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By approving a resolution Thursday, the Kosciusko County Council increased the county's 2003 operating balance by approximately $400,000.
Kosciusko County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell told the council the county received its notice of the 2002 pay 2003 tax rate and the council needed to approve it.
The 2002 tax rate was $0.2783 and generated $7,312,000. The 2003 tax rate is $0.1609 and is raising $7,621,334. The rate is down from 2002 due to an increase in assessed valuation. However, the county still is under its maximum levy by more than $4,000, which means the county is not collecting as much as it could.
The state was allowing the county to collect a cumulative bridge fund of $980,517 and the cumulative jail fund of $284,208 for 2003. However, by keeping the funds at the same amount as levied last year, the county can move the extra approximate $400,000 into the operating balance of the county general fund.
That gets the county back to an operating balance of approximately $2.6 million, Mitchell said. The changes do not change the tax rate.
The resolution the council unanimously approved caps the cumulative funds and transfers the remaining balance of the money that was levied to the county general fund.
In other business, the county council:
• Approved the 2004 budget.
• Approved for Judge James Jarrette to hire a drug and alcohol probation officer assistant. The assistant's salary and benefits all must be paid out of user fees. No tax dollars will be used to pay for the position.
• Approved for Jerry and Marilyn Irvine, G.I. Printed Tape and Polishing Inc., to advertise their request for an abatement before the county council at the council's October meeting.
• Heard the Kosciusko County Convention and Visitors' Bureau will present its budget to the county council in October.
Mitchell said a couple of hotels are collecting the innkeepers' tax, which in part goes to the CVB, but those establishments are not remitting the tax. She said she is looking into what the county can do to get the businesses to remit the tax. She said she should have more information for the county council at its October meeting.
• Approved three transfers of $6,500, $825 and $1,025 for the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department.
• Approved a transfer request from Turkey Creek Township Assessor Patty Gammiere for $2,800.08 for part-time pay.
Members of the county council are chairman Harold Jones; vice chairman Tom Anglin; Larry Teghtmeyer: Brad Tandy; Charlene Knispel; John Kinsey; and Maurice Beer. They meet at 7 p.m. in the county courthouse on the second Thursday of every month.
