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Though not entirely happy with the end result, the Kosciusko County Council on Thursday adopted the county’s 2027 budgets on second reading.
Council Vice President Kathy Groninger said the adopted budget total is $96,669,862, including $34,427,860 in county general and $62,242,002 in all other funds.
The 2027 budget estimates for tax levy funds are:
• General fund, advertised budgeted amount $36,095,872; advertised tax levy, $17,940,000; estimated tax rate, $0.2189 per $100 of assessed value; estimated total assessed value, $8,196,233,387.
• Reassessment fund, advertised budgeted amount, $706,961; advertised tax levy, $920,000; estimated tax rate, $0.0112.
• Cumulative bridge fund, advertised budgeted amount, $2,020,000; advertised tax levy, $2,875,000; estimated tax rate, $0.0351.
• Health fund, advertised budgeted amount, $1,321,370; advertised tax levy, $1,265,000; estimated tax rate, $0.0154.
• Cumulative capital development fund, advertised budgeted amount, $4,902,400; advertised tax levy, $4,485,000; estimated tax rate, $0.0547.
The estimated total tax rate for 2027 is $0.3353. The tax rate for 2026 was $0.1952, after final adjustments were made, she said. The total assessed value for 2026 was $9,642,615,749. The total assessed value for 2027 is $9,684,457,708, an increase of $41,841,959 from 2026.
After the final adjusted budget is sent to the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) in October, Groninger said these levies and tax rates will likely be lowered, depending on final certified assessed values.
Councilman Will Stockdale said, “Everybody on this council, I’m sure, has some things that they’re not pleased with in this budget. Cuts were made where cuts could be made. Wages were adjusted - 3% county employee increase is a big ask, but we want to take care of our county employees, we want to make sure we retain talented individuals. While I’m sure there were more cuts that could have been made, this is a step in the right direction.”
Councilman Dave Wolkins stated, “I’m going to vote for it, but I’m going to hold my nose and vote for it because it seems like, last year we collected between $18-$19 million property taxes. This year we’re advertising a little over $20 million. Even after DLGF makes their adjustments to come down, we’re still going to be at 7-8% increase in property tax. We just can’t seem to say no to anything, and at some point we’ve got to say no. Because, we’re talking about the wages - the difference between 2% and 3%, $280,000 or whatever it is ... and I looked up the MVH (motor vehicle highway) budget, and there were three different accounts in there on equipment and I think we’re spending like $750,000, or we’re appropriating that much for equipment. It all adds up.”
He said he looked through the budget to see where they could make cuts, but everyone comes in and talks about costs being up.
“We’re just still spending too much. I’m going to vote yes because it has to pass tonight, but I don’t want to,” Wolkins said.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cates echoed Stockdale’s comment regarding items in the budget each of the council members would prefer having different numbers, but “yet collectively we need to move forward and make sure that we adhere to the law.”
Councilwoman Rachael Rhoades agreed to all the comments, and said, “Dave, to your point, too, some of the cuts that were made, as Will stated, they didn’t necessarily impact property tax but I know impacted EDIT (economic development income tax) or LIT (local income tax) or just various different things, so I know we would like to see it in property tax, but sometimes those cuts are elsewhere, but it was a step in the right direction, as Will said, so we’re going to work to continue to find the areas where we can trim back and be more fiscally responsible going forward.”
Councilman Joe Irwin agreed with what everyone else said, adding, “We can definitely find places, find more places, but like Will said, I think we’ve made a step in the right direction and we’ll continue to do so.”
Cates gave kudos to the department heads because they were very responsible and tried to make their budgets as lean as possible, she said. “I think that they did a really good job, so I have to say kudos to the department heads.”
Groninger agreed, saying she felt like the department heads did a really good job of toeing the line as much as they could. “But we can’t ignore the fact that everybody’s expenses are going up,” she said.
Irwin said that was part of the deal with wages. “We asked a lot of the department heads to stay flat as best as you can because we wanted to help the people, and they did. They did. But we’re going to continue to dig deep into this and move forward,” he stated.
Rhoades made a motion to approve the budget, Stockdale seconded and it passed 6-0. With Council President Tony Ciriello attending the meeting through Zoom, he could not vote on budget matters.
Additionally, the council approved the Kosciusko County Solid Waste Management District 2027 budget at $509,308 and the Syracuse-Turkey Creek Public Library’s budgets for three funds at $1,995,104.
Night Shift Differential
After the 2027 budget adoption meeting was closed, Groninger called the regular council meeting to order and the first thing on that agenda was the night shift differential for the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office.
Groninger mentioned, “Although we went ahead and approved the (2027) budget, if we would decide to do this, without this in it, it’ll be addressed in January with an additional appropriation, but we had to get this (budget) finalized today.”
As Sheriff Jim Smith was unable to attend Thursday night’s meeting, Chief Deputy Chris McKeand read a statement on the night shift differential from Smith.
“As the sheriff, I feel that I have the obligation and responsibility to have my ear to the ground and understanding on our industry to include the compensation and benefit pieces for our staff,” he read. “When we look around at other agencies, specifically agencies similar in size to ours, the night shift differential is a piece that our office is missing as it relates to not only recruiting personnel, but also for retaining them.”
Smith’s statement continued, “When we presented this to the wage committee earlier this year, I shared with them that our department runs on two shifts: A 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. day shift, and the night shift, which obviously is 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. This includes our patrol division, our jail staff, our work release and our dispatch. This premium would be for those who are scheduled to work the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. shift.”
He said they would have measures in place to address the situations where staff may change from a day shift to a night shift, or vice versa, to make sure the differential would be applied appropriately.
Cates said she’s always been for the night shift differential and it’s really important as the night shift is harder on employees.
Irwin said when Smith came to the wage committee, it was a big ask because he wanted two more jailers, the $5,000 increase for the merit officers and the night shift differential.
“I just think, and the wage committee kind of decided that, we’re not against it but it needs to happen in baby steps. That’s a big ask. So that’s where we stood on it, I stand by our decision and I would move to deny it,” he said.
Wolkins seconded the motion, which passed 6-1, with Cates the only council member voting against the motion.
