Budget OK'd on first reading

The county has a budget.

Council will vote to finalize it next month.

Jay County Council on Wednesday approved a series of recommendations from the personnel committee before approving the 2020 budget at $18.8 million on first reading.

That budget represents an increase of more than $625,000 from the current year’s $18,197,665. About a third of that budget increase is in the form of new employees, including courthouse security.

Other significant increases include more than $105,000 for Jay Emergency Medical Service, $100,000 for culverts and about $90,000 for supplies for the highway department. The commissioners budget includes a variety of increases in the $10,000 to $20,000 range for audit fees, rebinding records, a Dunkirk mural and the Jay County Fourth of July celebration.

The budget includes just under $8.5 million in the general fund, a total of $4.2 million in highway department funds, $2.6 million in the commissioners fund, $1.4 million for Jay County Jail and $977,456 for the sheriff’s office.

Second reading and final approval of the budget is slated for council’s Oct. 9 meeting.

The most significant change to the budget made before Wednesday’s public hearing and approval on first reading was to raise the pay rate for most part-time employees to match the hourly rate of their full-time counterparts. The change was made for all job descriptions except clerical, office machine operators and technicians, professional, administrative and technological and special occupations.

The change had been specifically requested by Jay Emergency Medical Service to help attract part-time help to cover shifts. Gary Barnett, one of three JEMS supervisors, noted that part-timers in his department have the same certification and handle the same responsibilities as full-time employees.

Also approved was an agreement to pay for commercial driver’s license (CDL) physicals for highway department employees every two years, unless required more frequently by doctor’s order, and license renewal every four years; a budget adjustment for veterans services officer Cliff Moser, who will no longer be using part-time help; and to request that commissioners increase the county’s contribution to covering health insurance.

“I think it goes a long way to fix a lot of things,” said Faron Parr of the list of changes.

Members Jeanne Houchins, Ted Champ, Gary Theurer, Cindy Newton, Mike Rockwell, Amy Runyon Barrett and Parr chose to follow the personnel committee’s recommendation to stick with its previous decision to set raises for sheriff’s office employees between 2 and 4 percent, based on job classification. 

Sheriff Dwane Ford earlier this month had asked for a $3,000 raise plus 3 percent for each employee.

They also decided not to change the pay rate for Jay County Retirement Center’s financial advisor.

Plans call for council to have consulting firm Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele & Associates review salary levels — comparing them to similar counties, adjacent counties and nearby cities and towns — before the budget process next year. Houchins pointed out the importance of comparing “apples to apples,” taking into account factors such as hours worked per year, longevity pay increases and insurance.

Council members also discussed the possibility of adding a contract provision that would call for sheriff’s deputies, highway department drivers, EMTs and paramedics to have to repay training costs if they leave county employment within a specified period of time.