SIDNEY — Shelby County Auditor Amy Berning has filed petitions with the Shelby County Board of Elections to seek re-election in the 2018 election cycle. She reports that she has been elected to be secretary/treasurer for the Southwest District of the County Auditor’s Association of Ohio for 2018. This Association consists of all County Auditors in the SW quadrant of Ohio and meets regularly to receive legislative and other relevant updates and to share how each other’s counties are handling issues that arise.

“A lot has happened so far in my term”, said Berning, “and I look forward to continuing on the projects that our office is currently in the midst of.”

One of those projects is the updating of the Shelby County Auditor’s website. The new format is map-driven and displays information about each property with the click of a mouse. Layers of GIS Data can easily be turned on which show: addresses, zoning, county ditches, soil types, school districts, or voting precincts.

Another project is the preservation of property record books from 1819 to present.

“The old leather-bound books are beautiful and are now on display in our office,” said Berning. The next phase will be to have them all scanned so the data can be accessed without disturbing the fragile books.

“Also in 2017 the commissioners and I worked together to acquire the S&P rating of AA- in order to have bonds issued for the funding of a $13M renovation of the county nursing home, Fairhaven,” she said. “The expected increase in occupancy at Fairhaven after the renovation will provide the revenue to make the payments on the bonds, so the County’s General Fund should not be affected.”

Berning sits on the Senior Center Foundation Board and Alpha Center Board. She is a member of Shelby County’s POWER women’s group, Shelby County Right to Life, Shelby County Republican Central Committee, Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, County Auditors Association of Ohio, and Only Believe Ministries. She teaches Christian Education classes for fifth- and sixth-graders.

“Shelby County continues to progress and remain financially stable despite multiple cutbacks in state funding,” said Berning. “I give a lot of credit to our terrific County Commissioners for their budgetary and infrastructure maintenance decisions, and I look forward to continuing to work with them in the future.”