Welcome everyone. I would like to call this Tonight's meeting of the Monroe County Council to order
today is Tuesday October 6 and I want to record that we have council members Peter Iverson Trent Deckard
Liz vital Marty Hawk and Kate wilt in the room councilmember David Henry had to step out, but he'll
be right back and now I would ask that I
As you are able, please rise with us to say the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag
of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible,
with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for that.
The next item on our agenda is the adoption of the agenda. You can find tonight's agenda on the county's
website and you'll see it on the calendar there. And so council, does anyone wish to amend tonight's
agenda? I move to add item 9B, Highway Department 2027 budget amendment. Second. We have a motion and
a second. Any other discussions about this? All those in favor of the amendment, please say aye. Aye.
All those opposed?
the eyes have it unanimously. Does anyone else wish to amend tonight's agenda? Is there a place on the
agenda where it would be appropriate to put a motion on the floor to no longer be saying we have a hiring
freeze and so the people aren't having to come back and spend hours trying to do that? Because clearly
we don't have a hiring freeze. It would just save a lot of department head time and our time. So I don't know what
where that could be added, but I certainly think it's important that we do that. I will note that for
the record, we are going to have a robust conversation about the hiring freeze and KSA and all those
those things related things at our meeting on the 13th, which is next week at five p.m. So we'll have
plenty of opportunity to be here that night before budget adoption.
Are there any other changes to tonight's agenda? Hearing none, all those in favor of the amended agenda,
please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it unanimously. Welcome, everyone. This is the
public hearing portion of the Monroe County 2027 budget. And before we begin, I want to set some ground
rules for these public hearings.
We will open a budget and anyone who wishes to make comment will be given the opportunity at that time
to make comment on that budget. Those present here in the NatU Hill meeting room will be asked to come
to the podium. Those attending virtually are asked to raise their hand feature on your computer and
we'll call on you in order. Participants will be given a time of three minutes to make a comment on
any budget. You'll be given a 30 second remaining reminder as follows.
and we ask that you please limit your comments to the budget that is open on the floor. Following the
public comments, Council will have an opportunity to make comment on the budget. And once Council is
finished with their comments, the public hearing for each of those budgets will then be closed. So we're
going to start with our first reading and public hearing of ordinance 2026-29, the Monroe Fire Protection
District 2027 budget. I open.
the 2027 Monroe Fire Protection District. And I would ask Councilor Deckard to read ordinance 2026-29
into the record. Be it or pardon me here. Councilors, do you all have yours? Because I have multiple.
OK. All right. Be ordained resolved by the Monroe County Council that for the expenses of Monroe County Fire
Protection District Monroe County for the year ending December 31st, 2027. The sums herein specified
are hereby appropriated and ordered set apart out of the several funds herein named and for the purposes
herein specified subject to the laws governing the same. Such sums herein appropriated shall be held
to include all expenditures authorized to be made during the year unless otherwise expressly stipulated
and provided for by law.
In addition, for the purposes of raising revenue to meet the necessary expenses of Monroe Fire Protection
District, Monroe County, the property tax levies and property tax rate as here and specified are included
here in budget form for be for all funds must be completed and submitted in the manner prescribed by
the Department of
local government finance. This ordinance resolution shall be in full force in effect from and after
its passage in approval by Monroe County. And then I go down to council or Mr. President. I just read
these main levy type lines if you would please. All right. So jumping to the funds, property tax, max
levy type, fund code,
zero zero six one rainy day is zero dollars in adopted budget zero for adopted tax levy adopted tax
rate is zero point zero dollars under the property tax max levy type civil line fund code eight six
zero three special fire fire general the adopted budget is nineteen million four hundred fifty seven
thousand fifty four dollars the adopted tax levy
is thirteen million, two hundred and fifty seven thousand five hundred twenty six dollars for an adopted
tax rate of point three, two, three, seven. Under the outside maximum levy fund, we have fund code eight,
six, nine, one special cum fire adopted budget is one million five hundred
Pardon me, $1,511,563. The adopted tax levy is $1,406,110 for an adopted tax rate of 0.033 for an adopted budget of
$20,968,617 with an adopted tax levy of $14,663,636 pardon me, $14,663,636 for an adopted total tax
rate of 0.3570.
And I can read the home rule funds as well. Fund code nine five zero zero donation fund adopted budget
one hundred and twenty four thousand five hundred sixty five dollars. And then in their fund code nine
five zero one restricted donation fund, it's an adopted budget of
$1,546 for a total there under home rule and $126,111. Well, thank you, Mr. Deckard. Do we have anyone
from the public that wishes to speak on the Monroe Fire Protection District's 2027 budget? If so, please
come to the podium or raise your hand on teams.
Are there any council members that wish to comment on the 2027 Monroe Fire Protection District budget?
Wilts Sure, I mean I think just For transparency sake pointing out that the Budget exceeds the levy
on a few of these things is something I believe we discussed
at the budget presentations. And we have been assured that there are funds available to make up the
difference there. If that is an exaggeration or incorrect, or if you have anything to add, that's absolutely
fine. Please come up. I just wanted to make sure that it didn't go without saying, I guess, at the hearing
that we see that.
this on? Yes. Laurie Robinson, Monroe Fire Protection District. Yes, we did discuss that during our
budget hearings, and that's due to the merge with Bean Blossom Township. So we presented we're presenting
all our information to the state this month to increase our max levy. Our max levy will actually be
a little bit higher than what we're asking for for the levy to the tune of about five hundred thousand
higher than that.
Thank you. Yes, please. OK, it's Lori. You didn't think you could get off that easy, did you? I thought
I got away. OK, so you're saying you want us to vote on a levy that's really less than what you're hoping
to get, or did you put the max in there that you think you're going to get? So our new max levy will
be $12,757.
and change, but the we're only taxing for 2027 on 12,257 and change. And then the next thing I want
to ask is your present tax rate and what your projected tax rate is going to be now that you've added
being brought some in there and the expenses. So I see an adopted tax rate of point three, five point
talk to me about your tax rates. So our tax rates based on a net assessed value of about 97% of what
the auditor's numbers actually were presented. Just to make sure that there are no errors, no mistakes,
nothing withheld. When the net assessed value goes to the full amount, then our tax rate should fluctuate
down just a little bit more than what you're seeing there tonight. But that's the maximum that it would
be at 97%.
And how much is it now? Our tax rate right now. Yeah, right. I'm just trying to see what the difference
is between 25 right at point 25 to 2469, something like that for our general fund. So it is going to
trend upwards a few points. Taking on Bean Blossom, adding an extra million dollars to our budget for
next year.
I just want to get all the numbers out there because there's a lot of people on social media that's.
Making things sometimes seem worse than it is, and sometimes better than what it is, and it's better
to just get the exact facts and let people know. Absolutely. Marley's willing to talk to anyone, have
some questions. Chief Dillard. Yeah, I was just going to add that that 25 cent rate that we have now,
we held that in 2026.
We should have modified that to fit Senate Enrollment Act 1. We held the 25 cents because that's what
we'd talked about in previous hearings, but this time we looked at what the cost would be per household
and we adjusted that rate to kind of keep the revenues where we needed them to be. Any other comments
from council? I will just note that the 4B, it looks very healthy.
So really happy to see the the revenues over expenditures are solidly in the black so All right, if
there are no further comments So just looking at the adopted text rate column I think I would like to
see percentages there instead of dollars for those point whatever numbers they are and
They're just labeled incorrectly. I think they have dollar signs, but they are written to be percentages,
right? The rate would be a percentage instead of a dollar amount, right? This is a form that's generated
by the state. We don't have any control over the formatting that's used, but they are percentages. Am
I correct? Is that column? It says adopted tax rate. So that would be a percentage. Is that correct
or not? So that would be the amount per dollar.
Which would also be a percent, right? Yes. Okay. Okay. So yeah. So what this indicates, it would be
0.3. The first one would be 0.3237 per dollar. Is that right? Correct. Is that right? Okay. But it seems-
It's not 32 cents. Yeah, it wouldn't be 32 cents. That's why it needs the same percentage. You would
have two zeros before to get to the percent. And that's the difference. If they put a dollar sign- Yes.
And then left, then adjust it. So it's just confusing. That's per $100 of assessed value.
Yeah. 0.3237 cents per $100 of assessed value. Yeah, not a dollar, just $100. Now we got the decimals
in the right places. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Councilmember Deckard. Well, to kind of follow up, that's
why I read the point on that. But I, you know, I sometimes look at how these things all like structure
out. And I wonder how the public can even begin to follow the way the state has us explain that.
