Commissioners begin work on 2007 budget (06/13/06)

As Jay County Commissioners began working on their 2007 budget requests Monday afternoon, it appears as if those requests may remain close to this year’s amounts.

Commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr agreed to request the county continue to pay $450 monthly toward an employee’s single health insurance policy with the employee paying $1 toward that coverage.

“I guess if the cost of health insurance goes up, they’ll (the employees) have to make up the difference,” Miller said about the current rate.

Noting some of the projects budgeted in 2006 will not need to be done again, auditor Freda Corwin said a $90,000 budget for computer software will not be needed in 2007.

The budget will also include a request for a 3 percent increase in the commissioners’ and county council members’ salaries, but keeping drainage board members at the same pay level as in 2006.

“I would like to see the county highway superintendent’s salary bumped up by $5,000 a year,” Miller suggested. “He (Ken Wellman) does a good job out there. We lost one good guy because we didn’t pay enough. I don’t want that to happen again.”

The budget will now be finalized by commissioners and presented to county council for their approval.

Also Monday, commissioners signed a petition that will be presented to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management for its approval to form a regional sewer district to deal with failing septic systems in the Foxfire Addition southwest of Portland and other residences in the area.

The seven-member board will include five trustees appointed by the commissioners, one trustee appointed by the council and one member appointed by Portland Mayor Bruce Hosier.

Wayne Bailey, project developer for Commonwealth Engineers, Inc., presented the petition to commissioners, adding that a copy of the engineering report will be available in all public libraries in the county.

He said the proposed petition is expected to be reviewed by IDEM in December.

Because of the proposed construction of an ethanol production facility by Premier Ethanol LLC, southwest of Portland, Bailey told commissioners the path as well as the size of a sewage line may change.

Commissioners have been looking at laying about a mile of sewage line to correct a problem in the Foxfire Addition west of Portland.

The order to correct the problem came from the state after it was discovered in 2004 that treated sewage was flowing into a creek on the west side of the addition that then flows into the Salamonie River. It was determined the discharge was apparently from a failing septic system.

With the proposed ethanol plant, Commonwealth Engineers are trying to determine if a two-inch sewer line will be able to carry the additional waste and also how the line may be routed to pick up the facility.

The initial plan called for tying into a lift station near the Beacon Heights addition across from Jay County High School and extending a line southwest along Ind. 67 to county road 125 South and beyond, while picking up homes along that line, as well as the Foxfire Addition, the Indiana Department of Transportation garage and Blue Flame Propane Gas locations.

Bailey explained the proposed revised route would take the sewer main east across Ind. 67 along county road 125 South. It would follow that road around the Meshberger Brothers Stone Corp. quarry near the proposed ethanol plant.

The proposed line would then run east and north across property owned by LPI Paving and Excavating, crossing the Salamonie River and running along county road 150 South and eventually to the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

Additionally Monday commissioners accepted two defibrillator units from the Jay County Heart Association.

One will be kept at the courthouse and another will be used as a traveling device that can be used by the office of emergency management.

During the past six years, private donations and grants from The Portland Foundation have helped the heart foundation purchase a total of 30 defibrillators to distribute throughout the county, Pat Sheffer, secretary of the heart foundation, told commissioners.

Every fire department and police department in the county now has at least one defibrillator, she said.

“Thank you very much,” Miller told Sheffer, Pam Schemenaur, treasurer of the foundation, and Paul Martin, a member of the foundation board.

Commissioners also approved a request by Wellman to purchase two used pickup trucks for the highway department.

He said used 3/4-ton trucks can be purchased at auctions for $3,000 to $5,000, adding that the two currently used by the department for spraying roadsides and applying hot mix to road surfaces are in need of major repairs.

“I don’t want to put more money into them,” he said, adding that money for the purchases is currently in the highway budget.

“You’ve got my blessing,” Theurer told Wellman.

“As long as you’ve got the money,” Miller agreed.[[In-content Ad]]