Any further budget cuts would hurt the county’s ability to function, department heads said one after another – some with anger, some seemingly near tears – during a special joint meeting Thursday evening. Kosciusko County Council and Commissioners crowded around a table to hear suggestions from Umbaugh and Associates on how to avert a $4.4 million budget shortfall the accounting firm projected by 2016, and to explain to the packed audience why those measures would be necessary. At an estimated $2.45 million in new revenue, a wheel tax and surtax payable on vehicle registration or renewal would be the biggest single source of relief, Umbaugh partner Todd Samuelson told county officials. It would allow the highway department, which at $2 million would be the largest chunk of the shortfall, to be self-sustaining, he said, rather than supplementing it every year from other funds. Council President Bob Sanders compared the $25 yearly surtax and $40 wheel tax to a tank of gas or the cost of repairing a vehicle damaged by a pothole that wasn’t patched. He noted the wheel tax has been available since 1980 and that few Indiana towns have not enacted it. “State legislators have told me, ‘We’ve given you a tool to help yourself fix your roads ... don’t ask for more funds if you’re not willing to use it,’” he said. It’s also the most urgent of the outlined measures – it must be passed by the end of June in order to begin receiving the money next year. It would have to be approved by a one-time unanimous vote or a two-time majority vote, officials heard. “I don’t want people to think we’re trying to run this through quick – but we’re trying to run this through quick,” Commissioner Ron Truex remarked. Other options Umbaugh suggested to offset the trend of declining revenue and growing costs included eliminating the cumulative jail fund and transfering the property tax levy from there to the general fund, an extra $139,000 a year; setting the cumulative capital development fund rate to the max allowed, an extra $996,000; and transferring from the Economic Development Income Tax fund as well as considering user fees to match costs for health department services. Sanders later invited department heads to talk about what a 20-percent budget cut might look like for them, at the request earlier this month of Councilman Doug Heinisch. Assessor Laurie Renier, Treasurer Sue Ann Mitchell, Recorder Deb Wright and Auditor Marsha McSherry indicated that staff is both the only thing they could cut and the last thing they could afford to lose, without hurting their level of service to the public. “The bottom line here is, we are not Walmart, Kmart or Meijer – if people can’t get it here, they can’t get it,” Mitchell said. “We don’t have enough help as it is ... You want to know where the money comes from? I cut my own salary because I can’t cut people.” Heinisch insisted during their reports that he still wanted numbers, not anecdotes, something he said he has asked for three years in a row. “We don’t need to have everybody come up here; I don’t want to hear a bunch of stories,” he said. But for example, “How many properties are assessed? If it’s gone up, maybe they do need a budget increase. But a dollar figure next to a department means nothing, whether it’s a million or a billion, if we don’t have more information.” County Superior 1 Judge Duane Huffer stood up from the audience during Heinisch’s remarks and, jabbing a finger toward the front of the room, said they couldn’t provide that much data without more support from the county. “If I have to provide the figures, you have to provide the money,” he said, noting also that staff was the only area the court could make cuts and that wages in some areas have been frozen at 2003 levels. “We cannot show you more without additional staff to keep control of those figures.” Sanders told Heinisch he wanted him to hear what he had heard after meeting with department heads in preparation for the joint meeting. “Those people worked really hard on a request for a what-if when they had better things to do,” Sanders said. “It’s a pretty important what-if,” Heinisch replied, also saying it was unfair to give the impression he questioned their work ethic. Councilman Jon Fussle said he thought Heinisch’s request was reasonable, to show that the county is doing everything it can and that the proposed measures are needed. “Thank you for letting us know we can’t cut people,” he told the department heads. “I think it’s important to let people know we’re serious, not just that we want more money. We’re making up for the state making themselves look good by cutting money (and) we’re left with the dirty deed of making up for increased costs.”
