From the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette:
After two days of budget hearings, the bottom line was, it’s back to the drawing – or cutting – board for many Allen County departments.
Allen County Council members decided Thursday not to use its reserve funds to balance the 2013 budget. As a result, nine departments will be asked to trim budgets an additional 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent
County Auditor Tera Klutz had recommended the council use $2.3 million from the county’s rainy-day fund to balance the county’s nearly $85 million budget.
The fund will likely end the year with $12.5 million, Klutz said.
County offices excluded from making further cuts were the Recorder, Voter Registration, Wayne Township Assessor and Voter Registration, who have asked to reduce – or in the case of the Recorder, eliminate – their budgets.
The sheriff’s department, with a budget of about $22 million, had asked for a budget increase of $279,650 for increased fuel and inmate food costs, overtime pay and extra help at the jail. Sheriff Ken Fries also requested $406,500 for projects including new squad cars, computers, scanners and printers.
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Because of spiraling health insurance costs, council members agreed to provide about $3.4 million to the county’s self-insurance fund – $2.3 million of that coming from the rainy-day fund. Klutz said the insurance fund will be out of money in a few weeks because of high claims.
The council denied a request from Homeland Security asking for $460,000 for emergency warning sirens and reduced the Youth Service Center’s budget by $252,983. They also asked the Youth Service Center to offset operating costs using money from their user fee fund.
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There was about $700,000 in the center’s user fees fund at the end of the year, and it had only spent $200,000.
Although the council approved 2 percent raises for employees in 2013, those raises will be offset by the 3 percent employees must contribute to their retirement funds – an amount previously contributed by the county. Police and probation officers are excluded from the increases because the state mandates a raise of 2.2 percent.
Departments may appeal their requests Sept. 20, and final budget approval is set for Oct. 18.
http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120727/LOCAL/307279980
