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Hocking County veterans officer asks commissioners to restore budget lines, requests $607,938 total
Summary
Hocking County Veterans Service Officer Vicky Raffrey asked commissioners Feb. 27 to restore equipment and supplies lines and to reallocate a $9,000 commissioners-funded item for grave flags/markers; commissioners requested detailed year-end financials and agreed to follow up before making changes.
Vicky Raffrey, Hocking County Veterans Service Officer, told commissioners at their Feb. 27 meeting that the office had taken delivery of a 2024 Ford Transit van and that she is requesting the department's full fiscal year budget of $607,938.18, including restoring supplies and equipment lines that had been reduced in the county's budget process.
Raffrey said the county historically pays for grave markers required under the Ohio Revised Code and has paid for flags for veteran graves in lieu of other payments to local veterans posts. She explained that a $9,000 item related to markers and flags has been carried on the commissioners' general fund in past years and should not appear as part of her office's total requested appropriation in the county's new VIP budget layout.
Commissioners questioned specific lines in the updated budget reports. One commissioner noted apparent discrepancies between prior-year actuals and the figures displayed in the county's VIP system; travel actuals displayed in the report (about $93.85) did not match line-item requests of $12,000-$15,000 in the posted budget, for example. Raffrey said some numbers reflected timing issues from the new system and that some travel would be lower this year because national training will be in-state.
Commissioners asked for more detailed data before approving budget changes. They asked the auditor's office to provide a deeper review of revenue streams, actual expenditures for 2024, unencumbered carryover, and year-end balances so the board could determine whether to restore previously reduced line items. Raffrey said she would provide whatever records she had and invited commissioners to visit her office.
No appropriation or budget amendment was approved at the meeting. Commissioners agreed to review the auditor's year-end numbers and to schedule a follow-up meeting with Raffrey to resolve where the $9,000 should be recorded and whether to restore equipment funding.
Raffrey also said the new van will be wrapped during the week of March 14 and that her office manages veteran services including funeral markers, the Help Me Grow program under the board's auspices, and coordination with local waiver service providers.
