County is ready to study budget

Local officials are ready to take the first steps toward getting Jay County’s fiscal house in order.
County auditor Anna Culy on Monday presented Jay County Commissioners preliminary budget proposals from all county departments for 2017.
That 3-inch-high stack of papers will be front and center when a new budget subcommittee holds its first meeting at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
“This is the earliest it’s ever been compiled,” Culy said of the preliminary budget.
Jay County Council members Ted Champ, Jeanne Houchins and Bob Vance, commissioner Faron Parr, county engineer Dan Watson and Culy will begin the budget review months earlier than usual in an effort to get a better handle on county spending. The working group was suggested by Financial Solutions Group accountant Greg Guerrettaz, who was hired amid concerns that the county was over-spending and depleting its rainy day fund.
The rainy day fund balance dropped from $2.57 million in 2013 to $1.8 million at the end of 2015.
Watson told commissioners he has finalized negotiations with engineering firm Beam, Longest and Neff on a $146,700 county road sign replacement project and it has been approved by Indiana Department of Transportation.
Work on the project, with the county’s share of the cost at $29,340, is expected to begin this fall.
Watson also said work is continuing on an acceptable transportation asset management plan, a key part of the county’s planned grant application for additional road funding from the state. INDOT is still in the process of determining the requirements for such a plan.
In other business, commissioners:
•Accepted bids from Milestone Contractors for asphalt and equipment for county roads.
•Heard concerns from Michael Landers and Julie Toth about a proposed confined feeding operation in their neighborhood of Jackson Township, asking that the commissioners deny a permit for the proposed turkey operation.
•Heard drainage concerns from John R. Pearson, 2594 N. 500 East, and Kelly Dixon, 3886 W. 300 North.
•Learned from county emergency management director Ralph Frazee that restrictions related to avian flu have been lifted for the entire state.
•Were informed that a state grant for Community Corrections has been approved. Yvette Weiland told commissioners she requested $201,000 but has been awarded an extra $16,000. Because the program has grown, there’s a need for a deputy director, she said. She will submit a proposed job description for the commissioners to review at a later date.
•Learned from Sheriff Dwane Ford that the actuarial firm of McCready and Keene has informed him that the sheriff’s department pension fund needs increased funding.
•Approved an ordinance establishing a “materiality threshold” for the county’s accounting as required by state law. The ordinance states that the county will report suspicious variances beyond the thresholds of $0 for cash and $500 for personal property.