When sometimes I wonder if it just say there's a bucket of money and it's about this amount and they
can take about that much. But that's great. Reminds me. I did catch something that maybe a Scribner's
era error or it may not at the top of the form. And when I was reading, I caught it. Be it ordained
resolved by the Monroe County. I think that's supposed to be council and I said council when I read
it, but I don't know if that's just how they the state has set the form up, but I wonder
point that out. I haven't looked at the top of the other ones. We can research whether that is an editable
portion or not. Funny name. Council members, keep your eye out because that is going to be on all the
rest of the forms. Thank you. All right. If there are no further comments from council, I'm looking
on teams. I'm looking in the NatU Hill room. The public hearing for the twenty twenty seven Monroe Fire
Protection District budget is closed.
All right. You take those kids home. All right. Next is the first reading public hearing of ordinance
twenty twenty six thirty Monroe County Public Library twenty twenty seven budget. I open that twenty
twenty twenty twenty
Hold on, that 2027 budget for the Monroe County Public Library, and I would ask Councilor Feidl to read
ordinance 2026-30 into the record. Be it ordained resolved by the Monroe County that for the expenses
Monroe County Public Library, Monroe County for the year ending December 31st, 2027, the sums herein
specified are hereby appropriated and ordered set apart
out of the several funds here in named and for the purposes here in specified subject to the laws governing
the same such sums here in appropriated shall be held to include all expenditures authorized to be made
during the year unless otherwise expressly stipulated and provided for by law in addition
for the purposes of raising revenue to meet the necessary expenses of Monroe County Public Library.
Monroe County, the property tax levies and property tax rates are herein specified, are included herein.
Budget form 4B for all funds must be completed and submitted in the manner prescribed by the Department
of Local Government Finance. This ordinance resolution shall be in full force and effect
from and after its passage and approval by the Monroe County. Should I say council or not? Yeah, well,
whatever, it just says Monroe County. I'll say council. All right, so down on the funds section and
fund rainy day fund code 0061. The adopted budget amount is $730,000. Adopted tax levy amount is zero.
Adopted tax rate is zero.
In the civil fund code 0 1 0 1 general fund name 13 million two hundred forty eight thousand four hundred
ninety seven dollars adopted tax levy eight million seven hundred and eighty one thousand three hundred
and forty six dollars with an adopted tax rate of zero point zero seven nine three. And the type debt
The fund name is Debt Service, fund code 0180, adopted budget $640,713, adopted tax levy $639,713, and
adopted tax rate of 0.0058. Then with adopted budget total of $14,619,210,
Adopted tax levy of nine million four hundred and twenty one thousand zero fifty nine dollars and adopted
tax rate of zero point zero eight five one. Thank you very much, council member Fiddle. Do we have anyone
from the public that wishes to speak on the library's fund? If so, please step forward to the podium
here in the Natu Hill Room or if you're on teams, please raise your hand.
Hearing none. Are there any council comments? Yes. Right. I would like to have someone from the library
come up and explain to the public how their budgets are different. Really? They tell us how their budgets
work because it is different from the way County Council looks at the county budgets. Come on forward
to the podium. Thank you for being here.
We're going to give our money for tonight. I'm Gary Littler, finance director. And I didn't could could
you go over that question again? I didn't quite understand. Well, because the rules about library funding
is different than county government, because it depends on.
what your budgets are and so forth. It's really different from the way we do county budgets. Unless
something happened in the last few months has changed all that. If you go over a certain amount, then
you have to come to the county council. Right. So I mean, I just wanted you to explain
Okay, so the growth quotient for 2027 is 6% and half of that, 3%, is that limit you were talking about.
So if the library chose to accept a growth quotient of less than half what other units get, then the
library board
can approve the budget. But we need the full 6%. And so that's why we are coming to the council to get
the budget approved. And your board is appointed, not elected, correct? Correct. And so do you have
something in front of you that says,
how much of a tax this is going to be on the local taxpayers more than what it is presently? Like, what
is the amount of tax that they're paying now versus what will they be paying since you want the entire
6%? Well, the tax, what they're paying is the tax rate. The tax rate is
0.0851 cents per hundred dollars of assessed value. We can compare that to last year's tax rate, which
I don't have in front of me, but it's very close. I think this rate is slightly more than last year's
rate. And just for the public at large, everybody pays
If you live any place in Monroe County, whether it's in the city or out of the city, everybody pays
the same rate for the library. So it isn't like cheaper if you live one place and the other. It is a
rate that is used, that is arrived at. So and I ask at the time that you were presenting information
that because
You have relied so heavily on a rather large portion of the income tax, which could very well mean that
you would not be receiving that in a couple of years. And you have said that you think you've worked
your way around that. Is that correct? We know what our projection for local income tax is for 2027.
When I know more about the impact of the changes to our portion of the local income tax, and I can compute
what that means dollar-wise, then I would have a better understanding of the impact. But I just don't
know. I have no idea where we're going to end up.
Right. And I just know about next year. I think there's a lot of people that's just trying to work their
way through this. But I think it's really important when we're looking at that point to and now that
if things should stay as it's written by legislation now, then that point to income tax would have to
be shared with the townships and with the
with the transportation, Bloomington transportation. And so there's and solid waste if they should decide
they want something. So there's a lot of people needing that point too. And I'm just weighing in on
this because I don't want anybody to come up short and think they were not advised that this could happen.
Appreciate that. And so. Mr. Decker.
Since we've kind of broached this topic and feel free to answer or just say I need to get back to you
later on this and You can even forget I asked if you want now. I might have Greer answer This might
be pretty straightforward does any you all I know we have the one of the best libraries that you could
have You talk to your association and your peers and the leaders of that and then yeah I'm sure you've
got people up in India and elsewhere that are
watching things and making sure that we can still read books tomorrow and all that. But do they know
what's going to happen? Or are they in the same boat as the rest of us? Not really sure what is going
to happen in the future. I will agree.
Thank you. Hi, everyone. That's a very good question. My understanding in talking with peer library
administrators and staff and board members across the state is that everybody is very much in the same
boat, not really sure how libraries are going to be funded going forward. And so the change in legislation
that's impacting us this year and that has us coming to you all is something that has kind of rocked
the public library sphere in Indiana considerably. But we feel that we're in a
Pretty fortunate position here in Monroe County, enjoy a whole lot of support. We're not worried as
much as some of our peers are, but that's the sense that I get from talking with colleagues within the
field. Yeah. Let me ask you one more. And again, you don't have to answer this. Are you hearing of any
communities making decisions about whether or not libraries will stay open or not?
There's a lot of anxiety about that, but I haven't heard of any decisions to actually close public libraries.
We do have public libraries in the state that are effectively run by one or two professionals and then
a bunch of volunteers. And they were quite concerned about this change in legislation, but I've not
heard of any libraries actually closing it. I always like to ask because I think we need to remember
the values 100 plus years and longer.
on how we got here and make the public, we're all watching this, so thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Council
members, any other comments or questions? Let me just conclude, I'm gonna point again to the four Bs,
which is the revenue over expenses. The rainy day looks very healthy. The general fund looks healthy.
It seems like we're in a good spot given the numbers that we know. So we'll continue to rent books and
use hoopla and all the fun stuff.
Thanks. Thank you. All right. If there are no further comments, I'm just looking to teams real quick.
The public hearing for the twenty twenty seven in Monroe County Public Library budget is closed. Thank you.
Next we have the first reading and public hearing of ordinance 2026-31 Waste Reduction District for
their 2027 budget I open that 2027 Waste Reduction District budget and I would ask councilmember Wilts
to read ordinance 2026-31 into the record Ordinance number 2026-31 be it ordained
by the Monroe County Council that for the expenses of the waste reduction district of Monroe County
for the year ending December 31st, 2027, the sums here in specified or here by appropriated and ordered
set apart out of the several funds here in named and for the purposes here and specified subject to
the laws governing the same.
Such sums herein appropriated shall be held to include all expenditures authorized to be made during
the year unless otherwise expressly stipulated and provided for by law. In addition, for the purposes
of raising revenue to meet the necessary expenses of the waste reduction district of Monroe County,
the property tax levies and the property tax rates as herein specified are included herein.
Budget form 4B for all funds must be completed and submitted in the manner prescribed by the Department
of Local Government Finance. This ordinance shall be in full force in effect from and after its passage
and approval by the Monroe County Council. So for a reading of the specific funds, we have fund 1215
non-reverting capital projects.
The adopted budget is zero, adopted levy zero, and adopted tax rate is zero. For fund 8210, special
solid waste management, the adopted budget is $3,309,451, excuse me. The adopted tax levy is $2,497,199,
and the adopted tax rate is 0.0265.
We're fund 8283 solid waste district debt service. The adopted budget is one hundred thirty seven thousand
two hundred thirty five dollars. Adopted tax levy is forty six thousand eighteen dollars and the adopted
tax rate is point zero zero zero five.
The total adopted budget therefore is $3,446,686 with an adopted tax levy of $2,543,217 and an adopted
tax rate of 0.0270. Thank you Council Member Wilts for that.
