County Council Hears About Success Of Lock Box Program
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Fall property tax payments landed promptly in county coffers, which will allow tax distributions to arrive in a timely fashion, according to Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell.
She said the lock box program instituted by County Treasurer Kent Adams was deemed a success during Tuesday's county council meeting. The meeting was rescheduled from last Thursday when a record snowfall blanketed the county.
The program is designed to deposit property tax payments in a county government account on the same day they are received. Lake City Bank employees open and record the payments from landowners. Costs to the county were $4,200 for the service. Payments received and not processed during regular office hours by the treasurer's office and at other collection points were processed at LCB, too.
"It has sped the process up tremendously," said Mitchell. "Before, payments could remain unopened up to six weeks."
The account draws interest for the county, too, although the amounts collected and the interest were not given last night.
The savings in staff overtime and hiring part-time help was estimated to be at least $18,500.
The fall collection is considered to be a test of the system. Cost effectiveness will be estimated when Spring 2006 payments are compared to Spring 2005 payments.
The council approved a new fund as requested by the health department to receive funds for tuberculosis program administration. Money from the American Lung Association, through the state health department, has been received. The money will be used to offset procedural costs for TB testing and diagnosis and incentives for people to be tested.
Mitchell advised the council two employees would be added to the health department payroll in a couple of years. Currently, the health professionals are Kosciusko Community Hospital employees. Their salaries are paid by the state and the federal funds. They have been hired to assist the county in TB management.
Ten active TB cases were diagnosed this summer in the northeastern part of the county.
The board also:
• Heard Mitchell was named Auditor of the Year by the Indiana Association of County Commissioners.
• Reappointed Ken Johnson to the Alcohol Beverage Commission.
• Reappointed councilman Bob Sanders to Kosciusko Development Inc.'s executive board.
• Reappointed councilman John Kinsey to the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District.
• Appointed councilwoman Charlene Knipsel to the Area Plan Commission. A change in state law requires a council member and a commissioner to sit on the APC board.
• Approved a request by the recorder's office to establish a county identification security protection fund.
• Approved the K-CODE budget as requested by the organization's vice chairman, Lance Grubbs, in the amount of $85,000. K-CODE is funded fees charged by the county courts to people convicted of illegal drug use. The state takes 25 percent of the money and 75 percent is allocated locally in the form of grants.
Organizations may submit plans for projects in three areas: education and prevention, intervention and treatment and law enforcement.
• Approved a request by the highway department to add another mechanic.
County road supervisor Dennis Pletcher said the drivers make minor repairs to the vehicles they drive and having an extra, qualified mechanic will reduce that labor.
He expects to find a mechanic from the pool of highway truck drivers who also will help plow snow, if necessary.
• Approved clerk's office request to spend $19,973 for additional filing systems. The money will come from the document storage fund, generated when the clerk's office collects outstanding child support payments. The state then distributes a portion of the fees to the local clerk, prosecutor and county government.
Also approved for the clerk's office was the use of state incentive fees to buy a copy machine for less than $2,000.
• Approved the following general fund transfers: as requested by the commissioners, $1,500 from contractual services to computer cartridges; as requested by superior courts 2 and 3, $1,250 from part-time to uniforms for the new bailiff position; as requested by the jail, $2,334 and $5,638 from the payroll accounts to longevity; and from Title IV-D, $1,280 from assistant investigator to caseworker; and as requested by the assessor's office, $15,469 from supplies to contracts.
• Additional appropriations were approved as requested by the local emergency planning department, $6,000 for training and seminars; as requested by maintenance for gas, $25,000, and for electricity, $25,000.
The infraction deferral account funds were distributed in the amounts of $25,000 for vehicle supplies as requested by the sheriff's department; for computer equipment: $5,000 to the sheriff's department, $14,300 to the Syracuse Police Department, $9,500 to the sheriff's department, and $400 for the county systems administration; and in the amount of $6,036 in equipment for the Indiana State Police.
• Approved stopping longevity pay incentives for jailers with new hires beginning Jan. 1. Current employees will continue to receive longevity pay.
County council members are Harold Jones, who will continue as president in 2006; Tom Anglin, who will continue as vice president in 2006; Brad Tandy, Charlene Knipsel, Bob Sanders, John Kinsey and Larry Teghtmeyer. [[In-content Ad]]
Fall property tax payments landed promptly in county coffers, which will allow tax distributions to arrive in a timely fashion, according to Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell.
