The Hometown Treasure January 2012 | Page 43

LaGrange County Council Update The LaGrange County Council met on December 12, 2011 for the final session of the 2011 calendar year. Dr. Rhonda Sharp, County Health Board President, addressed the council regarding a request for an additional appropriation of $100,201.10. She requested that this be tabled until February of 2012 so the Health Board, at their January meeting, can better define who and for what these funds from the Tobacco Settlement Fund can and should be used in LaGrange County. The council was next presented with a proposed meeting schedule for the 2012 calendar year. The council will be meeting on the second Monday of each month as well as the second Tuesday of August and September where the extra day will be for budget presentation and hearings. In October the meeting will be on the second Tuesday due to a holiday on the second Monday. County Commissioner George Bachman reported that the LaGrange County Utility District will hold an information meeting in Shipshewana on the rate proposal for the Shipshewana Lake Project. He also reported that there is a sanitary wet land issue at the Animal Shelter, he is not sure at this time what the exact problem is and how it will be fixed. by Jac Price There were no committee reports for the council members. The council made two appointments to the LaGrange County Redevelopment Commission. The appointments were Fred Brown as the Council Representative, and Greg Johnson as the community representative to the commission. The council next acted on a deappropriation of $44,000 from the Jail Food account. We next acted on the transfer of funds between several accounts. We also gave the Auditor the authority to make any transfers between funds to be sure that all accounts are in balance at the end of the year. We approved three salary ordinances which will take effect on January 1, 2012. These included the Jail Maintenance Technician, an ICE student at Soil & Water and a 911 employee. We next considered the Additional Appropriations for the year end operations within several departments. The Legal Claims for the months of October and November were presented. The council approved the October Claims of $9,496.95 and the November Claims of $10,280.75. 2011 has been a very challenging and yet very rewarding. Early in the year we were informed by Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) that we needed to cut the General Fund Budget, that they had approved, by $1,200,000. There was a meeting of the Department Heads and they did a good job of finding ways to trim their operations and budgets to help meet the cuts. This was followed by a committee of council and commissioners who determined where some of the unexpected expenses could be paid from that did not affect General Fund dollars. In mid-August the council sat in session for two days having presentations for the 2012 budget year. After these presentations it was determined that we would need to cut from the requests some $2,800,000. In mid-September the council met for two days to analyze and adopt a balanced budget. After cutting some requests and, in some cases, paying some expenses from non General Fund dollars, we felt we had a budget that was balanced and in October we approved the budget. This budget was submitted to DLGF for their approval. It is anticipated that approval will come in late December or early January. This year’s cuts demanded by DLGF have caused an excessive amount of transfers within budgets and additional appropriations, I am hopeful that this will not happen in the future years. As always, we will try to be good stewards of your tax dollars. Country Lane Furniture New & Used Furniture New Mattress Sets by Elkhart Bedding (Heavy Du ty Sets) New Book Shelves Compare our prices before you buy! Quality Used Furniture New Living Room Furniture by New Bed Room Furniture by Schrock Furniture Free Delivery 25 Mile Radius • Regular Hours: Mon. - Fri. 8-6; Sat. 8-4 vm 574-642-1266 • 61113 CR 133 • Goshen, IN 46528 • ½ mile north of State Road 4 on CR 133 The Hometown Treasure · Jan. ‘12 · pg 41