Confusion on Arts Place $ (08/13/07)

Jay County Commissioners say there was a misunderstanding about the amount of money to be budgeted for Arts Place in 2008.

They told Eric Rogers, executive director of Arts Place, they only allotted $2,000 for the upcoming year, not $5,000.

The miscue came when a letter was sent to Portland City Council stating how much money was going to be appropriated, Jay County Auditor Freda Corwin said. Commissioners asked for matching funds from the city of Portland.

Arts Place requested $5,000, but the letter to the city council did not mention that only $2,000 had been approved by commissioners.

"That's all we've got budgeted," Commissioner Gary Theurer said of the smaller amount.

Commissioners said they would try to raise that to $2,500.

Last week, the Portland City Council approved on a 4-3 vote to designate $5,000 for Arts Place in 2008.

"We can scrape up 500 bucks," Commissioner Milo Miller Jr. said. "But I can't scrape up $3,000 (additional)."

Last month Jay County Commissioners agreed to fund Arts Place if the city of Portland matched their appropriation.

Rogers said visitors brought in by Arts Place events provide significant revenue to the local economy.

County residents spend an average of almost $20 while attending productions, not including the price of admission, while out of county guests spend about $40.

Rogers said he was satisfied with the money provided by the county, and he would discuss the issue with members of the Portland City Council.

"We're pleased that you're able to do something like this," he said.

Corwin said she didn't believe it would be a problem for Portland to change its appropriations because the council is still early in the budget process.

Arts Place will provide an update of how the money is being used next year, Rogers said.

Also Monday, the Jay County Department of Community Corrections received permission from commissioners to create a new full-time field officer position.

As part of their motion, department representatives must go before Jay County Council for approval of funding for the position.

Garth LeMaster, former community corrections director, said the new position will provide necessary support to the department.

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"There was a period of time where we knew we were in trouble from the beginning," he said. "We didn't have enough staff."

The new position will bring the total amount of full-time employees to two, before a new director is named, LeMaster said. It will be funded through "user fees" provided by individuals being monitored through the community corrections department.

LeMaster told Jay County Commissioners that there are currently 25 people being monitored through the department.

Bob Moore, interim director for community corrections, said the new position will not be funded until the beginning of 2008, because that's when the county's fiscal year starts. He added that the department is relying heavily on part-time employees and will continue to do so until a new full-time worker takes over.

Moore also said that monitoring offenders through community corrections is much more inexpensive than housing them in state or county correctional facilities. Also, he added, participation in the program helps offenders positively contribute to society by allowing work privileges and the ability to support their families.[[In-content Ad]]