After a year of pandemic and turmoil, of divisions that continue to tear at the country, what do Ohioans hope for in 2021 and beyond after President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris are sworn into office on Wednesday?
Reporters from the USA TODAY Ohio Network posed three questions to Ohioans from varying socioeconomic, racial and ideological backgrounds:
Read MoreFranklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan announced Friday that she has moved back the deadline for first-half real estate tax payments due to warnings of potential violence around the Statehouse next week.
The new deadline is Jan. 29, nine days after the originally scheduled due date of Jan. 20. Sullivan said property owners are not required to go to the county treasurer’s office Downtown to make their payments.
Read MoreFranklin County Treasurer and Auditor's offices say they are unsure when county residents can expect to know their 2021 property tax rates and bills.
The delay hinders those who look to pay all or some of their 2021 taxes early before the end of this year so they can deduct the property taxes on their 2020 federal income tax returns, said Monica Moran, spokeswoman for the county auditor's office.
Read MoreFranklin County Commissioners are showing a new urgency to get body cameras for county sheriff's deputies and make related policy changes in the wake of the fatal shooting of Casey Goodson Jr. by a SWAT deputy last Friday.
The commissioners also urged Tuesday that the public withhold judgment about the shooting until after an investigation by the Columbus police Critical Incident Response Team and the FBI and the review by new county Prosecutor Gary Tyack and the U.S. Department of Justice.
Read MoreThe Franklin County Auditor's Office is set to return $3.5 million to schools, libraries, agencies and municipalities from the county's Real Estate Assessment fund on Wednesday.
REA funding is used to pay for real estate reappraisals and triennial updates and comes from a portion of property taxes collected in the county. The county is refunding some of its auditor fees that were left unspent.
Read MoreHaving suffered from the effects of COVID-19, which forced him into a Mt. Carmel West Hospital emergency room, Franklin County Commissioner Kevin Boyce and others are sharing the importance of practicing preventive measures to slow the spread.
During an announcement of a four-week stay-at-home advisory by the county and city of Columbus on Wednesday, the commissioner shared his experience after testing positive for the coronavirus this month.
Read MoreWith Gary Tyack picked by voters to become Franklin County's prosecutor-elect, Board of Elections Director Ed Leonard will move to the downtown office to serve as one of Tyack's first assistants.
Leonard, who has 22-years of experience in county government and over four years as elections director, said the opportunity arose from a conversation he had after Tyack was voted into the prosecutor's office.
Read MoreFranklin County officials are proposing a 2021 budget that calls for no tax or fee increases while cutting some expenses and maintaining support for human service organizations.
County Administrator Kenneth Wilson will recommend a general fund budget of about $492 million in the spending plan he introduces to the county commissioners at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.
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