By Rusty Nixon Correspondent
PLYMOUTH — They aren’t on the same board but they have a unified view of what’s facing Marshall County in the coming year.
Matt Hassel, president of the Marshall County Council, and Kevin Overmyer, president of the Marshall County Commissioners, both had the same reply when asked about the biggest challenge facing the county in the coming year: economic development.

“How we handle our economic development is going to be of great importance,” said Hassel. “Employment is the key. We have to keep people working and get more people working.”
“Unemployment and the effect it’s going to have in the coming year,” concurred Overmyer. “Jobs are the number one thing that we have to worry about. We have to retain the jobs we have. We have to do whatever we have to do to keep what we have here.”
Both board presidents have similar views in light of the passage last year of House Bill 1001 that will cap property taxes, decreasing revenue from a normal source of government funding.
“The key is to keep people working,” said Hassel. “You can always look at some new form of tax, but I firmly believe that to do that would be to stifle the situation even more. We have to get people back employed that aren’t working and make sure those who are, stay that way.”
“We can’t worry about (HB 1001) – that ship already sailed,” said Overmyer. “The fact is the county gets a lot of money from CAGIT (County Adjusted Gross Income Tax) and if people aren’t working, they aren’t paying taxes.”
While both acknowledge the challenge, both also feel good about where Marshall County stands as it faces the job market in 2009.
“A lot of it will depend on what Obama decides to do with the economic stimulus package,” said Overmyer. “We’ve been working very hard on putting things on the table for that program and if they decide to move forward with it we could be in a very good position. Some projects we have been working on for that program could put us in a great position to create a lot of new jobs.”
“I’m always excited and positive about the coming year,” said Hassel. “If some of the statistics and other things I’ve seen are right I really feel we can get people back employed in the coming year.”