Belmont commissioners act on levies, senior meals and jail contracts
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE -- The Belmont County Board of Commissioners on Wednesday approved resolutions declaring it necessary to renew two property tax levies that will appear on the November ballot.
The board adopted resolutions declaring the necessity of levying taxes in excess of the 10-mill limitation and requested Belmont County Auditor Cindi Henry certify the matters related to a 0.75-mill renewal levy for Belmont County 911 and a 0.75-mill renewal and decrease levy for Senior Services of Belmont County.
“We talked about this last week. We’re decreasing, as most of you know by now, the Senior Services levy by a slight amount from one mill to 0.75 mill, and that’ll be on the Nov. ballot,” Commissioner Jerry Echemann said. “This should be the final time that we will have to include resolutions for this.”
He said the 911 levy is a renewal that will neither increase nor decrease the millage.
“We’re not decreasing the 911 levy, but we’re not increasing it either. It’ll be renewed at the same rate for 911, and that’s also on the ballot for November,” Echemann said.
He added that, with the second round of resolutions approved, the next step is to send them to the Belmont County Board of Elections to ensure both levies are placed on the November ballot.
The board also approved the purchase of a Hot Shot Box from Delivery Concepts Inc. for $37,930 for Senior Services.
Echemann said the Hot Shot Box will be installed on a 2026 Ford F-150 recently purchased from Tri-State Ford for use in delivering meals to senior citizens.
“Hot Shot Box, as the name implies, it keeps the food hot while we take it out to the seniors for their lunches. We send out about 1,112 meals a day,” Echemann said.
Commissioners also adopted a resolution granting Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services Director Jeff Felton authority to transfer $102,752.15 from the Public Assistance Fund to the Child Support Enforcement Agency Fund for fiscal year 2026.
The board also approved renewing an agreement with Keefe Commissary Network LLC to provide food and other commissary items and services at the Belmont County Jail. The agreement, recommended by Sheriff James Zusack, runs from July 31, 2026, through July 31, 2027.
Commissioners also renewed an agreement with Inmate Calling Solutions, also at Zusack’s recommendation, for inmate telephone services at the jail. The agreement is effective Aug. 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027.
“Essentially, we do use outside agencies at the jail to run the commissary and to run the system by which the prisoners are allowed to make phone calls and things of this nature, and we’re just renewing our contracts which had existed prior,” Echemann said.