SIDNEY — “This is the last Progress Edition article I will be writing as I will be retiring as Shelby County Treasurer on March 31, 2024,” said Shelby County Treasurer John Coffield.

His report continues:

As I look back over these past six and one half years, I am proud of the various accomplishment we have achieved. When I ran for this office, I wanted to focus on several issues. I wanted to reduce the amount of delinquent taxes, to increase the interest we received on our investments and to make the office more efficient. All of these goals have been achieved.

For the past two years, we ended the tax years with total delinquency below $1,000,000 which equates to a delinquency percent of 1.64%. Prior to that, percentages were always over 2.00%.

This past year, the amount of interest the county received on its investments came to $1.4 million. This is the first time we have earned over one million dollars in recent memory.

Working with the Auditor’s office, we installed new real estate and accounting software systems in the past couple of years. This allows us to have more information at our fingertips and makes navigation and input more efficient.

We also purchased a new scanning system that reads both the check and payment coupon which allows us to process many more payments per day than we could when all payments had to be input manually.

This past year, we purchased new personal computers and software to replace all our desktop PCs. This will assist in our constant battles with cyber criminals by having up-to-date software and equipment.

We moved the location of our night drop box. You can now drop off tax payments after hours using the night drop located next to the employee entrance on Main Street. This drop box location has more parking, better lighting, and a security camera installed for added safety.

We also started using a new credit card/debit card vendor. Our old vendor had increased the convenience fee that customers pay when using a credit card to 2.95% of the transaction amount. We were able to find a new vendor that charges 2.5%. You can make payments online in the comfort of your home 24 hours day, seven days a week by going to the Treasurer’s website. The new vendor also allows you to search by your name and pull up all of the parcels that belong to you. You can pay all of your parcels in one transaction. You can also pay your taxes by eCheck and the fee amount is a flat $1.30.

We welcomed a couple of new employees. Tracey Gockley joined the team in April and Todd Lotz started in July. Longtime employee Chris Arnold retired in July. Thanks to Chris for her many years of service.

The Treasurer’s office worked closely with the Shelby County Land Reutilization Corporation, known as the Land Bank, to help rid the county of vacant and dilapidated buildings. Over the past six years, we’ve acquired over 100 units county-wide. Most of these structures were razed although we were able to save a few and have them rehabilitated. The structures that were razed were done with virtually no cost to the county as the Land Bank has been awarded grants for demolition. Executive Director Doug Ahlers has been of great assistance to the Treasurer’s office.

In addition to residential properties, the Land Bank is assisting with the demolition of the old Wagner Manufacturing property. This demolition is being funded with the help of several state grants and local matches from the city of Sidney and Shelby County. Clean up of the site should be completed by the time this article appears in the newspaper. The clean-up has been a long time coming and it will be nice to rid the city of this eyesore.

Our office will continue to help all taxpayers in any way we can. Hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. – noon on Friday. Our website is https://co.shelby.oh.us/treasurer and our main phone number is 937-498-7281. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns that you may have. We hope you have a healthy, safe and happy 2024. Thank you for all of your support. It has been my honor serving you.