Council On Aging, CCS Seek Inclusion In County Budget
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Two nonprofit organizations that hadn't requested funds in the past made requests Tuesday for 2003 for funds from the Kosciusko County commissioners' budget.
A third did not appear before the commissioners as scheduled.
Combined Community Services requested $85,000 for 2003, $55,000 of which CCS representatives said would help pay for insurance for their 11 employees. Each of the employees also would make contributions toward the insurance. The remaining $30,000, according to CCS director Jim Coons, will fund CCS' information and referral service.
Tippecanoe Environmental Foundation made a $1,000 request for 2003. No representative for the Lakeland Art Association was present to make a financial request.
Most returning nonprofit organizations making financial requests before the commissioners made the same request as 2002 or slightly higher.
Kosciusko County 4-H requested $48,811 for 2003, an approximate $6,000 increase from their 2002 request of $42,639. Arrow Head RC&I made the same request of $500 as they have since at least 1994, while Kosciusko Development Inc. asked for $35,000, the same since 1998.
Cardinal Center again requested $95,000 while Home Health Care again asked for $50,000. Kosciusko County Historical Society proposed $23,000, the same since 1999, while Beaman Home requested an increase of $4,000 over 2002 to $34,000.
Kosciusko County Council on Aging wants to increase funding from the commissioners to $40,000 from $30,000. St. Joseph River Basin requested $500, the same since 2001.
A 10 percent increase was proposed by the Animal Welfare League to pay for payroll and improvement expenses, making their 2003 proposed budget $72,600.
Each year, various nonprofit organizations in Kosciusko County pitch requests before the commissioners for financial support. The commissioners decide how much to support the nonprofit organizations and then put those amounts in their budget. The commissioners' budget, including the nonprofit organizations' requests, are then considered approved or denied by the Kosciusko County Council.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved an ordinance regarding non-sufficient checks issued to make payment of taxes.
According to the ordinance, the Kosciusko County Treasurer's Office has received numerous checks for tax payments that resulted in insufficient funds or closed accounts. Since the county is being charged a fee for the return of unpaid checks and posting payments has kept properties from the tax sale list, the ordinance charges a fee of $25, in addition to the 10 percent penalty required by law, for any check returned for nonpayment.
Further, the $25 charge will be entered on the tax duplicate for the property and is subject to interest, penalty and collection in the same manner as all other special assessments per Indiana code.
Cashier's checks or cash only will be accepted for all payments delinquent enough to cause the property to be included in the tax sale and the county treasurer will notify the check issuer of the charges due.
• Heard a complaint from Kevin Zachary regarding unkempt lawns in the Southwood Subdivision. He said there are several vacant properties in the subdivision whose lawns have not been mowed yet and they are becoming an eyesore. The township trustee sent letters to the property owners but has not received much response in return, he said.
"I don't know if I'm at the end of the line or the beginning," he said. He asked if the county could pass any ordinances to address the problem.
Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell said there already is a process in the books to address such problems. After the trustee sends a letter notifying the property owner of the problem and gives adequate time for a response, if the property owner does not take action, the trustee can pay someone to mow the property. The cost of the mowing will then be put on the property's tax roll.
• Approved county clerk Sharon Christner to purchase for $17,581 a new labeling system for the clerk's office's new file system from Network Source.
• Approved for Bill Holder, county Geographical Imaging System director, and Bob Momeyer, county systems administrator, to begin the creation of the countywide Web site and mapping site. Total cost is $75,000, but the money was budgeted last year for the sites' creation for this year. "The money is there," said Holder.
• Denied Rebecca Kelly's petition to rezone ground from an agricultural district to a residential district. The property is on the north side of CR 1050N and one-fourth mile east of Turkey Creek Road in Turkey Creek Township.
• Denied Mark and Paula Marley's petition to rezone approximately 18.5 acres of ground from an agricultural district to an agricultural II district. The property is on the north side of CR 125N in Etna Township.
• Tabled the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission's recommended changes in the county's zoning ordinances until the July 2 meeting.
The three changes are regarding minimum lot size on lots without public sewer, defining mailboxes as structures and allowing for manufacturing to be an exception use in a commercial district.
Kosciusko County Commissioners are president Avis Gunter, Ron Truex and Brad Jackson. They meet at 9 a.m. in the county courthouse, Warsaw, every other Tuesday. [[In-content Ad]]
Two nonprofit organizations that hadn't requested funds in the past made requests Tuesday for 2003 for funds from the Kosciusko County commissioners' budget.
