In this economy, every dollar counts. And that is certainly true for Lawrence County, especially with the situation concerning overcrowding at the jail and coming up with money to pay other counties to house our prisoners since we can’t at our small jail.

That is why Lawrence County Auditor Jason Stephens should be commended for bringing to the attention of the commissioners the situation concerning ending sales tax on Medicaid transactions.

A few years ago the feds cracked down on states charging tax on Medicaid. Ohio was the last holdout.

That change is expected to cost the state a half-billion dollars. But more importantly, Lawrence County will lose close to $1.5 million. That is 15.9 percent of the total sales tax revenue and 10 percent of the general fund.

Ohio doesn’t manage its own Medicaid program, turning it over instead to outside companies. Every time one of those companies performs a service it is charged sales tax. But no more.

The state knows what is going on, but doesn’t know what to do about it. That is a concern to us and should be a concern to the commissioners.

Now is the time for them to stay on top of this situation. Granted, the legislature will most likely have significant changes for 2017, and certainly there will be at least one if not two changes on the commission.

But the commissioners shouldn’t wait until the November election to start putting pressure on the state. They should start now, and those wanting to be on commission should start getting involved.

When money is as tight as it is, 10 percent can go along way to easing the county’s finances.