Now is the time where I invite anyone from the public to speak on the Waste Reduction District's 2027
budget. If you're in the NatU Hill Room, please come to the podium. And if you're online, please raise
your hand on Teams. All right, hearing none, let's go to council. Are there any council comments on
this budget? Stumped them. No comments herein.
Okay. Yes, as you might remember, I did not vote in favor of this budget when it was presented originally
because. While we have kept the perhaps the race for county employees at one rate, we are approving
a larger amount for other employees that we can vote on their
raises. And so I just felt that was unfair to our own county employees. But I do know that this is not
just the people appointed to that board is not just the county people. So I have to recognize that as
well. Thank you. Any other comments or questions?
I will just note that the 4B for the special solid waste management fund is remarkably solid. It's very
consistent the way it goes from cash balance to cash balance. So that's really nice to see. All right,
seeing no other comments or questions, the public hearing for the 2027 Waste Reduction District budget
is closed.
Next, we will go on to the first reading and public hearing of ordinance 2026-32, the Monroe County
Government 2027 budget. I open that 2027 Monroe County Government budget and I would ask for Councilor
Henry to read ordinance 2026-32 into the record. Thank you, Mr. President.
Be it ordained by the Menor County Council that for the expenses of Menor County for the year ending
December 31, 2027, the sums herein specified are hereby appropriated and ordered set apart out of the
several funds here named and for the purpose herein specified subject to the laws governing the same.
Such sums herein appropriated shall be held to include all expenditures authorized to be made during
the year unless otherwise expressly stipulated and provided for by law. In addition, for the purposes
of raising revenue to meet the necessary expenses of Monroe County, the property tax levies and property
tax rates as herein specified are included herein.
budget form for B and all funds must be completed and submitted in the manner prescribed by the Department
of Local Government Finance. This ordinance shall be in full force in effect from and after its passage
and approval by the Monroe County Council on to the funds. I drew this short stick again. I'm I'm willing
to read half of them if your voice falters. Yeah, I brought water. There we go in fund code 0061 rainy day.
adopted budget $3 million, adopted tax levy $0 for adopted tax rate of 0.0. And fund code 0101 General
adopted budget $49,085,325, adopted tax levy $35 million, adopted tax rate 0.3713. And fund code 0102
Election Registration adopted budget
$2,000,750,900 adopted tax levy $2,000,199,000 adopted tax rate .0233. In fund code 0124 2015 reassessment,
the adopted budget is $916,640. The adopted tax levy is $923,000. The adopted tax rate is .0098. In fund code
zero one eight zero debt service. The adopted budget is nine million four hundred fifty four thousand
four hundred dollars. The adopted tax levy is eighteen million seven hundred fifty eight thousand and
sixty seven dollars. The adopted tax rate is point one nine nine zero. In funds code zero two zero three
self insurance. The adopted budget is twelve million five hundred nine thousand nine hundred sixty dollars.
The adopted tax levy is $0.00. The adopted tax rate is 0.00. In fund code 0254 local income tax, the
adopted budget is $4,530,089. The adopted tax levy is $0.00. The adopted tax rate is 0.00. In 0256 fund code,
The adopted budget is $4,176,508. The adopted tax levy is $0.00. The adopted tax rate is 0.00. In fund
code 0616 Convention and Visitors Bureau, the adopted budget is $6,187,742. The adopted tax levy is
$0.00. The adopted tax rate is 0.00. In fund code one, sorry,
The adopted budget is $6,626,647. The adopted tax levy is $0.00. The adopted tax rate is 0.00. In fund
code 0706, local road and streets, the adopted budget is $1,720,007. The adopted tax levy is $0.00.
The adopted tax rate is 0.00.
In Fund 0790 Cumulative Bridge, the adopted budget is $1,819,376. The adopted tax levy is $2,357,553.
The tax rate is 0.0213. In Fund Code
The adopted budget is $9,434,058. The tax levy adopted is $3,685,751. The tax rate is .0333.
The adopted budget is $1,198,150. The tax levy is $788,000. The adopted tax rate is 0.0084.
In fund 1310, park non-reverting capital, the adopted budget is $100,000. The tax levy is $0.00. The
tax rate is 0.00.
102 aviation airports. The adopted budget is $1,679,089. The tax levy is $1,252,000. The tax rate is
0.0133. In Fund 2391, cumulative capital development, the adopted budget is $3,211,000. $3,211,000, yeah.
The tax levy is $3,685,751. The tax rate is 0.0333. In Fund 2402 Economic Development, the adopted budget
is $9,496,413. The tax levy is $0, and the tax rate is 0.00. This brings us to a total adopted budget
of $126 million.
$896,304, a total tax levy of $68,649,122 at a tax rate of 0.7130. On to the home rule. All right.
Batter up. All right. Fund code. We are now moving on to home rule funds that are not reviewed by DLGF.
There are a number of them.
Fund code nine five zero zero extradition and sheriff's assistance adopted budget zero dollars. Fund
code nine five zero one surveyors corner perpetuation adopted budget eighty nine thousand nine hundred
sixty six dollars. Fund code nine five zero two local public health services one one six one adopted
budget one million two hundred sixteen thousand seven hundred two dollars.
fund code 9503. Monroe County 9-1-1 fund adopted budget $688,730. Fund code 9505, auditors and eligible
deductions. The adopted budget is $348,648. In fund code 9507, community corrections fees $1,122. The
adopted budget is
one hundred seventeen thousand five hundred three dollars and fund code nine five zero eight user fee
jury pay the adopted budget is thirty eight thousand dollars the funds code nine five zero nine user
fees juvenile probation two one five zero the adopted budget is seven thousand and seventy nine dollars
in fund code nine five one zero user fees adult probation twenty one hundred the
adopted budget is $119,403. In fund code 9512, supplemental PD services, the adopted budget is $1,022,838.
In 9513, clerk's record
The adopted budget is $103,193. In fund code 9514, user fees, diversion and prosecutor, the adopted
budget is $95,437. In fund code 9515, user fees, court, alcohol and drug, the adopted budget is $270,175.
In Fund Code 9516, Local Health Maintenance, the adopted budget is $190,089. The Fund Code 9517, Emergency
Planning Right to Know, the adopted budget is $25,950. In Fund Code 9519, Mr. Mean, what is that? Is
that a typo? No, Community Corrections. Mr. Mean. Mr. Mean, thank you. The adopted budget is $128,500.
In fund code 9521, alternative dispute resolution, the adopted budget is $27,700. In fund code 9522,
sales disclosure county share, the adopted budget is $8. In fund code 9523, convention visitors capital
improvement maintenance, the adopted budget is $100,000. In fund code 9524, county offender transportation,
the adopted budget is $2,500. In fund code 9525, local health
Department Trust account. The adopted budget is $35,420 in Fund Code 9526. User fees, problem solving
courts. The adopted budget is $22,544. Third page. Fund Code 9527, Westside Economic Development, Richland
Township, TIFF. The adopted budget is $2,040,000.
$572,692 in 9528 46 corridor economic development Bloomington Township TIF the adopted budget is $67,001
in 9529 Fullerton Pike economic development TIF the adopted budget is $388,001 in fund 9530 Platte
the adopted budget is $500. In 9531 Convention Center operating, the adoption budget is $0. In 9532
User Fees Cable Franchise, the adopted budget is $0. In 9533 Firearms Training, the adopted budget is
$100,000. In 9534 Donations, Sheriff's K9-4108, the adopted budget is $4,500.
In 9535 PSAP Interlocal, the adopted budget is $4 million. In 9543 Public Health Emergency Fund, the
adopted budget is $2. In 9544, the Identification Security Protection adopted budget is $18,000. In
9548 Park Non-Reverting Operating, the adopted budget is $300,000. In 9551 Recorders Records Perpetuation,
the adopted budget is
$572,793 in 9522 stormwater management. The adopted budget is $3,416,689 in fund 9559. Excuse me, I
think you said 9522 and it should be 9552. Thank you for the correction, Councilor Feitel. I will say
9522 stormwater management. 9552 stormwater management.
three million four hundred sixteen six hundred eighty nine thousand dollars and fund nine five five
nine county elected officials training twenty four thousand dollars in fund nine five six
for Sheriff's Sale Administration, $54,000. In Fund 9569 Aviation Construction, $51,251. In Fund 9571
Lane Mile Direct Distribution, $421,932. In Fund 9580 Lit Correctional Rehab Facilities, the amount
of the adopted budget is $3,242,150.
In fund 9585 donations, youth shelter, the adopted budget is $2,250. In fund 9586 donations, emergency
management, the adopted budget is $1,628. In 9587 donations, veterans affairs, the
The adopted budget is $160. In fund 9588, federal award title IBD, the adopted budget is $58,518. In
fund 9589, curry profile TIF, the adopted budget
is $15,000 in 9590 donations. Safe place. The adopted budget is $1000 in 9591 donations. Sheriff's
Department. The adopted budget is $12,000 in 9592 donations. Prevention General. The adopted budget
is $1495 and funds 9593 donations. BTCC the
Adopted budget is eleven thousand eight hundred dollars in fund nine five nine eight donations parks.
