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Franklin County Assisting Furloughed Federal Workers

Franklin County has started an initiative to assist residents affected by the partial federal government shutdown. 

The county collects first half of the year property taxes this month. Standing outside the federal building at the corner of Spring and High streets in downtown Columbus, Franklin County Treasurer Cheryl Brooks Sullivan announced that the county will offer a remittance of penalties and interest to those who've lost wages during the shutdown.  

"It needs to be an owner-occupied parcel, and the federally-furloughed employee should be the person that's responsible for paying the taxes," Brooks Sullivan said. "You must be able to provide documentation that you are a federally-furloughed employee. In the central Ohio area, there's approximately 6,500 federally affected employees. I've heard out of this building possibly 500, but I can't get a concrete number right now. But if it's one or two, we're here to assist them." 

Brooks Sullivan says the county is trying to expedite the process by having the documents prior to January 22, when property taxes are due. She encourages workers affected by the shutdown to contact or visit the treasurer's office for assistance.

Mike Foley joined WCBE in February 2000, coming from WUFT in Gainesville, Florida. Foley has worked in various roles, from producing news and feature stories to engineering Live From Studio A sessions. A series of music features Foley started in 2018 called Music Journeys has grown into a podcast and radio show. He also assists in developing other programs in WCBE's Podcast Experience. Foley hosts The Morning Mix, a weekday music show featuring emerging and established musicians, our Columbus-area and Ohio-based talent, and additional artists that inspire him.