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Two large additional appropriations will be before the Kosciusko County Council at the Nov. 2 meeting at 7 p.m., Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell told the council Thursday.
The two appropriations will be for $212,000 for the cost of court-ordered housing of male juvenile delinquents and $62,000 for female juvenile delinquents.
"It's absolutely amazing what the expense is," Mitchell said.
County administrator Ron Robinson said the cost is not much more than what the county paid in the past, but the state changed where the money comes from to pay the costs.
"We haven't got the (bill) for the adults yet," Robinson said. The bill is based on the daily rate that each facility charges, whether it's the Indiana Department of Corrections, a juvenile shelter or a women's prison.
Robinson said he and Kosciusko Superior Court I Judge Duane Huffer will look at the juvenile housing problem and work on a solution.
Mitchell said the money for the appropriations was planned for in the tax rate. The county maintains an operating balance in the general fund. "It's like taking it out of a savings account," Mitchell said.
She also said that next year's tax rate will stay the same as this year, if not lower.
"The tax rate will definitely not go up," Mitchell said.
In other business, the county council:
• Approved county sheriff Aaron Rovenstine to continue to use the commissary funds as he is using them now.
The commissary fund comes from the profit the sheriff's department makes when inmates buy deodorant, candy and other items or make phone calls.
On July 1, the state changed the way sheriffs can use the money because some of the funds were mismanaged, Rovenstine told the council. Until then, it was at the discretion of the sheriff. Now, the money can be spent on only eight items unless the county commissioners and county council approve otherwise.
The law also requires sheriffs to report the commissary fund expenditures twice a year to the county commissioners.
The state board of accounts, Rovenstine said, told him they had no problem with the way he spends the money.
Some of the items the sheriff's department buys with the commissary money include flowers for funerals of emergency service personnel, plaques for retiring officers and vacuum cleaners.
The commissary fund is not part of the budget.
• Approved two transfers, of $1,503 and $768 for the sheriff's department from the user fees account to the continuing education account.
• Adopted the complete rewriting of the county's personnel policy. The policy addresses such issues as benefits, administration, working conditions and conduct.
County administrator Ron Robinson said the changes came about because of Supreme Court rulings and changes in the law. The changes will help protect the county from lawsuits, he said.
"If you adopt it," he said, "probably by next week, there will be a change."
Elected and appointed officials and supervisors will receive training Oct. 12 and 19 on how to interpret the new policies.
The county commissioners already approved the policies.
• Mitchell reported that she, along with county commissioner Avis Gunter, county recorder Lashawn Brumfield and county treasurer Stephanie Esenwein, recently returned from the Indiana Association of Counties meeting. Many "good classes" were offered and it is an "absolutely fantastic organization to get us together to help us think," Mitchell said.
Members of the county council are president Brad Tandy, vice president Jim Tranter, Tom Anglin, John Kinsey, Lewis Bertsch, Harold Jones and Kathryn Teel.
They meet at 7 p.m. on the first Thursday of every month in the courthouse.
