After completing its second reading of the proposed 2024 Porter County budget Thursday evening, the Porter County Council aims to shave roughly $365,000 from the General Fund before it concludes the final reading on Tuesday, Oct. 24.
The council ended its business Thursday night with the proposed General Fund budget increase over the 2023 General Fund budget at $1,865,799. It aims to cap the increase at $1.5 million, which is already stretching it a tad from the $1.4 to $1.45 million increase the council was shooting for at the beginning of the process.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Council President Jeremy Rivas, D-2nd, at the end of the night.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” echoed Deputy Auditor Ryan Kubal. Rivas plans to meet with the Board of Commissioners and their attorney Scott McClure in the days leading up to the final reading to see what can be trimmed from the budget entirely or moved to be paid for by other funds.
The Local Income Tax (LIT), Cumulative Capital Development Fund (CCD), and Cable Franchise Fund were mentioned as possible homes for the relocation of some line items from the General Fund budget. The CCD Fund is financed through the property tax levy and has a $1.4 million unallocated balance, and the Cable Franchise Fund is financed with money collected from right of way rent paid by cable companies and has a $600,000 unallocated balance and is projected to bring in an additional $200,000 by the end of the year.
“LIT is a little worn out, right at this moment, in all honesty,” said McClure who feels it is not a candidate for absorbing any more line items. He wasn’t enthusiastic about using the CCD Fund to take on General Fund line items either. “This fund, for a while, did not have enough unallocated balance to sustain a budget,” he said. “We just got it healthy enough to have the budget not be slashed by the state.”
The interest from the sale of Porter Memorial Hospital is budgeted at $665,000 for 2024, the same as last year, and not seen as a good option for parking line items. “They can’t raise it even though they’ve got towns like Chesterton and Burns Harbor who say, ‘That’s it. We’re done,'” said Rivas, referring to municipalities that have elected to drop their in-house ambulance services and latch on to those provided by the county.
Talk frequently circles around to the county ambulance contract, which expires in 2025 and is expected to possibly double in cost due to both growth in the county population and the addition of municipalities that used to operate their own services.
Councilman Mike Brickner, R-At-Large, asked if the Public Safety Committee was addressing the issue of municipalities contributing to the cost of the ambulance service.
“Lots of headwinds in that subject,” McClure replied.
In other budget news, Indiana Dunes Tourism is hoping to replace a bookshop at the Indiana Dunes Visitor Center run by a not-for-profit, Eastern National, from which the county receives no revenue, with a gift shop run by the county. Brickner asked what the projected revenue would be.
Lorelei Weimer, president and CEO of Indiana Dunes Tourism, said the gift shop is expected to gross $600,000, with an investment of $175,000 in setup costs.
“We as an entity do not get anything from that and the national park gets very little,” Weiner explained of the current setup. “They are not selling some of the things visitors are looking for.”
Additionally, the council denied the IT Department a nearly $400,000 budget increase for now, asking that Director Lee Childress provide a plan for the money he says is needed to upgrade aged technology. “Right now the budget we have gets us through, but we’re not able to replace aging equipment,” he said.
“What about the judges, the upgrade that they need?” asked Rivas. “Is that included?”
“No, it is not,” Childress replied.
“Well how are we going to pay for that?” Rivas asked.
“I do not know,” Childress replied.
The final reading of the proposed 2024 budget is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 24 immediately following the regular county council meeting at 5 p.m.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
