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County Council is the purse strings of county government, and at their meeting Monday for 2027 department budgets they were pulling on those strings to tighten budgets as much as they could.
Cuts included $20,000 for Cardinal Services from the recommendation from the County Commissioners’ budget, with discussion on eventually not contributing any county dollars toward any nonprofits.
The county has budgeted money for nonprofits for decades. In the last few years, the county has started cutting back on the number of nonprofits they give to and how much.
The Animal Welfare League of Kosciusko County used to be one of the nonprofits the county provided to, but it’s now in its third year of a five-year contract with the county instead. Commissioner Cary Groninger said there’s a financial increase in each year of the contract. The county formerly paid by the animal, but the county has started to see a pretty significant uptick in the number of animals, including houses that had multiple animals.
“It was really causing havoc, so we went to a lump sum, but as part of that, there’s an incremental increase over that five years,” Cary said.
When a Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office officer picks up an animal, the officer takes it to the AWL, as does the Warsaw Police Department.
As County Administrator Marsha McSherry continued to go through the commissioners’ proposed 2027 budget for the council, she noted that the recommendation for Cardinal Services went up, as did the estimated Bowen Health state-required contribution. The Bowen Health contribution is $875,000 this year, up from $855,000 last year, McSherry stated.
Other nonprofits the county is providing funds to include the Kosciusko County Historical Society, The Beaman Home and Kosciusko County Senior Services.
Council Vice President Kathy Groninger said the commissioners increased their budget for Cardinal Services based on what was requested by Cardinal Services. She asked for an explanation of the commissioners’ recommendation for Cardinal Services.
Cary said, “Cardinal Services, in particular, it’s not just the services they provide for the community, but all the buses are commissioners-owned so like all the KABS buses, most people don’t know, those are actually county-owned buses.”
Cardinal Services, through KABS, provides the bus service, besides the other services they provide in the county like childhood development. He said the county receives money from the Indiana Department of Transportation for KABS, with about 80% funded by INDOT. The county works as the pass-through for those dollars.
“They provide some services that are essential that isn’t being provided” by others, Cary said.
Councilman Joe Irwin asked, of the dollars Cardinal Services requested, how much goes toward the buses. Councilman Will Stockdale said, per Cardinal’s previous presentation, it was about $38,000.
Councilman Dave Wolkins asked if Bowen Health’s amount was negotiated or was it a mandated amount. Cary said it’s a “shall” provide and was figured by a percentage but he wasn’t sure how it was calculated.
Councilwoman Rachael Rhoades said she understood the county was bound by policy on how much it gave to Bowen Health, but they weren’t bound to give to Cardinal Services.
“Bowen is the only one we’re statutorily required to pay,” Council President Tony Ciriello said.
McSherry said Bowen Health gives the county an estimated amount, and that’s what they put in the budget, “And this is the first year that I can recall they came back and it was higher than what we had anticipated and we had to find the dollars in our budget to fund that because it’s a ‘shall’ not ‘may.’”
Ciriello said the other nonprofits were at the county’s discretion. Cary pointed out that the county has taken off support of some nonprofits, such as a hospice, and shrank the list down.
“We really look for those nonprofits that we feel are providing essential services in our county that aren’t in competition for multiple others,” Cary said. “There’s always matching dollars. We’re not totally funding any of these, so I feel like more from a stewardship perspective, especially I look at so many of these, they’re providing services to the most vulnerable in our county.”
He stated you could say a lot about a community on how it treats its most vulnerable. He also pointed out that the commissioners were trying to flatline the nonprofit request dollars as much as possible.
“But, I think we have to make sure we’re not causing ill-will that maybe we’ll save a few dollars, but then there’s nobody to fund this opportunity that the county is going to have to take up and provide,” Cary said.
As an example, if the AWL were not willing to take the contract with the county, then the county would be required to take on that role and there’s no way the county could afford a full animal shelter for less than $200,000 a year.
“It’s a lot of dollars, but at the end of the day, it’s still a cheaper option than us having to add the staff and run a facility, because that is a service that we have to statutorily provide,” he explained.
The other nonprofits, the county doesn’t have to statutorily provide for, but Cary said in the grand scheme of things, their requests are minimal.
Councilman Will Stockdale said while he had a heart for Cardinal Services’ mission and loves what they do, they have Easterseals and their bottom line to the council was they made $1.8 million in profit in 2025.
“I don’t think they need our money,” Stockdale said. “I like the idea that we support programs where they can get matching dollars. My understanding is that with the three programs they asked us to fund, the only one that gets a state or federal match is KABS.”
He said he wanted to see the county’s contribution to Cardinal Services reduced from $109,129 in 2027 to $50,129.
Rhoades agreed, saying, “If you look historically, and I mean way back, how government was founded, it was done in a way that things like the nonprofits were taken care of by whether it’s individual, family, churches, community, business partnership. And I understand what’s on the table, and I also very much appreciate everything they contribute to our community and the services that they offer. I would, however, like to see us move in the direction of being more community-minded and less government. So, really, working to get partnerships through our industry that we are so blessed with here, which would also then get a commitment from our business industry and partnership to stay in this community because they would have investment in these nonprofits. So it not only provides less tax dollars goes toward things like this, but more of personal choice for business partnership, but it also creates a relationship with our industry for retention. And that’s how it was designed in government ... which I believe in.”
She said she agreed with Stockdale that she would like the county’s contributions toward nonprofits to continously decrease.
Irwin agreed with Stockdale and Rhoades. He also pointed out that the other counties where Cardinal Services provides services aren’t doing anything.
Cary said he understood what they were saying, but at this point in the year, the nonprofits were probably already in their budget process for 2027. He asked if there was a stair-step process instead of just cutting Cardinal Services’ budget in half, so they can have an opportunity to try to find the partnerships that the council members spoke of.
“They’re doing things that there’s not many other people, or no other institutions even doing in our community, that - I just do want to see go away. That’s my concern. Ideally, we have businesses shouldering some of that burden, but I also know, in today’s world, how tough that is for some of these nonprofits to raise those dollars. I just want to make sure that we’re not somehow making our decision that’s substantial enough that would cause some of the services they provide to our residents in Kosciusko County to go away,” Cary said.
He said cutting it partially would send a message of where the county is heading in regard to nonprofit contributions.
Councilwoman Kimberly Cates agreed, but added if they county starts cutting, they need to do it across the board and not single out one particular organization.
Ciriello agreed they need to look at nonprofits “pretty hard” from time to time. He didn’t have a problem with decreasing funding to nonprofits, but though Stockdale’s ask was too much, and maybe it had to be stepped down a little at a time so they weren’t cutting Cardinal Services off at the knees.
After a motion to give Cardinal Services the same amount ($108,129) they received in 2026 failed, Stockdale’s motion to cut it down by $20,000 to $89,129 passed by a vote of 6-1, with Cates opposed.
