Board to look at ways to cut budget

Jay County Solid Waste Management District’s board will take a closer look at its budget for potential cuts.

The board held its first discussion about the proposed budget Monday, and district coordinator Samantha Rhodehamel expressed concern about its rapid increase.

The initial proposed budget for 2019 comes in at $375,215, nearly a $20,000 increase over 2018. That jump comes despite the removal of $30,000 that was budgeted this year for the purchase of a new truck.

The district’s budget has increased rapidly in recent years, as the proposed amount for this year is nearly double the amounts budgeted in 2012 and 2013. The major jumps have come in the last three years ($40,705, $45,556 and $44,860, respectively), and the proposed increase this year.

“I think you make a great point,” said Portland Mayor Randy Geesaman, who serves as president of the district board, in response to Rhodehamel’s concerns about the size of the budget. “We may have to start saying no to organizations that we’ve just been giving (money) out to because we were in a position where we could. You don’t want to get yourself in a situation where your outgoing is more than your revenue coming in.”

“And it won’t take long to drain that bank account,” said board member Bill Gibson, recalling the district’s financial difficulties within the last decade.

The proposed budget increase for 2019 is 5.4 percent over this year, but Rhodehamel also pointed out the elimination of the funds budgeted for the truck. With that factored in, the increase is about 15 percent.

The largest budget increase this year comes in fees to Waste Management for recycling trailers, a projected jump of about $33,000.

Other increases in the proposed 2019 budget include: $7,000 for groups working at Saturday recycling trailers; $2,500 for a billboard art contest that was held for the first time this year; $1,500 fees for use of a tire recycling service; and about $1,000 for 3-percent raises for both Rhodehamel and district coordinator Bettie Jacobs.

Rhodehamel identified several areas she feels the board could look at in order to reduce its 2019 budget proposal. Those include:

•An annual grant to Arts Place for its Arts in the Parks program. The grant was $12,000 in 2017 and $14,000 this year, and is proposed at $15,000 for 2019.

•Education grant money. The board allocated $5,000 for grants this year and had discussed increasing that amount to $10,000 for 2019.

•Advertising. The district has increased its advertising presence significantly over the last couple of years, with $14,000 proposed for spending in 2019.

•Billboard art contest. The district held the contest for the first time this year at a cost of $2,500.

•Fifth Saturday recycling. Rhodehamel noted that eliminating recycling trailers on the fifth Saturday of the month, which occurs about four times per year, would save about $5,000.

Board members Barry Hudson, Bob Vance, Mike Leonhard, Gene Ritter, Chuck Huffman, Geesaman and Gibson agreed to review the budget and discuss potential cuts to the 2019 proposal at their July 23 meeting.

In other business, the board:

•Decided to contract for two billboards apiece from Burkhardt and Eagle to advertise Tox Away Day. Billboards will be in Portland, Bryant, Redkey and Como.

•Discussed policies for having trailers emptied, noting that all such decisions should be made at the district office. There was an incident this month when trash, including TVs, was left in a recycling trailer and a site volunteer made a call to Waste Management to have the trailer emptied, which will result in a landfill charge for the district.

The board also noted that TVs can be dropped off at the district office, 5948 W. Indiana 67, Portland, to be recycled and should not be left at recycling trailers.

•Paid claims totaling $23,864.59. The district had May income of $20,667.43 on 11,929.25 tons dumped at Jay County Landfill to bring its total balance, including investments, to $413,646.51.

•Heard fair educator Jacobs will participate in the Fourth of July parade in addition to organizing the organization’s booth at the Jay County Fair. The board also decided to close the district office during fair week July 9 through 13.