By Holly Gaskill
The first meetings to put together the 2023 Wells County budget will begin this week, with the first on Wednesday morning and the second Thursday evening.
Department budget requests total $11,866,124 — an $836,940 increase from the 2022 budget. During the allotted times on Wednesday, the council will meet with department leaders to discuss the specific needs and requests of the budget.
Several department leaders provided reports with their budget requests, copies of which were provided to The News-Banner.
Board of Commissioners
Following discussions of how to best communicate with the public, the county commissioners have included a new position in their proposed budget — public information officer.
According to a written job description, the position would be roughly 10 hours weekly with a starting pay of $13,750 per year. Reporting directly to the county commissioners, the PIO would serve as a point person and coordinator of information relevant to the office.
“The PIO strives to be proactive and responsive with all important Wells County news to ensure the flow of information is accurate, timely and appropriate,” the job description reads.
General responsibilities include responding to media requests, writing press releases, communicating information with the public, maintaining relationships with various county departments and acting as a representative in the community, among other items. The PIO must also be available on-call 24 hours to assist in any emergency circumstances.
Highway Department
While not making any significant changes, the highway department has been significantly affected by rising gas and oil prices. In their proposed 2023 budget, the department requests $463,750 for gas, oil and lube — a 75 percent increase.
These price changes also affected the project budgets of other departments, though not as severely.
Drainage Board
Proposed budgets for the drainage board and county surveyor’s office show a 42.82 percent increase. County Surveyor Jarred Hahn attributed this to three factors: an increase in prices, the equipment needs of the department and the adequate compensation of employees.
Proposed salaries were $55,000 for the surveyor, a 35.16 percent increase, $46,750 for the deputy, a 29.67 percent increase, and $3,800 for clerical assistance, a 26.67 percent increase.
Hahn said the department researched counties with comparable population sizes and department operations to determine these figures. He also said his office will have more work in the coming year, given the City of Bluffton’s recent Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System classification.
“I believe that we as elected leaders are going to have to have some discussions about wages and salaries going forward and that the short amount of time during our presentations is not sufficient to have that meaningful discussion,” Hahn wrote in a letter to the council. “I would request that one of the sessions discussing the budget, or at least a portion of a session, be dedicated to talking about that topic … I realize that there is a limited amount of money, and that it is never popular to give government employees raises, but I have a concern that in the not-too-distant future it will be extremely difficult to replace current employees as they leave.”
Additionally, as with other departments, the drainage board’s budget has been severely hit by the increase in gas and oil prices. Hahn said two-thirds of this year’s fuel and oil budget has already been used and requested $5,000, a near-75 percent increase, in the 2023 budget proposal.
Hahn also mentioned his department desired to purchase a new blueprint printer, as theirs had stopped working properly, which would cost $11,800.
Area Plan office
Michael Lautzenheiser, executive director of the Area Plan Commission, outlined several wage increases for various parts of the office. He recommended an 8.3 percent raise across the office to accommodate inflation — this would bring the director’s salary to $65,237, administrative assistance salary to $39,044 and the part-time secretary’s salary to $16,245. He also recommended increasing the board compensation from $60 to $70, since it had not increased in several years.
The office also requested the following:
An additional $1,000 to cover software the department uses for marketing, meetings and surveys.
Increasing the budget for rural town clean-up to $12,000 — a $7,000 increase — to hold two larger events next year.
$4,500 to be added to office equipment to purchase both a desktop scanner and a large format scanner to continue to move toward digital records.
To match the mileage reimbursement rate with the federal rate, increasing the budget for travel, lodging and conference fees.
Increases in office supplies, receipt books, postage, legal service, long-term planning, legal ads and notices, dues and conferences, copier and signs to keep up with inflation.
Auditor
Auditor Lisa McCormick requested an additional stipend of $4,000 for fulfilling grant administrator responsibilities. Her office is also operating with one less deputy for the upcoming year.
In a memo, McCormick wrote: “Wells County has 17 Federal grants in the audit stages. Currently, 34 state and federal grants in total have files to maintain. An entity that receives over $750,000 in Federal grant monies is subject to an audit on those grants by the State Board of Accounts. The first qualifying audit was conducted in 2019 on 2018 funds, my first year of office. Federal audits for Wells County through 2021 have been without a finding.”