The adopted budget is two hundred thousand dollars, bringing us to a grand total of twenty million one
hundred eighty seven thousand seven hundred forty eight dollars. Thank you so much, Councillor Henry.
Well, I'm going to move for a raise. Just kidding. That's across the hall.
All right, given all that, do we have anyone from the public that would like to speak on Monroe County
government's twenty twenty seven budget? If so, please come to the podium. If you're here in the Natu
Hill meeting room or online on teams, just simply raise your hand. All right, let's come back to council.
Are there any council comments on this twenty twenty seven Monroe County budget? Yes.
Yes. First of all, thank you to council office. Kim Shell for preparing this budget comparison. I hope
that we since we just got it, but I'm quickly going down to see if I can pick up some of the something
we need to take a closer look at when we look at stormwater management. It looks like we are increasing
that budget by a million 26,000 point or six
dollars. So that that's quite a bit increase for stormwater because we know that that stormwater is
tied to a fee that people are charged on their property taxes, but that's only going to the people who
do not live in the city. And so I think we have to keep a very close eye on what we're spending there.
The other big one that jumped out that I saw was that peace app interlocal.
that we went from $2,781,462 up to $4 million of an increase of $1,218,538. And so when you see those
kind of jumps, that percentage of a jump, that means we need to be watching very carefully where we're
going to end up with the dollars. Now, I'm looking at this.
I would, you know, if I'm sitting here with let it die, nothing else to do. I'd be looking at the four
beats at the same time. But I'm which says we just got these numbers. But I'm just this isn't a final
decision tonight. Anyway, there's no vote on it. But I think that's just things that we need to keep
an eye on. And it's
It's one thing reading off all these numbers, but the whole other thing for us to understand where it's
guiding us, where it's taking us, what path are we on? And so as I'm looking at it, I think we need
to do some studying here to see where we're actually happening. You know, with that lid correctional,
we're spending over half a million dollars more proposing
than we did before, and I'm not sure that that additional that they had said that they wanted to have
in their spending included. So that's it. You know, it's an extra six hundred and seven thousand seven
hundred forty five dollars that we're spending down out of that correctional. So those are just things
that I'm hoping we'll all have time to take a look at before our next meeting.
Thank you, Council Member Hawke. And as a reminder to Council, the Otter's Office has produced a spreadsheet
that tallies up the four Bs and where they are above, in the black or in the red. So look in your inbox
for that spreadsheet. Council, if it's all right, we do have a hand raised on Teams, and I'd like to
go to that hand if that's all right with Council.
Jamie Ford, you have your hand raised. Please unmute and you'll have three minutes. Hi, my name is Jamie
Ford. I'm a Monroe County resident. I just wanted to say that I heard the reading for the prosecutor's
office. Yeah, it seems based on news articles that I've recently read, it seems like our prosecutor's
office and the probation office aren't
really keeping the people safe. I mean, there's literally going to be a convicted pedophile released
tomorrow that is having charges expunged off his record because the prosecutor's office decided to plead
that down. There was also somebody at a high school football game that was supposed to be on home arrest
because he was convicted for shooting four different people, quote unquote, accidentally at a nightclub.
Why are we paying all this money for our prosecutor's office?
probation office if they're not going to actually prosecute and keep people you know like I get in jail
is bad but so is you know accidentally shooting people and so it's harming children so if they're not
going to prosecute I think their budget could be cut. Thank you. Thank you Ms. Ford. All right I'm gonna
come back to council and if you do have another comment please raise your hand on teams
or a step forward to the podium here in the U-Hill room. And let me just make sure no other council
members have any comments. All right, council member, we'll go with you first and then we'll head down
the bench. Thanks. Appreciate it, Mr. President. Council, I want to
Thank you all. I was in and out of our hearings with my teaching commitments. And so some of the,
you know, items that were listed here, I did not have an opportunity to hear during the hearing, but
had to do my own work on that. This is a it's a solid budget. I think we are finding ourselves in year
two of what the transitions in state tax policy are giving us. You know, last year at this time, we
were very concerned about
You're making payroll. We started to leverage other funds like the edit to help balance our budget,
which we are again doing this year. I wanted to take a moment maybe just to clarify in the ordinance
from the auditors table. We have a line item that talks about the status of our estimated levy, our
total property tax, and then a status that says over max by twelve million one hundred ninety four thousand
eight hundred eighteen dollars. Would you like to share what that means for the public so we can understand that?
Absolutely. Thanks for the question, Counselor Henry. So we're over max by design. What we do is we put
all of the levy funds, except for the general fund, where we think they need to be. You've got an email
recently kind of with an explanation about that. But then for the general fund, that's where,
if you recall, FSG usually calls it pennies from heaven, where we wanna make sure we get every piece
of the levy available. So we inflate that to make sure all the additional levy is funneled there, where
it has the most flexibility to be utilized.
I appreciate that. Again, I think a solid approach here for this year. I do worry about long term. I
do worry about some of our funds that we've done well, I think, to reduce reversions over the years
to have people come to us and ask her what they need. I think a lot of counties in the state do
Do not usually appropriate the entire line just because of department asks for it. I mean simply because
a department has a fund and there's a balance that's positive Does not necessarily mean the council
has to hand over the entire appropriation at that time We're seeing that with our city partners right
now as they are throttling some of their full appropriations to have offices come back and explain
At a midpoint in the year what if they really do need those funds? I think last year we had a lot of
success with that with elections when we worked through that I appreciate that Eric. You're here tonight
with the health department. I want to reiterate for the public that In my view it might be somewhat
biased that your department in particular got thrown a monkey wrench and to try to present a budget
of some kind to us that while it is here and it's
good. We're probably going to be revisiting that a few times over the next quarter or two as we really
figure out what the future of our health department is and who's leading it and who's also on that board
and maybe even the health officer at that point as we understand the future there is really important.
I will say I have my own reservations. I don't know if there's time or if there's interest from the
Council on looking at some of those padded funds that we still have. And we do have funds that have
account lines. I think about like special projects and the cumulative capital fund, which is very opaque.
And where we see spending that happens in the Board of Commissioners that
We don't really get a vote on it. It's just contracts happen. Things happen in there that we need. So
I think get clarity on what those funds are really doing, because this is our one and only chance to
set that table. From that point, departments are empowered with their budget to go forth and govern
for the year and do their work. But
It's like I said, solid budget. I'm proud of the effort we've put in here. I think we're again year
two of rocky shoals with the state legislation. And, you know, I imagine the years to come are going
to have to get a little tighter on our questions for folks to make sure we're using our tax dollars
where folks in our community voted for and want them to go. But thank you, Mr. President. Thank you.
When I was mentioning the other numbers that was from one page, there's more than one page here.
The two that really jump out from the first page that has like the general fund and airport so forth
is that great big jump in the economic development income tax. And that is a major jump. We went up
from four million, six, six, seven, seven, one nine to nine million.
increase of $4.8 million plus. So that is a big one, and that's income tax dollars is just. And it gets
replenished as people who are paying income tax, but that is a major jump that that we took in there.
And what I saw on that when I looked at it and I missed the last
part of that meeting where this discussion was for the million dollars for a donation. It appeared to
me that when you look down at the debt, if we had included, if we had reduced that debt by that million
dollars that we're just donating elsewhere and used it for county government expenses, we could have
reduced that debt
of. Repayment which is the difference between those two numbers is 8,000,523,200. Now we haven't actually
voted as yet on that total bond, but that is a gigantic difference. Of what the total expenditures are
going to be for the taxpayer.
a bond of over $9 million with an increase of $8,500,000, then that's just a big jump. And then you
add in that almost $5 million jump in the economic development income tax. I think that's a lot of additional
spending the taxpayer will be paying for.
Thank you. I'm going to look over to our auditor, Ms. Gregory. Yes, thank you. Great points, Councillor
Hawke, as always. You kind of hit it before I raised my hand, but I do want to point out to the public
and to the council that our our tax rates that you're looking at now is inflated and will be adjusted
by the Department of Local Government Finance. That is because one of the GO bond
advertisement. We left that geobahn budget where we advertise essentially and because we haven't closed
on it yet and because you haven't voted to adopt.
We know it's not going to be that high, but it does include a portion of the budget to pay the 2025
geobond. So that's part of it. But then the remainder of it is what hasn't been decided yet. I think
the last number I saw was about 4.8 million that you're considering for projects. So I don't know if
that's what's going to pass or if you're going to go below that. But the rate obviously is dependent
upon the number you choose.
In addition to that, we've already talked a little bit about the general fund, which is also inflated.