A third did not appear before the commissioners as scheduled.
Combined Community Services requested $85,000 for 2003, $55,000 of which CCS representatives said would help pay for insurance for their 11 employees. Each of the employees also would make contributions toward the insurance. The remaining $30,000, according to CCS director Jim Coons, will fund CCS' information and referral service.
Tippecanoe Environmental Foundation made a $1,000 request for 2003. No representative for the Lakeland Art Association was present to make a financial request.
Most returning nonprofit organizations making financial requests before the commissioners made the same request as 2002 or slightly higher.
Kosciusko County 4-H requested $48,811 for 2003, an approximate $6,000 increase from their 2002 request of $42,639. Arrow Head RC&I made the same request of $500 as they have since at least 1994, while Kosciusko Development Inc. asked for $35,000, the same since 1998.
Cardinal Center again requested $95,000 while Home Health Care again asked for $50,000. Kosciusko County Historical Society proposed $23,000, the same since 1999, while Beaman Home requested an increase of $4,000 over 2002 to $34,000.
Kosciusko County Council on Aging wants to increase funding from the commissioners to $40,000 from $30,000. St. Joseph River Basin requested $500, the same since 2001.
A 10 percent increase was proposed by the Animal Welfare League to pay for payroll and improvement expenses, making their 2003 proposed budget $72,600.
Each year, various nonprofit organizations in Kosciusko County pitch requests before the commissioners for financial support. The commissioners decide how much to support the nonprofit organizations and then put those amounts in their budget. The commissioners' budget, including the nonprofit organizations' requests, are then considered approved or denied by the Kosciusko County Council.
In other business, the commissioners:
• Approved an ordinance regarding non-sufficient checks issued to make payment of taxes.
According to the ordinance, the Kosciusko County Treasurer's Office has received numerous checks for tax payments that resulted in insufficient funds or closed accounts. Since the county is being charged a fee for the return of unpaid checks and posting payments has kept properties from the tax sale list, the ordinance charges a fee of $25, in addition to the 10 percent penalty required by law, for any check returned for nonpayment.
Further, the $25 charge will be entered on the tax duplicate for the property and is subject to interest, penalty and collection in the same manner as all other special assessments per Indiana code.
Cashier's checks or cash only will be accepted for all payments delinquent enough to cause the property to be included in the tax sale and the county treasurer will notify the check issuer of the charges due.
• Heard a complaint from Kevin Zachary regarding unkempt lawns in the Southwood Subdivision. He said there are several vacant properties in the subdivision whose lawns have not been mowed yet and they are becoming an eyesore. The township trustee sent letters to the property owners but has not received much response in return, he said.
"I don't know if I'm at the end of the line or the beginning," he said. He asked if the county could pass any ordinances to address the problem.
Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell said there already is a process in the books to address such problems. After the trustee sends a letter notifying the property owner of the problem and gives adequate time for a response, if the property owner does not take action, the trustee can pay someone to mow the property. The cost of the mowing will then be put on the property's tax roll.
• Approved county clerk Sharon Christner to purchase for $17,581 a new labeling system for the clerk's office's new file system from Network Source.
• Approved for Bill Holder, county Geographical Imaging System director, and Bob Momeyer, county systems administrator, to begin the creation of the countywide Web site and mapping site. Total cost is $75,000, but the money was budgeted last year for the sites' creation for this year. "The money is there," said Holder.
• Denied Rebecca Kelly's petition to rezone ground from an agricultural district to a residential district. The property is on the north side of CR 1050N and one-fourth mile east of Turkey Creek Road in Turkey Creek Township.
• Denied Mark and Paula Marley's petition to rezone approximately 18.5 acres of ground from an agricultural district to an agricultural II district. The property is on the north side of CR 125N in Etna Township.
• Tabled the Kosciusko County Area Plan Commission's recommended changes in the county's zoning ordinances until the July 2 meeting.
The three changes are regarding minimum lot size on lots without public sewer, defining mailboxes as structures and allowing for manufacturing to be an exception use in a commercial district.
Kosciusko County Commissioners are president Avis Gunter, Ron Truex and Brad Jackson. They meet at 9 a.m. in the county courthouse, Warsaw, every other Tuesday. [[In-content Ad]]