Council OKs county’s 2021 budget

The budget for next year is set.

Jay County Council locked in the 2021 county budget Wednesday at $19.1 million.

The total amount, $19,142,602, did not change from the first reading of the budget approved last month. Jay County’s 2021 budget is about $350,000 more than this year.

Major additions or increases to the budget include more than $241,000 in the police pension, more than $55,400 in the backhoe repair and replace fund for equipment loan payments, $47,400 for a Global Information System flyover and $30,000 for Jay County Development Corporation.

About $8.66 million of the total budget is allocated to the county general fund. Other major fund totals included $4.27 million for the highway department (which includes money from the state for the Local Motor Vehicle Highway fund), $2.63 million for commissioners, $1.45 million for Jay Emergency Medical Service, $1.39 million for Jay County Jail and $1 million for Jay County Sheriff’s Office.

Before approving the budget, council member Jeanne Houchins questioned the highway budget and the way county engineer Dan Watson’s pay increase is arranged. County auditor Anna Culy explained the salary ordinance has not been created yet, so details will be hammered out then.

It prompted council member Ted Champ to question the validity of Watson’s $18,000 raise, which the council approved after the budget review meeting Sept. 3. Champ was absent from that meeting.

Watson noted the Indiana Department of Transportation started giving counties a $40,000 stipend for employing a full-time licensed engineer in the last few years. Most county engineers in the state have requested raises as a result, he said.

“The state legislature has determined that we need to adjust our engineer salaries,” Watson said, noting that seven other rural counties in the northeast district adjusted their salaries by $15,000 to $20,000.

“This is not a situation where this is costing the county anything,” he added. “This is provided by the state legislature.”

Champ wondered aloud if that money could be allocated elsewhere. Houchins noted that Jay County received that money this year and used it for related purposes, and Champ asked why it should go to Watson instead. He said that it’s one of the best-paying jobs in Jay County now.

“The way I look at it, and I could be wrong, it’s taxpayer’s money that’s coming from the state,” he said.

Watson and Champ repeated their arguments back and forth for several minutes before council member Cindy Newton interjected that she agreed with Watson. Culy added that it is too late to make changes to the budget for next year. She noted it’s possible the state will take that extra money away if it isn’t used for the engineer’s wage increase.

Council member Faron Parr said he thinks it’s great the state is contributing toward Watson’s wage. Watson added the state is trying to encourage more counties to hire licensed engineers, and this is the result.

During a lull in the end of the discussion, council member Gary Theurer made a motion to approve the budget, and council approved it unanimously.

In other business, council members Amy Runyon Barrett, Mike Rockwell, Theurer, Champ, Parr, Newton and Houchins:

•Made additional appropriations totaling $383,760.37. Additional appropriations included: $3,000 for telephone bills for the sheriff’s department and $975.80 for circuit court bailiff wages; $2,794.57 for miscellaneous expenses, $1,000 for travel expenses and $500 for legal ads; $10,000 for employer social security, $5,000 for the Public Employee’s Retirement Fund and $100,000 for wages incurred by COVID-19; $900 for the prosecutor’s office to buy new cell phones and $240 for a contribution toward a probation officer’s cell phone payments; wind farm related charges, including $11,000 for wind farm inspectors, $1,650 for employer social security and $2,400 for the Public Employee’s Retirement Fund; $1,500 for professional services allocated toward engaging an architect for a possible centralized animal control type facility; $58,000 for the Jay County Fairgrounds Farmers Building; $22,800 for the Redkey town hall roof; $11,000 for upgrading the courthouse phone system; $190,000 for cleaning the courthouse and renovating the clerk’s office; $45,000 for the bathroom upgrade to the Jay County Fairgrounds; and $16,000 to Jay County Superior Court for substance abuse user fees to go to Meridian Health Services.

•Approved several transfers: $500 from election travel/mileage to the election supplies fund because of the increased amount of early voters — up by nearly 10%, according to Jay County clerk Jon Eads; $75,000 for commissioners from group health to insurance; $7,100 from different funds for superior court for overtime and bailiff wages; $800 for cemetery from wages to maintaining stones and $75 from office supplies to maintaining stones.