Sue Ann Mitchell, Kim Cates and Joni Truex and challenger Kathy Groninger. There are three at-large seats on the council.
Broadband was brought up during the third question when candidates were asked, “Growth is critical for businesses. What do you think Kosciusko County government can do to attract young families and top talent?”
“Well, growth is very critical and we can’t tax our way out of the issue. We’ve got to grow housing. I have served on the housing committee that Kosciusko County Community Foundation created. The shortage of that affordable housing is obviously a big deal here because those people who are not able to live here because they can’t find homes, they’re going someplace else to pay property tax and going someplace else with their income tax, so those are two of those things that kind of cover that,” Mitchell said.
She then said, along with that, is the broadband internet issue.
“We’re trying to work on that through the tower committee. That all ties back to home ownership, obviously. Nobody today – if you’re street savvy today – is going to be interested in a home without the internet,” Mitchell said.
Truex “echoed” Mitchell’s comments about broadband and homeownership.
“We do have to address the housing shortage here in the county. We have done a good job, I believe, of touting the things that make this county a good place to live, to work and to play: the lakes, the trails, the walking paths, all of those things combined, I think we’ve done a really good job,” Truex said.
Cates said she serves on the Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCo) Housing and Placemaking Committee and at the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce where they’re working on housing and daycare options.
“I also do support the towers communication project, which I believe will, one, benefit first responders and also benefit the broadband expansion,” she said.
Cates also pointed out she serves on the KEDCo broadband committee so she’s familiar with the information.
“I think it’s fairly important that we work together with our partners and go forward,” she said.
Groninger said growth is really important and she agreed with the other three women about the housing situation in the county.
“To me, one of the big things is the internet,” she said. “The internet situation is really critical because young people are just not going to stay here ... without the internet. So I definitely support the broadband tower system that everybody’s been talking about. It’s a great thing.”
The women were then asked to identify two or three key county challenges that require action by local officials and what were their plans for addressing them.
Truex reminded everyone that the county council is “only the fiscal financial responsible part” of the county and does not make policy, but does support the county commissioners in their policies.
“I think it goes back to housing and broadband and daycare actually. We really need daycare facilities that are affordable in our area,” Cates said.
Groninger said she saw two challenges before the county.
“First off would be the internet, which I’ve already spoken about. I definitely think that’s a challenge and definitely think that’s something we need to focus on,” she said.
Groninger said the county needs to do “whatever is necessary” to get the tower system going, but there might be other options available to the county through state or federal funding.
The other challenge she mentioned as a challenge for the county was the increased cost of the criminal justice system, but ran out of time before she could elaborate on that too much.
Having served as the chair of the strategic planning committee for the county, Mitchell said they’ve worked on some of these issues. The committee includes two council members, a commissioner, county auditor and county administrator.
“We worked on these issues and we have identified, obviously, at one point we were to the place where we thought the jail was going to be our biggest problem. Now we have that population down a bit. But it’s not guaranteed to stay there, so we have to be cognizant of the fact that at some point, hopefully not too near in the future, we may need to look at a jail,” she said.
Mitchell said the Justice Building offices are becoming crowded, so that’s an issue. Another issue is the county highway funding.
“The county highway fund is probably our biggest” issue right now with the state having changed the funding formula for it, Mitchell said before the bell dinged.
When asked, “What is the greatest return on investment opportunity in our county?,” Groninger replied, “Again, I say, the internet is very important and then also housing. Housing is also very important.”
Mitchell said the greatest investment that the county will get the greatest return on is “obviously, trying to increase the assessed value based on businesses building, based on homes building. Not by raising the value of already existing properties, but by adding more of the assessed value into that pie. And in that pie, we all have an equal little bit of it, and if there are more of us paying into it, each one of us pays a little bit less, which certainly makes our county look better, which then brings more people to the county.”
She said Kosciusko County enjoys a pretty low tax rate.
“We’re at .18 cents for the county rate, just for the general fund. The total fund we’re at .2382. That’s very low for every county,” Mitchell said.
Truex said she believed the county’s return on investment is twofold: the county workforce and the businesses already in the county.
Cates said the “greatest investment we can make is in our children. I think the internet plays a part in having to be able to have better education, as well as all of the other physical things like our buildings.”
She said the county really needs to focus on the internet.
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