From the Muncie Star-Press:
Coming off a year that saw layoffs and the closing of the Delaware County Building on Fridays to save money — as well as the reversal of the latter decision — County Council on Tuesday began hearings on next year’s budget.
But there was little controversy at the sparsely-attended public hearing that kicked off the 2013 budget process.
Council members heard from a local man who urged them to freeze spending. Council then reviewed budgets over which it has no control before settling into reviews of dozens of county departments.
“It amazes me taxpayers aren’t here to consider what government is doing,” said Yorktown Town Council candidate Rick Yencer, who called himself a “writer, partisan and activist” before calling for council to freeze spending, avoid tax increases and work against this November’s voter referendum on governmentconsolidation.
Council on Tuesday began hearings on $31.8 million in 2013 budget requests. By comparison, the county general budget total was $27.7 million in 2012, but it’s unclear how much must be cut to bring next year’s budget in line.
Council members spent a period of time in a “non-binding review” of local government budgets over which they can make recommendations but have no formal vote.
Those budgets included spending for the town of Yorktown and local bus service provider MITS.
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http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012309050023
