Kosciusko County Council approved the budget for the county Coalition On Drug Education during its meeting Thursday evening.
The 2013 budget for K-CODE is $88,000, which coordinator Heather Desenberg said is average for the agency but a little lower than the 2012 budget. K-CODE uses part of the money to provide grants for drug prevention and enforcement initiatives, and Desenberg noted it has been a sponsor of anti-meth billboards around the area and town hall meetings on meth prevention.
The coalition also has sponsored DARE programs, quiz bowls for elementary school students and police officer visits to home schoolers, she told the council.
Also during the meeting, council members approved a letter addressed to state legislators from the area protesting the statewide 911 fund established in July.
The letter contends that the new law, which calls for the state, rather than the counties, to collect and distribute 911 fees does not provide fair or adequate funding.
“The Kosciusko County Council and Kosciusko County Commissioners have reviewed the new 911 revenue that was established for our county and understand the legislation is flawed as it pertains to Kosciusko County,” states the letter introduced by councilman Larry Teghtmeyer. “The result is that E911 services will not be adequately funded.”
The county previously collected a fee tacked onto landlines to fund 911, but under the new law, the state distributes funds to counties based on the average from the last three years of landline fees. Kosciusko will receive less funding, Teghtmeyer told the council, since it has lowered its landline fee to $1 and has been supplementing it with property taxes, while other counties doubled their landline fees.
The county is projected to receive $614,340 per year under the new law, compared to about $640,000 it previously raised annually. The budget for 911 service next year is $1.026 million.
The letter will be forwarded to county commissioners for review.
Council members also approved the appointment of Brad Newcomer to the Nappanee Public Library Board and Dana Krull to the North Webster Public Library Board; and approved fund transfers for the county sheriff's department.
Sheriff Rocky Goshert requested a transfer of $2,243.48 from insurance payment to repairs and maintenance for a cruiser that struck a deer; $1,400 from the payroll - lieutenant fund to the payroll - sheriff's lieutenant fund; and $6,500 from jail overtime to jail part time.
The transfer for part-time pay is to cover training for part-time employees to man different parts of the jail, Goshert told the council, as well as transportation to and from the department of corrections and to cover for an officer undergoing chemotherapy.
