In its first real dig into the 2014 county budgets, the Porter County Council Tuesday began whittling down the $46 million advertised total, by cutting more than $2 million from what the County Board of Commissioners requested.
According to figures estimated by County Auditor Robert Wichlinski and the Council’s financial and budget specialist Vicki Urbanik, there will be approximately $38.8 million of available revenue for 2014, which was about the size of this year’s budget.
Facing the challenge of balancing the funds for not only next year but also the years ahead, the Council spent the first half of a two and a half hour meeting mulling how it could invest dollars to see the most return, specifically the $160 million from the sale of Porter hospital.
The County has $10 million in hospital interest funds and the principal is generating less than $1 million a year under its current interest rate. Treasurer Mike Bucko, from the audience, said the County could invest 25 percent of its overall portfolio in a long-term plan at a rate of 2 to 3 percent a year over five years, which is the longest the state will permit.
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