So those are both increasing that bottom line, that rate, the overall rate for the county. So if you
look at the 2026 budget order, for example, that's where it all kind of tallies out and the department
has adjusted everything. So they'll do the same for 2027, but we'll know a lot more when we can get
the corrected numbers in there.
Auditor, is there any questions, please? Just continuing in that vein. When will we be we everyone be
able to see corrected numbers in there? OK, I was just thinking I misspoke slightly because we don't
get the budget order until middle or so of January. Unfortunately, but we can give you a better ballpark
prior to that. Once we you know, we know the amount of
the bond officially, and we can give you a better idea of tax rate. It won't be exact because the department
does that, but better if that helps. So, I mean, right now, if we look at the twenty twenty seven document
here, we see point seven one three zero. However, when you take out the inflation for the general fund,
we're at point five eight three six approximately. Don't
quote me on those numbers, it's just an estimate for you. However, we still, with the .5836, still has
the inflated debt service. So it's gonna be reduced again. Does that make sense? Okay. And I would just
remind Council and the public that we are gonna be very busy this month.
So in one week, we're going to be having a regular session meeting where we're going to be going over
some of those general obligation bond conversations. So that's happening in one week. And then we're
adopting this budget the week after that. So we're going to be here for the next two Tuesdays, starting
at five o'clock to do a lot of this work. I will also mention to counsel that right now the budget is open.
So if you have changes or you have adjustments, now is the time to do so. We certainly can do that at
our meeting next week. But if there are this, this is one of the times that you have to make
those adjustments. Yes, please. Yes. In regards to the million dollars in the edit that was discussed
at the meeting at the last meeting, I've asked if I could, if I could, if the public
you could see what the grant request was. What it's for. And then also what a copy of the contract would
look like. What are we contracting to for them?
What do the people, what do the taxpayers get for the million dollars? And it needs to be specific,
not generalized. It needs to be specific. Just like when we do the grants with the Sophia Travis,
you know, those things influence on, but they're specific and they have to do what they say they're
going to do, or there's a callback on there. And so I would like to see, maybe you all have seen it,
I haven't seen it,
And I've called and asked several people and everybody going, oh, I don't know, you just think it's
a donation. Well, we can't, we're not allowed to do donations. I mean, we're just not allowed to just
donate. So we'll have to have a, it must be in the form of a grant or something of the sort. So. I mean,
I think we all, as with previous conversations, we agreed to,
move forward with that as one of the items included in, I believe we were talking about the edit. I
would assume that there would be some sort of contractual agreement. Could, does anyone have
more information? I just, you know, I was okay with just general, but I agree. We at some point need
to see more. I think Mr. Cockrell was looking into that. I know he was talking to SBOA after his conversation
with Ms. Hawk, our counselor Hawk.
I think there are a couple ways to do it. And I don't want to commit to doing it one way without talking
to Jeff. But I think one possible way is to structure it like Sophia Travis, where it's a grant. And
there is a grant agreement for that. So that is one of the things we're looking into. But I think there
might be other possibilities. Thanks.
And I will also point out that not only is the council busy, but the commissioners who handle contracts
and who handle this sort of thing are meeting on Thursday right in this room at 10 AM. And you can find
the link to join that meeting and ask all the questions you need to about contracts and things like
that. Please. Just when they're putting those numbers together, I think it would be very important for
the public to know, certainly I want to know, is a million dollars for services?
or is it for bricks and mortar? And when I've asked that question, I'm not sure anybody has the answer.
If they do, it's not coming through very clearly to me what it is. All right, Councilmember Deckard.
Mr. President, I have a suggestion rather than us talking in and around all this. I think that we invite
the folks from Beacon to come and talk about this.
and where the short for all their campaign is. Also, I would recommend that for any counselor that has
not ever paid a visit down there to talk with them on site with some of our constituents, as I have,
and I know others have, that might be a good time to do a visit. I also know that I appreciated the
invitation I think all of us got when that effort for this new facility
rolled out and we were able to go talk about our hopes, wishes for it in the new neighborhood where
they were doing the outreach, where it's going to be. As I said in our last meeting, we wouldn't have
many of these things that counties and cities and townships and towns have to do if we didn't have many
of the issues that we have currently right now in a difficult
economy and otherwise. And so counties, cities, maybe even libraries and waste reduction districts will
now be figuring out under a new set of rules how to take care of a diverse set of different people.
And that's probably not going away. But I think a presentation here just to get to the point and in
visits down there, we can maybe get us all in my car and drive down there or walk down there or any
number of things to do that.
and see what's going on and what this would do and to see the maps and the plans and all those things
have been talked about for, I think, three or four years now. I think there's a pretty healthy website,
right, light the way? There is a healthy website. That's just not the point, though. We need to, with
the fiscal body, we need to see what it's supposed to be for exactly and what the contracts should look
like. Yes. That's our job.
project or not, we need to see. All right. We're going to we're going to take this down a little bit.
If you need to speak, let me know. And I'll acknowledge you, Mr. Decker. I don't have to speak,
but I will. I guess the only thing I'll say is, you know, I'm going to go back to a statement. I think
I made it the last meeting and I noticed one one or two things happening out there in the world right
now. People griping were people doing.
griping or doing. And I think in the community right now, we're moving from griping to doing on this
kind of a project. I'm not sure everything's 100% perfect, but it's got to be better than what we have
now, which is everybody sitting on Facebook complaining about what they see every day while they're
driving. And I think that beyond driving, if you get out among the people out of the cars,
You see a lot of lives living that. And I hope that this project gets the attention that it deserves.
I hope that we schedule a beacon in here for 20 to 30 minutes. I think that we should probably every
once a month have a beacon in here. Mary Morgan in here. We should probably have new hope. We should
probably ask questions why we have to have so many of those organizations and why that those things
are happening elsewhere, too.
All right, we have currently the 2027 Monroe County government budget open. Are there any other counselor
comments? Oh, or questions? Absolutely, Council Member Wilz. I have a question for the auditor about
the debt service. Obviously, that is directly impacted by our
and we'll figure that out next week. That kind of thing. Is there anything else in there or is it just
all of the geo bonds? OK, so it is just geo bonds. It's just a pair geo bond debt. So right now the
only outstanding geo bond we have is the 2025, whereas where we began the six year. Bonding period.
Alright, with the when the new law came into effect and so that so.
The budget for 2026 covered. That payment. And probably the tail end of 25 or I'm sorry, 24 OK, so then
20 have and then 27 is going to have the 2025 longer term and 26 and 26. You got it and that gets to
the point I was making at our last meeting. This is going to get very expensive if we keep doing it this way.
Thank you for that. All right. Just second on that. I think you're seeing the snowball coming. Councillor
Wilts and kind of ties to my earlier point that we have a solid budget this year but
The level of scrutiny that we really need to start putting here is it's just paying the debt. It's it's
running up the card And by year five, we'll be paying on five years worth exactly right before the cool-off
in year six, right? And so yeah and and wondering where our millions went Good point. Thank you Any
other council comments Seeing none
The public hearing for the 2027 Monroe County government budget is closed. All right, next we are going
to do the first reading for ordinance 2026-38 Monroe County 2027 salary ordinance. There's two of these
and instead of making counselor file read both of them, I would like to volunteer to read B if you will
read A. Oh good, B is the longer one, right? Yes. Thank you. You're welcome.
All right, we'll have the first reading of our 2027 salary ordinance. I will ask Councilor Feidl to
read ordinance 2026-38A, the 2027 salary ordinance for the elected officials. Whereas the Indiana legislature
adopted Indiana Code 36-2-3, and I don't know what that stands for. Et sec, just say et sec. Et sec,
I got et sec.
which established the Monroe County Council as the governing fiscal body of Monroe County, and whereas
Indiana Code 36-2-5-3 grants the Monroe County Council the power to, one, fix the number of officers,
deputies, and other employees, two, describe and classify positions and services,
three, adopt schedules of compensation, and four, hire or contract with persons to assist in the development
of schedules of compensation. Whereas the Monroe County Council wishes to establish a salary schedule
and compensation policies, now be it ordained by the Monroe County Council of Indiana that this ordinance
affixes the salary for elected officials of the county
from the period of January 1, 2027 to December 31, 2027, whose salary is comprised of funds payable
from any county fund or budget as provided by IC 36-2-5 at SEC. These salaries are hereby solidly fixed
and follows the maximum level of salary as shown on the elected official salary grid.
All payments made pursuant to this ordinance are contingent upon the strict compliance with and adherence
to the benefit, compensation, fiscally related, and state and federally mandated requirements of the
Monroe County Personnel Policy Handbook. It is the intent of the County Council that this language will
encourage compliance with personnel policies which may have a fiscal impact on Monroe County government.
