As the demand for services goes up and tax revenue goes down, the
Porter County Commissioners and the Porter County Council are eager to hear from
consultants H.J. Umbaugh & Associates on options they may have to plan for
the future.
Umbaugh delivered a draft of their report to the county a little
more than a month ago. The final version will include a “financial road map” on
how the county could “preserve a standard of fiscal and operations
accountability” to its citizens over the next several years.
Possible solutions the report gives for Porter County to overcome
its potential funding gaps include “revenue increases, debt financing, greater
use of technology, budget reductions and, in some instances, using existing cash
reserves,” the report said.
As for the effect produced by the property tax circuit breakers,
which the report refers to as “an unrecoverable loss of revenue to local units
of government,” the county will need to find other ways to make up for the loss
as the falling assessed valuations and increased tax rates push properties
toward the cap.
Unofficial AV figures from the County Assessor’s office indicate
the county could see a decline of $360 million in its county total next year
(going from $13.4 billion the previous year to $13.1 billion).
The report also found that in the county’s General Fund cash
reserves in the last the three years have been in excess of 17 percent of the
total budget. For the county to keep cash reserves of 15 percent, the report
said reductions would have to be made in the General Fund expenditures or
increase the county economic development income tax (CEDIT) by $1.8 million.
General Fund spending per capita in Porter is higher than in most
counties of comparable size throughout the state. Expenditures are expected to
rise annually by three percent while property taxes are assumed to grow by a
certified growth factor of nearly two percent.
However, no other county has money stored up in reserves as Porter
does. At the end of last year, the county had a fund balance of $171.1 million
in hospital funds, $13 million in Major Moves money, $5.2 million in rainy day
funds, and about $5 million in unallocated CEDIT.
...
The County Council will hold a special meeting Tuesday at 5:30
p.m. exclusively to discuss the findings of the report directly with Umbaugh
& Associates.
The consultants will also give a presentation to the county
commissioners at their regular meeting at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
Both meetings will be in Room 205 of the County Administration
Building located at 155 Indiana Ave. in Valparaiso.
...