While last week's final Porter County budget hearing erupted into a raucous dispute and left a trail of ill feelings, most department heads walked away with pretty much what they asked for in 2013 -- or at least the amount of money they received this year.
The few exceptions include the Porter County Council and Porter County Board of Commissioners, who were at the center of last week's debate.
The county coroner's budget also took a big hit, but County Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st, said the reduction was the result of an error that will be corrected.
The $38 million proposed budget approved Monday by a 4-3 bipartisan vote among council members does not include funding to address some big ticket items facing the county. Those included rising employee health insurance costs, round-the-clock medical service at the jail, the opening of the third pod at the jail and long-term funding for E911.
Council member Laura Blaney, D-at-large, said the alternative $39.9 million budget she proposed along with Council members Dan Whitten, D-at-large and Karen Conover, R-3rd, and Commissioner President John Evans, R-North, would have covered the cost of those additional items.
The insurance and E911 costs were in the rejected budget and the $4.1 million in reserve funds could have been used for the needs at the jail and provide a $500 across-the-board raise for county employees, she said.
This alternative budget proposal called for a $2.5 million contribution of local income tax revenues to ease reliance on shrinking property taxes, while the approved version relies on reserve funds.
Porter County expects to take in an estimated $31.6 million next year in property tax revenue, minus $2 million lost to tax caps, in addition to $6 million in miscellaneous revenue and $3.2 million on hand in reserve funding, according to the county auditor's office.
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