A fractured Porter County Council approved a $38 million budget for 2013 that relies on reserve funding.
By a 4-3 vote, a bipartisan group of members rejected a last-minute proposal from the Porter County Board of Commissioners that would have shifted part of the budget cost from property to income tax revenue.
Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st, who rejected the proposal along with Jim Polarek, R-4th, Sylvia Graham, D-at large, and Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, said he agreed in concept with the shift to income taxes.
What concerned Biggs is the shift was not permanent. He and others were also opposed to a part of the idea calling for a $500 across-the-board pay increase for county employees considering the county is already taking in less money than it spends as a result of factors such as tax caps and the economy.
...
The council also agreed to continue using a portion of the $12 million in interest money from the sale of the county hospital to fund part of the money paid each year to Opportunity Enterprises, Family and Youth Services Bureau and Porter County Aging and Community Services Inc.
...
See the full story here:
