LISBON –Like Mark Twain’s rumored death, it seems the talk of Columbiana County’s impending financial problems were greatly exaggerated in 2017, or at least overstated.

The county ended 2017 with a carry-over balance of $2.8 million, which balloons to $4.8 million once you include the $2 million in surplus money county commissioners transferred from the general fund into an escrow account four weeks ago. This ties the record of $4.8 million set in 2016.

County Auditor Nancy Milliken said the balance was due in part to officeholders holding the line on spending and good luck.

“I think the departments have done a very good job of watching their budgets, and I think we did better than expected in revenue,” she said.

Commissioners warned that the county could see a downturn in its financial fortunes in 2017, chiefly because state and local sales taxes could no longer be assessed on services provided by Medicaid managed-care providers starting July 1. The state estimated this could result in the loss of $800,000 in county sales tax revenue in 2017, but county sales tax collections actually increased by more than $100,000 to $16.5 million.

Commissioner Mike Halleck said the figure is somewhat misleading because sales tax collections did decrease during the second half of 2017, but not to the expected $800,000. The losses were offset by larger-than-anticipated collections during the first half of the year.

The state is expecting the county’s sales tax collection to decline by $2.1 million in 2018, the first full year of the cuts, and Milliken said they still have to prepare for the anticipated loss by continuing to hold the line on spending as much as possible.

“Not knowing what 2018 or 2019 will bring, we still have to be conservatives with our dollars,” she said.

That is why the county budget commission again only gave commissioners $18.6 million to appropriate in 2018, at least initially. The commissioners were given the same amount last year but ended up with $25 million in revenue in 2017, which is also somewhat misleading. The figure was inflated because in 2017 the Buckeye Water District repaid in full a $1.5 million loan given them by commissioners to resolve the BWD’s lawsuit with East Liverpool.

This 2017 revenue figures exclude the $2.4 million in “transitional aid” received in November from the state legislature to help offset the loss of sales tax revenue. This money was never deposited in the general fund and went straight into a “rainy day” fund for use when the county begins running short in future years.

Milliken supports efforts by commissioners to keep as tight a rein on spending as possible because of the county’s uncertain financial future, saying the money they save today will likely be needed in the years ahead.

“I don’t have a problem estimating low because I’d rather have a carry-over balance than risk ending the year in the red,” she said.

Milliken said the net carry-over balance is actually $2.3 million because $102,186 was taken off the top to make the annual jail construction bond payment, along with $456,785 to pay bills carried over from 2017.