On Tuesday, March 2, the Washington County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a Maximum Property Tax levy for general and rural county services for fiscal 2021-22 that represents a 2% increase for the current 2020-21 fiscal year. That is the maximum levy and indications currently are it will be slightly lower. In monetary terms it is $8,890,219 for county general and $1,523,812 for rural services. It was noted that the county debt service went down significantly with the clearance of $450,000 in secondary roads debt for previous major projects.

The resolution, which passed after a public hearing, is a state requirement prior to another public hearing regarding the full budget certification at the March 23 meeting.

In another ongoing road project, the board authorized County Engineer Jacob Thorius to proceed with negotiations and arrangements for rumble strips off W61, Riverside Road, as the last phase of the work on the six-mile stretch of roadway. The Highway Safety Improvement fund will provide $88,000 toward the costs, which is estimated at approximately $90,000. Thorius noted that even if the county cost went up to $10,000, rumble strips are a proven measure that reduce traffic fatalities.

The work does involve paving shoulders. Thorius said that the $88,000 is 10% higher than the figure offered two years ago. He stressed that the strips will be the entire length of the new road section and called them “a huge benefit.”

In other business, the board:

•received the monthly update from Lynn Whaley of WEMIGA, operators of the county recycling facility, showing 76.88 tons arrived for recycling in January, about 20 tons higher than last year. He said February was “unusually low,” noting it was directly related to the extreme weather in the month; and

• received the weekly COVID-19 update that Public Health Administrator Danielle Pettit-Majewski called “great news” with figurers “back to the level we had in July.” There have been only seven cases in the last week. She said that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has arrived and will be administered this week.  There also will be a clinic March 13 in Wellman from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and another on March 22 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.  in Washington, at the Parkside Center and YMCA respectively. There will be smaller clinics at the Public Health facility.  The department has also partnered with the county hospital for help in administering vaccinations.