She said the lock box program instituted by County Treasurer Kent Adams was deemed a success during Tuesday's county council meeting. The meeting was rescheduled from last Thursday when a record snowfall blanketed the county.
The program is designed to deposit property tax payments in a county government account on the same day they are received. Lake City Bank employees open and record the payments from landowners. Costs to the county were $4,200 for the service. Payments received and not processed during regular office hours by the treasurer's office and at other collection points were processed at LCB, too.
"It has sped the process up tremendously," said Mitchell. "Before, payments could remain unopened up to six weeks."
The account draws interest for the county, too, although the amounts collected and the interest were not given last night.
The savings in staff overtime and hiring part-time help was estimated to be at least $18,500.
The fall collection is considered to be a test of the system. Cost effectiveness will be estimated when Spring 2006 payments are compared to Spring 2005 payments.
The council approved a new fund as requested by the health department to receive funds for tuberculosis program administration. Money from the American Lung Association, through the state health department, has been received. The money will be used to offset procedural costs for TB testing and diagnosis and incentives for people to be tested.
Mitchell advised the council two employees would be added to the health department payroll in a couple of years. Currently, the health professionals are Kosciusko Community Hospital employees. Their salaries are paid by the state and the federal funds. They have been hired to assist the county in TB management.
Ten active TB cases were diagnosed this summer in the northeastern part of the county.
The board also:
• Heard Mitchell was named Auditor of the Year by the Indiana Association of County Commissioners.
• Reappointed Ken Johnson to the Alcohol Beverage Commission.
• Reappointed councilman Bob Sanders to Kosciusko Development Inc.'s executive board.
• Reappointed councilman John Kinsey to the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District.
• Appointed councilwoman Charlene Knipsel to the Area Plan Commission. A change in state law requires a council member and a commissioner to sit on the APC board.
• Approved a request by the recorder's office to establish a county identification security protection fund.
• Approved the K-CODE budget as requested by the organization's vice chairman, Lance Grubbs, in the amount of $85,000. K-CODE is funded fees charged by the county courts to people convicted of illegal drug use. The state takes 25 percent of the money and 75 percent is allocated locally in the form of grants.
Organizations may submit plans for projects in three areas: education and prevention, intervention and treatment and law enforcement.
• Approved a request by the highway department to add another mechanic.
County road supervisor Dennis Pletcher said the drivers make minor repairs to the vehicles they drive and having an extra, qualified mechanic will reduce that labor.
He expects to find a mechanic from the pool of highway truck drivers who also will help plow snow, if necessary.
• Approved clerk's office request to spend $19,973 for additional filing systems. The money will come from the document storage fund, generated when the clerk's office collects outstanding child support payments. The state then distributes a portion of the fees to the local clerk, prosecutor and county government.
Also approved for the clerk's office was the use of state incentive fees to buy a copy machine for less than $2,000.
• Approved the following general fund transfers: as requested by the commissioners, $1,500 from contractual services to computer cartridges; as requested by superior courts 2 and 3, $1,250 from part-time to uniforms for the new bailiff position; as requested by the jail, $2,334 and $5,638 from the payroll accounts to longevity; and from Title IV-D, $1,280 from assistant investigator to caseworker; and as requested by the assessor's office, $15,469 from supplies to contracts.
• Additional appropriations were approved as requested by the local emergency planning department, $6,000 for training and seminars; as requested by maintenance for gas, $25,000, and for electricity, $25,000.
The infraction deferral account funds were distributed in the amounts of $25,000 for vehicle supplies as requested by the sheriff's department; for computer equipment: $5,000 to the sheriff's department, $14,300 to the Syracuse Police Department, $9,500 to the sheriff's department, and $400 for the county systems administration; and in the amount of $6,036 in equipment for the Indiana State Police.
• Approved stopping longevity pay incentives for jailers with new hires beginning Jan. 1. Current employees will continue to receive longevity pay.
County council members are Harold Jones, who will continue as president in 2006; Tom Anglin, who will continue as vice president in 2006; Brad Tandy, Charlene Knipsel, Bob Sanders, John Kinsey and Larry Teghtmeyer. [[In-content Ad]]