08/28/12 The Marshall County Council spent the majority of Monday reviewing the 2013 budget requests with each department heads and organizations.
The County Commissioners had several recommendations for the Council to consider. Under personnel recommendations they suggested a 2% pay increase verses the proposed 3%, no re-classifications, have the prosecutor continue to support one deputy prosecutor from 4-D and pre-trial diversion funds in the amount of $28,000 and have only 11 holidays verses the 13 since there are no elections next year.
General recommendation from the commissioners included reduction the Sheriff’s request of $125,000 for vehicle purchases to $65,000 and take the money from the Certified Shares fund. They also would like to have the IT Department continue to evaluate and recommend all computer replacements and upgrades and encourage department heads to use special funds they might have available to support their general fund budgets.
Their final recommendation to the County Council was to not reduce the budget below $8.3 million in order to preserve the maximum levy. Their clarification was that due to the of CAGIT Certified Shares revenues, the county will need the maximum from property taxes.
The requested General Fund budget for 2013 was $8,764,400. The goal of the Council was to reduce the budget by $411,485.
During Monday’s Budget Hearings various department heads and elected officials offered up nearly $200,000 in reductions. Some of those reductions included $28,000 in Building and Grounds for a vehicle purchase due to the fact that the vehicle will be brought out of this year’s budget. County Clerk Julie Fox offered $25,000 she had planned for a security system. She will try and work with Building & Grounds to get on their system. She also offered $3,000 for a couple of printers saying she would purchase them this year.
Since there is no scheduled election next year she reduced the Election Board budget by nearly $50,000 with the understanding if a special election came along she might need additional funds and the County Assessor offered $5,000 in overtime.
The Marshall County Commissioners voluntarily reduced their 2013 budget by $25,000 in Group Health Insurance, $10,000 under telephones, and $50,000 in insurance liabilities. The Commissioners did increase several line items with Kevin Overmyer saying, “These are good programs and we felt they were due a little reward.” They increased the humane society’s request by $2,000 raising it up to $42,000, increased their donation to Older Adult Services by $500 up to $8,000, increased the gift to the three Boys and Girls Clubs in the County by $1,500 from $15,000 up to $16,500 and increased the allotment to Marshall Starke Development by $5,000 up to $105,000. Their final increase was for the 4-H Fair operations. The Commissioners asked for an increase of $2,000 bringing their asistance to the 4-H program up to $31,000. Overmyer explained that they have no control over the increase the Bowen Center receives due to state statue. That increase is a 2 to 3% increase each year.
Budget hearings continue on Tuesday beginning at 9 a.m. with a limited number of funds to review. It is anticipated that the review of the budget will be completed by 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