For elected officials, time worked on or after January 1, 2027, and prior to midnight, December 31,
2027, shall be calculated and paid within the parameters of the salary ordinance and personnel policy
handbook, regardless of when the payment is issued. Elected officials shall not receive compensation
above the salary range authorized for their position in the elected official salary grid. The county
auditor shall not issue pay warrants for pay that exceeds the authorized amount specified in the salary
ordinance. The salary amounts listed are an annual appropriation amount. Calculation of the daily rate
may result in a slight variation and will not be adjusted at year end.
elected official base rate schedule to establish a more equitable system of setting salaries for the
Monroe County elected officials not set by the state. The county council has established within the
annual salary ordinance a base rate for elected officials with a schedule of amounts to be applied.
The base rate schedule is outlined in section one of the election. Excuse me, of the elected official
salary grid.
for elected officials whose salary is set by the state. The state mandated salaries are amended annually
on July 1st. The sheriff is excluded from the base rate schedule as his or her salary is paid pursuant
to IC 36-2-13-2.5 or IC 36-2-13-2.8.
It is the intent and direction of the Monroe County Council that all salaries paid by the County Council,
which are tied or related to the Monroe County Sheriff, as is mandated by the state of Indiana, shall
be automatically amended at the same time as the state mandated salaries on July 1st. The County Council
recognizes that this is an exception to the general rule for county set salaries, which are generally
modified on January 1st.
Additional information regarding payments of certifications, supplementals and or per diems is outlined
in section two of the elected officials salary grid. Presented to the Monroe County Council read in
full for the first time on the sixth day of October, twenty twenty six. Thank you so much, Councilmember
Pytel. Do we have anyone from the public
that would like to speak on ordinance 2026-38A, the 2027 salary ordinance for elected officials. If
you're here in the NatU Hill Room, come to the podium. If you're on Teams, simply raise your hand.
All right, we do have a hand raised. Jody Medeira, Commissioner, please unmute yourself. You have three minutes.
I am here because on behalf of the board of commissioners, because my colleague is not able to be here
and sorry. Sorry, sick kid. Take your time. We've all we've all had sick kids.
Commissioner Madeira, are you still there? Yeah, go. The. I'm sorry, can you come back to me? Absolutely,
yeah. If you have public comment again, if you're here in the Natu Hill room, please come to the podium
or if you are on team, simply raise your hand. I see Jamie Ford has their hand raised. Please unmute.
and you will have three minutes to speak on this elected official salary ordinance. Yeah, just quick,
I don't know, maybe this is just me having what these call a crash out, but I know this council has
in the past decided to like freeze their salaries because of, you know, budget issues and all that.
And to me, that shows great leadership. It would be great for the board of commissioners to do the same.
We are literally, the county is gonna be in litigation next year because of this jail situation.
And yet, based on the last time I looked at the budget, it looked like they are supposed to get a pay
raise. Everybody else that's elected, I don't have a problem with it, but the commissioners, we're literally,
I mean, outside council has had to be hired with extra tax dollars. We're literally gonna be in courts
paying fees and all that.
because of their failure to maintain the building. And so, yeah, I think they should demonstrate leadership,
and they, at this point, honestly, I'm angry enough, they should have to pay to continue to
be the commissioners, but I'll take a pay freeze at this point. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Ford.
All right, looking to see if we have any other folks that would like to speak on this salary ordinance
for the elected officials.
We're gonna go to council questions or comments and we'll hold space for Commissioner Madeira if they
are able to come back online. Please. I wanted to point out that they have changed it from a bi-weekly
salary rate to a daily rate. I'm sure there's a reason for that, but I see that it's been changed. Yes.
What happens is at the end of the year,
when there's 2026 amounts and then there's 2027 amounts, we can't just do a bi-weekly check. So we have
to do those by daily rate. So then that way we can calculate, okay, you may have six days for 2026 and
then four days
for 2027. So that's why we changed it to a daily rate so that we can easily calculate that transition
period between the 2026 and the 2027. Okay, so may I speak? Does that also apply to the chief deputies
because their salaries are tied to the elected official? So it seemed to me you might
have to do the same thing with the chief deputies? No, it is not due to the fact that they are not elected
and an elected officials is paid through to the end of the year. Per our salary ordinance, the chief
deputies are lumped in with the Monroe County employees and they also receive the pay. So regardless
of when they work,
they will be paid out at the 2027 rate. The reason why question that, and I don't know whether you're
around. You probably work when they when we decided to start paying early and I said, look, what's happening
is that if you have a new elected person of January one and they have a new chief deputy, that new chief
deputies will get paid a different amount than
other chief deputies that for the same. Do you see what I'm saying? It made a difference. And I think
that's when Jeff Ellington was a three quarter because the chief deputies were not was not. They weren't
being paid equally. But that was then. This is now. Yeah, it's like it's like that's before. That was
before me.
Any other councilors have any comments? Any council members have any other comments before we go back
to Commissioner Madeira? Please, Mr. Henry. Maybe a point of clarification for the public and the comment
we had. I'll look to the table, Kim and Brian. So our adjustments here this year are just scheduled.
I want to make sure for the public's understanding that we're not, it's a raise, but it's a scheduled
percentage against what we usually do in the county with the exception.
the surveyors' salary, which we made an adjustment on. Is that a fair way to put it? Yes. So in plain
English for the public's understanding? Yes. The council decided for a COLA of 2% for all personnel,
which included the elected officials. So all elected officials got a 2% raise. We have a grid where the
the elected officials based on we have a base rate of 80 for 2027 is going to be eighty two thousand
nine fifty five well the council gave each of the elected officials a certain percentage of that base
rate so the commissioners therefore get seventy percent of that base rate so yes they do they are getting
that two percent increase
but they're getting a percentage of that base rate. In Monroe County, the board of commissioners are
a part-time position, basically. They're not a hundred percent position. Correct. They're not. Yeah.
You have labeled them as not. Yes. As well as the corner and as well as the council. I just wanted that
to be fair in the public reading there. I appreciate the public comment, but there's a little more in
the numbers there. And I thank you for clarification. Thank you. And the committee commissioners themselves
don't get to choose
the rate or get to choose their salary, that's all done by the council. Speaking of commissioners,
Commissioner Madeira has their hand raised. Commissioner Madeira, would you, are you in a position or
a point that you can unmute? If you are, you have three minutes to speak on this budget. Yes, I am now
in a position. I'm so sorry. So just because I had to step away and I may have misheard, I wanted to give a
a talk a few moments in support for just basically keeping the COLA. And so I want to say that the annual
US inflation rate is now 3.4% for the 12-month setting in August. And so I don't really want our employees
to take a pay cut. I think we're going to keep pay level not ahead. By keeping our COLA, we are going
to keep our employees where they were last year. Turnover is really expensive.
And if we replace a deputy dispatcher or clerk, that is just means more recruiting, training and overtime
to cover the gap. And we already faced strict competition for workers. And so, you know, I support a
cost of living adjustment for our county employees to the max in the council's discretion. And so I
wanted to just put that in there in case I heard something. I know we're talking about the elected budget
right now, but I just wanted to address that in case I misheard the public comment. I'm sorry, cause
I had to step away.
And just out of an abundance of caution, I will also say that my commissioner colleagues regret not
being able to be here tonight. Commissioner Thomas had to be at the Planning Commission. And so we are
both the legislative and executive branch of county government. I think this legislative position requires
a great deal of research and preparation. The executive side makes this a 24-7
position and so we must make decisions with deliberation and sometimes quickly we operate with an extremely
small yet dedicated staff and so we fully manage numerous administrative tasks and I think that, sorry,
just lost my, one second, sorry, I would just say with pay equity,
This issue will finally be closed, and I leave it to the Council's discretion. I'm so sorry. Thank you,
Commissioner Madeira, for your statement. Oh, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. Okay. All right, Commissioner
Madeira is muted. Council, do you have any more
questions or comments regarding the ordinance for elected officials.
Oh, Mr. Henry. Thank you, Mr. President. I know council member and Madam President Crossley is not with
us this evening, but I think someone should put into the room again her comments that got us to the
COLA, which was thanking the commissioners for their flexibility in the use of the edits to be able
to deliver that this year for our community. And so I want to thank the board for considering that and
helping us work through that process so we could do what we could do there. I also want to say I appreciate
this council's
strategic pause, if you will, on questions of step and longevity, which are going to take a
longer conversation than a month to try to figure out when we're in budget season. But I think when
we get questions and comments like Commissioner Medeiros, which I do appreciate, it means that we need
a much longer runway of public dialogue about what it is to compensate folks in the county. For example,
I appreciate the comment about the board of commissioners and their dual-hattedness. I think there's
a part of Indiana
code that's a little antiquated where one body suggests a cola and the other one, the fiscal body, has
to decide it. I think that goes back about 100 years from my read in terms of the split of the commissioners
from not having fiscal responsibilities, but neither here nor there. My view on that is that if we're
going to look at that for real, we'd have to look at the counties in Indiana that also employ a full-time
county administrator. Now, I know in our county we don't call our
commissioner's administrator or county administrator, but statutorily they deliver that service. And
not every Indiana county has a full-time executive and a six-figure salary and a full-time board of
commissioners. And so if we're gonna really do that class and compensation, working with HR and our
WIS even, that's gonna be a much longer conversation than a two or three budget hearing conversation.
