County investments haven’t been a pretty picture lately with interest rates so low, Kosciusko County Treasurer Sue Ann Mitchell told commissioners Tuesday. Investments diversified among seven banks altogether returned only about $69,309 in interest in the latest figures, she said – far short of the $3 million earned in the past. Interest rates at the banks ranged between 0.1 percent and 0.3 percent, she said. An additional $5,975 was earned on two municipal bonds. The county has a total of about $1.5 million in investments, according to Mitchell. Certificates of Deposit performed even worse: $28 earned on one 90-day investment of $30,000, she told commissioners, remarking that “it’s a poor waste of our time, to be honest.” The county is limited in what it can invest in, she said, and by law can only invest 25 percent of its money in municipal bonds. But a change in the law being considered this year may allow the county a wider range of investments it can make, she said. Commissioners approved Tuesday allowing member Ron Truex to continue as president of the county Board of Finance, which oversees investments; and wrote off $20,490 in outstanding checks from 2009 to present. Mitchell also noted in her report that the county only collected 78 percent of billed taxes as of last year, leaving about $7,000 uncollected. She told commissioners her office did everything it could, from sending reminder letters to demand letters, but some of the taxes are simply not collectible. Collection rates for the past six years ranged between 69 percent and 79 percent, according to information she provided. Mobile home tax bills consistently have the lowest collection rate, of between 41 and 58 percent. Mobile homes are her office’s biggest problem, she said, since they represent numerous smaller bills that take more effort to track down and collect on. Also during the meeting, commissioners heard that the latest Federal Emergency Management Agency figures put snow disaster cleanup in the county at $453,758, according to Emergency Management Director Ed Rock. That puts the county well above the $270,000 threshold for disaster aid, he said. And commissioners approved rezoning 1 acre of land on East 8 Square Road near North CR 175E, near Big Chapman Lake, as Agriculture 2. Property owners Edward and Deborah Boyts requested the rezoning to allow construction of a barn without utilities, and the county Area Plan Commission had recommended allowing rezoning as either Agriculture 2 or Residential.
