Letter to the Voters: Peggy Yost, Treasurer Candidate

Letter to the Voters: Peggy Yost, Treasurer Candidate

(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Meigs Independent Press does not participate in advertising for or endorsing candidates. The submissions from candidates are a service to the voters and the people of Meigs County. Candidates were invited to write an open letter to the voters. It is published as submitted, unedited.)

I’m Peggy Yost, Meigs County Treasurer. I’m a lifelong resident of Meigs Countyand currently live in Racine where I enjoy tending to my 55 acre farm. I am a proud member of both the Republican party and the Ladies of the Meigs County Republican party as well as a member of the Farm Bureau and the Big Bend Antiques Club.

It has been my pleasure serving you for the past 20 years. I started working in the Treasurer’s Office in 1999 as a Deputy Treasurer under the late Howard Frank, working along side Nancy Russell, Roberta Ridenour and Tabitha Campbell. For the last 12 years I have served as your County Treasurer, being first elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 and again in 2016. I am proud to be working with my current deputies Roberta Ridenour, Krista Smith and Tonya Griffin. Together we make a great team and strive every day to serve you, the taxpayers of Meigs County.

As your County Treasurer I serve on several boards, including Board of Budget Commission and Board of Revisions. As a checks and balance of county money, I work closely with Auditor Mary Byer-Hill. We balance county funds to the penny each month to better ensure accuracy. In overseeing county savings my office holds investments in Farmers Bank, Peoples Bank and Home National Bank, keeping our tax dollars in Meigs County. 

We are responsible for the billing and collection of property taxes. In the past, property taxes were billed twice a year, known as 1^st and 2^nd half billing cycles. Several years ago, I started adding an additional billing cycle for delinquent taxes. Once collection is closed and reconciled for the current tax year, we do our third-round billing for those parcels that were not paid during the first 2 cycles. This has resulted in over $5,328,000 in delinquent taxes being collected in the past 5 years. In that same period, we have collected over $68 million in current taxes.  We also have in place a contract payment system, outlined in Ohio Revised Code, which allows us to put a contract in place for 2 to 5 years to help taxpayers become current on their property taxes. This provides us with the opportunity to help those taxpayers experiencing hardships and unable to bring their taxes current. It allows them to make payments on their delinquent taxes to avoid foreclosure until they are back on their feet. In 2019 we received over $320,000 in contract payments. We also have many taxpayers coming in throughout the year making monthly payments to be applied toward their property taxes for the following year. In January of 2019 we applied close to $100,000 in prepayments to the current tax roll.

We are currently looking into other options to better serve the public paying their taxes. We are planning to accept both credit card and online payments before the start of 2^nd half collection this year. Accepting these payment methods can be costly so I have researched every option available to ensure that your tax dollars are well spent and protected. 

I love Meigs County and all its’ citizens; I have always strived to do my best to serve you and will continue to do so when re-elected.

Working with the public has been my greatest privilege and honor. My door is always open to anyone that has questions or may need my assistance. I welcome any suggestions on how I can better serve you as your Meigs County Treasurer.  I ask for your vote and support on March 17^th as I seek re-election as your County Treasurer.

Peggy Yost, Candidate for Meigs County Treasurer