Council approves ’18 budget

The budget is set.

Jay County Council gave final approval Wednesday to its 2018 budget of $16.35 million.

It also appropriated additional funds it had approved last month for maintenance at Jay County Jail.

Council zipped through the second reading of the budget — a total of $16,351,881 — and approved it without comment. It came in 1.34 percent ($220,000) lower than this year’s budget of $16,573,197.

The budget had also drawn no comment from county residents during a public hearing Sept. 20.

Spending slated for 2018 includes $7.56 million in the general fund, which is down more than $185,000 from 2017. That section of the budget includes $2.1 million for commissioners spending, $1.11 million for Jay County Jail, $884,682 for the sheriff’s office and $468,372 for the retirement center.

Other major fund budgets include just under $3 million in county highway, $1.27 million in Jay Emergency Medical Service and $640,000 in the cumulative bridge fund.

Council members Jeanne Houchins, Ted Champ, Mike Rockwell, Cindy Newton, Bob Vance, Gary Theurer and Faron Parr also appropriated the $47,999.04 for jail maintenance that they approved last month.

Sheriff Dwane Ford had requested additional funding to pay a $29,124 invoice from Fort Wayne-based Havel for heating, ventilation and air conditioning maintenance at the facility and to cover the services contract ($6,375) for the fourth quarter of the year. The other $12,500, half of what Ford requested, is set aside in case of future maintenance needs this year.

Ford, who has been seeking quotes from other companies in an effort to save money, reported to council that representatives from Havel will be attending the Oct. 23 commissioners meeting to discuss jail maintenance. He offered to have them attend a council meeting for the same purpose.

Council members said they’d prefer to wait until after commissioners hear from Havel before deciding on whether a visit to a council meeting is necessary.

In other business, council members:

•Approved additional appropriations including $4,000 for repair of a surveyor’s office bulldozer and $2,200 for sheriff’s office investigations. Funding for both was already available in the respective accounts but needed council approval to be spent.

They also OK’d an additional $10,000 for medical supplies for Jay Emergency Medical Service.

•Transferred $20,000 to stone and gravel from equipment rental in the highway department fund to pay for materials, $1,000 to jailers from sergeants in the jail budget and $240.25 to computer maintenance from microfilm supplies in the clerk’s budget.

•OK’d payment of $3,460 for paving work at the sheriff’s office. The work had been approved last year, but was not completed until recently.

•Appointed Parr, Rockwell and Vance to the county’s redevelopment commission. They join commissioners appointees Barry Hudson, Mike Leonhard, Phil Ford and Carl Walker.

•Asked auditor Anna Culy to set up a meeting for the county’s personnel committee. A date and time have not yet been chosen.