So I'm open to it. I think that that would be a interesting exploration in county government to put
it all on the table on what it is
to have a executive office and fund positions in that office. But I've been very hard pressed to find
a majority of counties that employ both full-time commissioners and a full-time administrator. But that's
just my off-the-cuff remark on that. Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, Mr. Henry. Are there others?
Yes, Mr. Deckard. I appreciate very much the grid that we currently have. And I remember when Councilor
Wilts worked with Michelle
and everyone they could to get that grid. It has eliminated many, many headaches. It's eliminated a
lot of, I think, unnecessary discussion around things that really is not a pain point or a crying point
or even a concern for the public, and that is why elected officials get paid. I think there's a lot
of folks out there that
are a little bit more concerned with what they get paid, what they get to keep and what we're doing
to make life easier for them. I also like the notion on here that the way that this grid is set up,
it appropriates or it designates elected officials by what they do. And it also shows an access by which
citizens can take part in this as an elected official.
also have other activities outside of the building, but serve as they can ably from where they're at.
I mean, tonight we hear a commissioner who's out in the field under a lot of duress. Commissioner Madera
doing her job, going about her life, engaging that and then returning back to life. And also eventually
at some point, probably tomorrow, returning back to a profession outside of this building. And I think
there's a healthy
balance with what Councilor Wilts brought when she sat in Councilor Iverson C and really got this kind
of nailed out. And so for me, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about what elected officials make,
and sometimes that makes other elected officials mad, but I just, from the public, the thing I hear
over and over is they want us to serve and they don't want to hear a lot about
how painful that service might be. That might be right, it might be wrong, it just is, and I think it's
part of it. Thank you, Mr. Deckard. Any other comments or questions from council? All right. Now it
is time for myself to read ordinance 2026-38B, the 2027 salary ordinance for Monroe County employees.
uh... whereas the indiana legislature adopted indiana code thirty six dash two dash three at sec which
established the mineral county council as the governing fiscal body mineral county and whereas indiana
code thirty six dash two dash five dash three grants the mineral county council the power to one fix
the number of officers deputies and other employees to describe and classify positions and services
three adopt schedules of compensation and four
hire or contract with persons to assist in the development of schedules of compensation. Whereas the
Monroe County Council wishes to establish salary schedule and compensation policies.
be it ordained by the Mineral County Council of Indiana that this ordinance affixes the number and salary
of employees of the county from the period of January 1, 2027 to December 31, 2027, including all officers,
deputies, assistants, and other employees whose salary is comprised of funds payable from any county
fund or budget as provided by Indiana code 36-2-5 at SEC.
This salary is limited by the following lines and maximum levels of salary shown on the salary grids.
All payments made pursuant to this ordinance are contingent upon the strict compliance with and adherence
to the benefit salary fiscally related and state and federally mandated requirements of the Monroe County
personnel policy handbook. It is the intent of the county council that this language will encourage
compliance with personnel policies which may have a fiscal impact on Monroe County government.
Any Monroe County employee, including those employees under a contractual agreement or whose salaries
are determined by the state prescribed rule order guideline or mandate shall not receive compensation
above the salary grids outlined within this ordinance. The county auditor shall not issue pay warrants
for any payment that exceeds the authorized amount specified in the salary ordinance. The salary, the
annual salary amounts are listed as approximate annual appropriation amounts. The calculation of the
annual appropriation amount may result in a slight variation and will not be adjusted a year end.
Salaries paid on or after January 1st, 2027 and prior to midnight December 31st, 2027 shall be calculated
and paid within the parameters of the salary ordinance and the personnel policy handbook, regardless
of when the work is performed. Specifically, the salary ordinance is applicable to dates encompassed
within claim one as outlined in the 2027 pay schedule. Monroe County personnel policy handbook. Any
item not covered within the salary ordinance shall be covered by the Monroe County personnel policy handbook.
job description classification definitions. Beginning calendar year 2022, council approved using the
updated classifications and levels for the Monroe County government job descriptions. Salary classification
levels have been updated using alphanumeric letters A through E. The listing of all classifications
is outlined in Section A of the ordinance notes. Full time hire dates, salary step increase schedule.
Employees will attain a new salary step increase level on the first day of the pay period, which includes
the anniversary of the most recent full time hire date.
The salary steps increase schedule is outlined in Section B of the ordinance notes. The salary step
increase level given to other county employees will not be given to jail correctional center employees
covered by the collective bargaining agreement.
knowledge skills and abilities or KSA salary procedures. Employees who have gone through the review
process and approved to receive a knowledge skills and employees KSA status may receive a salary at
either the three or eight year level based on the salary grid applicable to the assigned job description
classification and level. An approved KSA status will remain with the original requesting department
for the determined period of time.
departments may request an employee's KSA status be transferred when an applicable position becomes
vacant within their department. An employee's KSA status does not automatically transfer with the employee
and is subject to review. An employee's approved KSA status only adjusts the salary base rate for that
employee. An employee's approved KSA status is not included in the years of service pertaining to longevity
and or vacation calculations. A listing of approved KSA hires with term dates is outlined in section
C of the ordinance notes. Longevity scale.
Employees who have an official hire date and begun work within Monroe County government prior to November
1st, 2023, shall receive a longevity payment for complete and uninterrupted years of service. These
payments will continue until either there's a break in the employee service or the employee ends employment
within the county. Any employee who has an official hire date and begun work on or after November 1st,
2023, is ineligible to receive longevity payments. To determine longevity, the effective date for longevity
and employees most recent full-time hire date of employment with the county.
All records must be verified at the Employee Services Department that involved any type of interrupted
service. Longevity pay for eligible employees is based on a schedule outline in Section D of the ordinance
notes of complete and uninterrupted years of service. A break in service will result in the loss of
longevity pay at the very higher date is honored before November 1st, 2023. To be eligible for longevity
payout, an employee must still be employed on the day after their anniversary date. Elected officials
do not receive county longevity pay.
employees whose salaries are determined by a state prescribed rule order guidelines or mandated do not
receive county longevity pay probation officers would be an exception to this rule and would receive
longevity the annual longevity payment given to other county employees will not be given to jail correctional
center employees covered by the collective bargaining agreement as longevity is provided by the consideration
of the collective bargaining agreement prior years of service credit beginning January 1st 2017 county
government of
The County Council approved allowing complete years only of prior years of service per each term of
full-time mineral county government employment be applied when calculating the rehire of an employee's
salary step increase level. Months of service which are less than one full year shall not be counted
nor combined to achieve a complete year of service. For example, an employee who worked for one year
and three months shall be credited with one year of service.
For probation officers who have transferred to other county positions, the start date for probation
salary increases will be governed by the start date certified by the state for the employee's position
as a probation officer. For a probation officer who has prior years of service either in other counties
or states, they will receive credit for said time as determined by the state for that employee's position
as a probation officer. Said start dates and prior years of service will be verified by the probation
department, documented in the probation officer's personnel records, and be tracked by both probation
and the council office.
The Council Administrator and HR Director must verify all prior Monroe County Government service with
employee personnel records and or with PERF report before being applied to the returning employee salary.
The Council Administrator will notify the elected official and department head if the prior service
credit total has been verified and granted.
the Council Administrator will maintain a spreadsheet of employees with confirmed prior service credit
for future use. Any additional information and or explanation of the Monroe County Government salary
schedule and policies is included in this salary ordinance for the purpose of clarification and transparency.
See the section ordinance notes. Monroe County Council policy regarding salaries tied to state mandated
salaries. Annual salaries for the Monroe County Chief Public Defender, Chief Deputy Public Defender
and Monroe County
and Monroe Circuit Court Commissioner are all tied in or related to the salaries mandated by the state
of Indiana for the Monroe County Circuit Court judges, Monroe County prosecutor and or Monroe County
chief public chief deputy prosecutor. The state mandated salaries are amended annually on July 1st.
It is the intent and direction of the Monroe County Council that all salaries paid by the Monroe County
Council, which are tied in or related to the above mentioned salaries mandated by the state of Indiana,
shall be automatically amended at the same time as the state mandated salaries.
The Monroe County Council recognizes this, that this is an exception to the general rule for county
set salaries, which are generally modified in January 1st. Additional detail, including Defense Service
Standards, Section Standard G, Supreme Court Compensation for Information, Indiana Code 33-39-6.5, and
Indiana Code 36-2-3-17 are incorporated by reference. Monroe County Youth Services Bureau.
