Clarion County commissioners have found a way to turn a negative into a positive.
The negative was paying rent for office space for the many mandated services offered by the county, and the positive is collecting rent from those very same service providers.
When the Clarion Hospital erected a new building, the old hospital building stood empty.
The old hospital became the county’s Human Services building.
“When we took office there was a lot of empty space in the Human Resources building,” Commissioner Ed Heasley said. “We went in and remodeled a lot of the offices using the county maintenance crew.”
“We were paying electric and gas for a lot of empty space. We worked hand-in-hand with the vendors and we are now collecting rent instead of paying rent,” Heasley added. “That covers all of the maintenance and upkeep on the building.”
County financial director Rose Logue said the total value of the leases is $265,440 annually.
“That is a little better than a half mill of taxes,” said Tharan. “That is $265,000 we are bringing, not paying out.”
Many of the vendors use federal or state funds to pay the rent.
“The county has to pay a match that could vary from 10 to 40 percent,” said Heasley. “This way we are using their money to pay our share. That saves the taxpayers money.”
Next week, the commissioners are expected to approve multiple lease renewals at the Human Services building with terms from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.
Those leases include:
– CYS: $11,100/month ($133,200/year), county match 0%
– Clarion Vocational Services: $1,814/month ($21,768/year)
– Center for Community Resources: $491/month ($5,892/year)
– Community Guidance Center: $1,526/month ($18,312/year)
– Roads to Recovery: $964/month ($11,568/year)
– Center for Community Resources: $2,326/month ($27,912/year)
– Human Services Department: $624/month ($7,488/year), county match 0%
– Clarion County Promise: $911/month ($10,932/year)
The county is looking at additional moves in the future that will save the taxpayers money. Heasley said the domestic relations and public defender’s offices will be moved into the courthouse.
“We recently purchased an office for the district attorney and that also saves rental fees,” Heasley said. “The probation office and district magistrate were moved into a county-owned building. Those moves saved the county hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.”