Kosciusko County Council adopted the preliminary version of the county 2008 budget Thursday.
The council met Monday and Tuesday to review budget requests from each county department. The adopted general fund totals about $18.1 million - a 7.52 percent increase from last year's general fund.
Health insurance costs were a major factor in the increase. The cost of health insurance for county employees increased from $1 million in 2007, to $1.4 million for 2008.
The budget also includes a 2.5-percent salary raise for full-time county employees, and a 3-percent raise for part-time workers on an hourly pay rate.
The council approved funds to pay for five township trustees/assessors to hire more help Thursday. At Tuesday's meeting, 12 township trustee/assessors requested money to pay part-time employees for extra work days be added to their budgets. The trustees told the council their work load has increased since 1995, the last time the county approved additional days be added to the trustees' budgets. The trustees said they needed the part-time help in order to file all their townships' assessments on time as well as keep up with their trustee duties.
The council was able to reach a compromise with six of the trustees/assessors, granting a smaller number of extra days than requested Tuesday, but were unable to reach the required five affirmative votes needed to pass proposals for Clay, Etna, Franklin, Harrison, Lake and Seward townships. Thursday, the council voted to approve some additional days for Clay, Etna, Harrison, Lake and Seward townships.
The council will have the chance to make changes to the budget before giving it their final approval at their next meeting, Sept. 13. According to Council President Harold Jones, the council also will have the option to make budget adjustments at their regular meetings before the end of the year.
After adoption, the county will send the budget to the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance for review. The DLGF will hold the budget until Kosciusko County submits assessed property values for 2008. When the DLGF receives the assessed values, they will release the budget numbers from which the county's tax rates will be figured.
Chief Deputy Auditor Michelle Puckett said the process likely will not be completed until 2008 has already begun. She said six taxing units in the county have not yet received their property tax bills for 2007 because they are part of the Tippecanoe Valley School Corp., which includes communities in Fulton County. Puckett said Fulton County has not yet submitted their assessed values for 2007, so Burket, Seward, Franklin, Mentone-Franklin, Harrison and Mentone-Harrison tax districts are still waiting for the DLGF to release their budget.
Kosciusko County has four cross-county school districts. "We are so attached to those other counties that it affects us when they don't get their work done on time," Puckett said.
Jones said he was pleased with the work accomplished during the week's budget meetings. The council eliminated about $700,000 from the original set of proposals they reviewed.
"I think it went really well," Jones said. "We had a lot of cooperation and a lot of help from everybody."