Recorder
During the Aug. 2 County Council meeting, Recorder Carolyn Bertsch spoke with the representatives about a raise for both her position and her deputy. These new salaries would be $46,605 for the recorder position, a 5 percent increase, and $36,070 for the deputy position, also a 5 percent increase.
She proposed these raises could be accommodated by the elimination of $2,000 for clerical assistance and by utilizing the Recorders Perpetuation Fund. The same information was included in a letter enclosed with her budget proposal.
“I was asked at a County Council meeting if our office could do more with less,” Bertsch wrote. “This proposed budget is my attempt to meet that goal. By utilizing the Recorders Perpetuation Fund (RDF) for additional salary, I believe our office can increase the salaries in order to retain the current staff.”
Council member Chuck King questioned whether or not using the funds for salary was proper usage of the RDF as determined by the Indiana code. The council agreed to revisit the issue during their first budget meeting.
Prosecutor’s Office
With part-time IV-D Jill Thorton’s, notice to leave the office at the end of September, County Prosecutor Andrew Carnall requested the open position be made a full-time position. In a memo, he wrote that the demands of that position have increased significantly, and the position had likely been needed full-time several years ago.
He also requested a three percent raise for all of his office.
Treasurer
The proposed budget for the treasurer’s office had an 11.11 percent increase, the majority of which was attributed to increased salaries. Proposed salaries were $51,320 for the treasurer, a 14.36 percent increase, $38,490 for each of the two deputies, an 11.82 percent increase, and $4,000 for clerical assistance, a 14.29 percent increase. Treasurer Kathy Peeper said these increases were requested to accommodate for inflation and to maintain comparable pay with neighboring and similar counties.
The following were significant budget request increases included without comment preceding the first budget meeting:
• IT requested a near-25 percent increase for its computer hardware and software, bringing its total from $63,000 to $78,726.
• The Superior Court requested to increase its budget for psychiatric services from $1,000 to $8,000. The Circuit Court also requested an increase for psychiatric services, raising its budget from $3,000 to $5,000.
• The Emergency Management Agency requested an additional $3,000 for PPE supplies, $5,500 for repair and maintenance and $3,5000 for their vehicles.
• The assessor’s office proposed budget showed an 18.81 percent overall increase, all of which came from employee raises. Proposed salaries were $55,000 for the assessor, a 24.93 percent increase, and $41,250 for each of the two deputies, an 18.46 percent increase.
The following is the anticipated schedule for Wednesday’s hearings with department leaders:
8 a.m. — Commissioners, LIT Economic Development
8:15 a.m. — Solid waste
8:20 a.m. — Highway, LR&S, Cumulative Bridge Fund
8:40 a.m. — Surveyor, Drainage Board, Surveyor’s Corner Perpetuation Fund
8:50 a.m. — Health Department, Local Health Maintenance, Indiana Local Health Trust
9:10 — Assessor, Reassessment, Sales Disclosure Fee
9:50 a.m. — Treasurer
10 a.m. — Custodian
10:10 a.m. — IT Department
10:20 a.m. — Coroner
10:30 a.m. — Wells County Purdue Extension Office
10:40 a.m. — Veteran’s Office
10:50 a.m. — EMA and Local Preparedness Coalition
11 a.m. — Area Plan and GIS
11:10 a.m. — Soil and Water
11:20 a.m. — Prosecutor
11:30 a.m. — Superior Court
Noon — Community Corrections, Project INcome, Misdemeanant, Community Corrections Grant II
12:10 p.m. — Circuit Court/Probation, Supplemental Public Defense Services, Jury Pay Fund
12:30 p.m. — Juvenile Probation, Adult Probation, Unrinalysis Fee, Substance/Indigent
12:50 p.m. — Auditor, Auditors Ineligible Deductions Fund, Plat Book, Elected Official Training
1 p.m. — Council, Rainy Day, Cumulative Capital
Additional budget meetings are scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 11, 16 and 18. The public hearing will be at 7 p.m. on Sept. 6 for Wells County and the Solid Waste and Rock Creek Conservancy. Those budgets will be up for adoption at 7 p.m. on Oct. 4.
