09/09/13 Members of the Marshall County Council have a full agenda for their meeting today (9/9/13). The morning begins at 9 a.m. with the adoption of the Solid Waste Budget, the South West Lake Maxinkuckee Sewer District Budget and the Argos Community School Budget. The Solid Waste budget for 2014 is $316,925 or approximately $1,000 less than 2013, and the estimated levy is $295,000 compared to the current levy of $273,554. The South West Lake Max conservancy’s 2014 budget of $149,012 will not require a levy. The properties included in the district are now being billed for the exceptional benefits assessment, which is applied to debt service. The 2014 Argos Community Schools budget’s General Fund budget, which is funded through the state, was reduced, and the Transportation budget increased as a result of the anticipated purchase of two new buses. The advertised total of all budgets is $6,478,466, with an advertised levy of $2,198,357.
About 9:15 the County Council will take up their regular business. They will consider personnel replacement requests by the Sheriff for a merit officer and the County Clerk for a deputy clerk. They will also hear the Clerk’s proposal for an office remodeling project and the additional appropriation request by the sheriff for $15,000 in kitchen equipment. Court Services will seek the appropriation of $6,000 for clerical and travel.
At 9:45 council members will begin the non-binding reviews and recommendation of the various unit budgets and at 10 a.m. will begin the process of making the necessary cuts to the 2014 budget requests for the various county budgets. This portion of the day will take some time as the council needs to cut $450,000 to $480,000 from the $8,985,691 requests. It is expected the council will meet for most of the day with red pencils in hand to make the necessary cuts for a good balanced budget.
The County Council meeting is open to the public although comments and questions are limited. They meet in the second floor meeting room of the County Building.
