Budget approved on first reading

Copyright 2017, The Commercial Review



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After hours of meetings over the course of months to discuss target balances, job classifications and raises, the public hearing on the county budget was a breeze.



Jay County Council approved the 2018 budget of $16.35 million, which is down from this year, on first reading Wednesday in a meeting that lasted barely more than 10 minutes.



The budget for next year is now one step away from approval, with the second reading and adoption scheduled for council’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. Oct. 11. (Council will also meet at 6:45 p.m. Sept. 27 in the cafeteria at Jay County Hospital to review the Jay County Solid Waste Management District budget.)



There was no comment from the public — four spectators were in attendance, including two department heads and another county employee — after auditor Anna Culy read the budget, which came in at $16,351,881. That’s down more than $220,000 (1.34 percent) from the current year’s budget of $16,573,197.



It includes a general fund total of $7.56 million, which is down more than $185,000 from 2017. In the general fund are $2.1 million for the commissioners’ budget, $1.11 million for Jay County Jail, $884,682 for the sheriff’s office and $468,372 for the retirement center.



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



The budget — approved on first reading by council members Jeanne Houchins, Gary Theurer, Bob Vance, Cindy Newton, Faron Parr and Mike Rockwell, absent Ted Champ — includes 2-percent raises for most county employees, with additional bumps for some job classifications that were deemed by a study to be further behind the “external average” wage for the same job in comparable counties. Those who work in “civilian protective occupations,” including jailers, EMTs and other law enforcement employees, will get a 4-percent raise. Those in labor trades and crafts (mostly cooks/housekeepers, heavy equipment operators and truck drivers) and computer and office machine technicians (mostly secretaries, second deputies and administrative assistants) will receive a 2.5-percent raise.