Due to the requirements established by Indiana Administrative Code for personnel employees at a child-caring
institution, the Binkley House Manager, the prevention coordinator and counselors employed at the Monroe
County Youth Services Bureau will be compensated at a minimum of the one-year salary for the PAT-C classifications.
This salary level meets the current minimum requirements for exempt employees pursuant to the Fair Labor
Standards Act. The starting annual salary level for these positions shall be reviewed annually to ensure
ongoing compliance with state and federal law and adjusted when necessary. Presented to the Mineral
County Council, read in full for the first time on the sixth day of October, 2026. All right, that being
read, do we have any public comment
here in the now you hear them, please come to the podium or if you're on teams, raise your hands to
talk about staff compensation. Seeing none, let's go to council for questions or comments, please. It's
amazing because it appears our county employees are not gonna come here to speak, but they have not
been the least bit shy of saying,
they're just somewhat disappointed that the council has a hiring freeze and if he about their salary
increase, and yet we've got a million to hand out to somebody else. And let me tell you, they're not
happy about it. They aren't. So I mean, I know it's going to go through, but I think you have to recognize
that the county employees see as being
and then they see it going back out the door and they feel like they're having to help pay for that.
At here. No doubt because they probably are concerned what their department head might think of it.
They do not mind telling you privately if you are willing to
I'm gonna go back to teams real quick and make sure no hands are raised back here in the NatU Hill Room.
All right. To remind everyone, the budget ordinances and salary ordinance will now be placed on the
October 20th agenda for a second reading and a vote. Folks, that's in two weeks. So that's coming up.
All right. That concludes our readings of the budgets
And next we will move on to item number nine, which is our health department. You're on again, yep.
This is item number nine from our health department. Okay, wait a minute. I'm not here. That's right.
Gotta get on the right page. Oh yeah, I got it here. I have it, thank you. All right, here we go.
Council, I move to open budget 1159 dash 0000 Health Fund and make the following amendments. Reduce
account line one zero one one four environmental health specialist foods to zero. Increase account line
one zero one one eight public health coordinator to fifty six thousand nine hundred eighty five dollars.
Reduce account line one eight zero zero one
self-insurance to $360,760, increase account line 18101 FICA to $30,042, increase account line 18201
PERF to $53,278, then open budget 1161
dash nine six two four local public health services HFI and increase account line one zero one one four
environmental health specialist foods to fifty four thousand one hundred forty five dollars reduce account
line one zero one eight three public health preparedness director to zero dollars increase account line
one eight one zero one
FICA to $11,513. Increase account line 18201 perf to $21,369. And then also open budget 1161-9627 local
public health services HFI and reduce account line 10118
public health coordinator to $0. Reduce account line 18101 FICA to $43,855. Reduce account line 18201
PERF to $81,404. Increase account line 20011 other supplies to $17,314.
Increase account line 30028, training and travel to $50,040. Hearing a motion and a second, we are joined
by Dr. Sarah Ryderband, Mr. Eric Gauss, and I'm sorry, could you please state your name for the record?
Linnea Amy. Thank you, Ms. Amy. What do we have before us, folks? Well, in essence,
Ms. Amy is the preparedness coordinator. And as you've met Eric Gause before, you know that he is our
financial manager. The issue is essentially that preparedness, while we initially put it into the HFI
funding, we really cannot do preparedness through HFI funding because it limits
who we can deal with in an emergency. And Ms. Amy would be happy to talk to you about that. But we thought
that with the federal guidelines for treating anyone in an emergency, we could manage it. But after
speaking with legal, we found that, no, we are still under state statute. And so we are stuck. And so
we've moved it.
back into local funding. OK, anything else to add from either of you two? And when you're talking, the
mic is close to your mouth as you can, please. It'll just pop on. Yeah, sure. Just very basically,
you know, the legislative requirements for Health First Indiana funding require that the funds be spent on people
who are residents of the state of Indiana and lawfully present. What that does is create a burden of
having to check people's eligibility before we can provide them services. In many cases, that is doable
if inconvenient. In the event of emergency response, it is prohibitive. It also sort of flies in the
face of the notion that emergency response should be universally accessible.
We do have at least two grants that fund our work, the FUP grant, the preparedness grant, and the MRC
grant, which are both federal dollars and under federal guidelines, which do require that we intentionally
serve otherwise underserved populations, including low English proficiency, children, the elderly,
things like that, and requires also that we not obviously discriminate on the basis of national origin,
which could get complex. So for simplicity, we are moving those funds back to where they came from.
Thank you. Anything final notes to add? No, I think she's covered most of it. All right. Council, we
do have a handy dandy sheet here that numerically represents what was read in the motion. And I'll start
with Mr. Henry.
Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you for coming in. I said, Dr. Ryderban, you missed it earlier, but
I thank Derek for being here earlier with our overall discussion of the county budgets. I, Linnea, I'm
sorry on behalf of some government. It's not my apology to give. I cannot believe a year later we're
still in this space of picking and choosing who we help in disasters based on state policy.
I'm going to get on my soap box a little, sorry. I teach emergency management at IU. I've been in this
space for a long time. I worked at NACCHO for a bit and had the MRC program that went out across the
country, among other places. And what I teach in my class is pretty simple. There are no such things
as natural disasters. We have hazards. But disasters are caused by policy. And we are setting ourselves
up for, the state has set us up for failure in this case, where we've
put ourselves in a place where we have to ask for papers, please, before we help somebody in a time
of crisis. I cannot understand what that would look like if we actually had a COVID level incident in
the county again. It's fortunate we have some federal dollars that let us override what is going to
prove out to be a disastrous state policy when the next thing happens. And it is when. I know, Dr. Ryderman,
you talked about how contagion doesn't care about county borders or state borders or nationality.
And now we're asked to take that on as a local burden because of what can only be described as discriminatory
policy at the state level. And I it's it's it's kind of, you know, I won't be I'll be shocked and not
surprised. I guess that's the way to put it. And when this when it eventually happens, but we've been
putting a pickle here, it's not good. And I hope that crystal ball doesn't come true where we have to
try to figure that out based on
whether or not you reside in the state or not when a crisis happens. Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. Henry. Are there other council members? Yes, Councilmember Wilts. Yeah, I mean. Echoing
all of that sympathy and undercurrent of outrage, perhaps. But I do also recall talking about this a
year ago with respect to a lot of the different positions and a lot of your different services.
My recollection is that the way we resolved some of the concerns was to split how we were paying folks.
So we paid them a little bit out of this and a little bit out of that so that they had cover to serve
different, well, to serve everybody. And A, is that still the way things were set up? I guess I should
have paid more attention. B, what? No.
When they approved the budget last year, the administrator chose not to split the pay. So the person
or the position, it was full time within that fund. It was never split. But that position, but I mean
the other ones. All of them. I can answer it. Yeah, sure. So what we've done is basically we have positions
that are from the 1159 fund that will
allow those positions to work with the full public with no issues as far as, as requirements go.
So we've, we have our senior positions as far as environmental are all paid through, um, either 1159
or the health maintenance fund. Uh, we also have one vital records position that this year has, has,
uh, simplified, well, not simplified, but helped as far as waiting
are serving those individuals that under HFI we wouldn't be able to serve. So we've moved, we've got
the positions moved back and forth. The difficulty obviously is with the regulatory and HFI trying to
balance that with our limitation as far as how much we can spend on regulatory and having the positions
back and forth. So at this juncture,
We seem to have everything covered as far as besides the preparedness positions as far as giving us
allowing us to serve the public. So instead of splitting positions, you take positions within a department
or a service area and split those people essentially between the two funds. Yeah. All right. Any other
comments or questions?
I will just say as liaison, co liaison to your department, I wish for a year of stability for you. I
know that the budget that we are going to adopt in two weeks is going to have your budgets in it. And
my sincere hope is that these changes and the budget that we have is gonna allow you to provide the
best quality of public health to the residents of Monroe County,
uninhibited and to the maximum level that you can and then we can just build from there. So I'm happy
to vote for this and really just get out of your hair. Yeah. All right. We have a motion and a second.
Could we please have a roll call vote? Councillor Decker. Yes. Councillor Iverson.
Councillor Haug? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor Henry? Yes. Motion passes unanimous.
I said yes. Oh, I thought you said yes. Pardon me. Motion passes 5-0, one pass. Thank you, Dr. Ryderman.
Thank you, Mr. Goussen. Thank you, Ms. Nami. Thank you.
All right, next we'll move on to the very last item on this agenda. Well, this last substantive item.
This is the amendment that we made. I'll read again. Thank you. Council, I move to open fund 1176-0000.
excuse me, motor vehicle highway and make the following amendments. Reduce account line 15117, interim
transition position to zero and add account line 16800, transitional temporary training with $1.00.
Second. We have a motion and a second. And do we have someone here from highway that can walk us through?
I'm going to do that for them. Thank you, Michelle.
As I was preparing the salary ordinance and I was making the adjustments, I noticed that they had budgeted
line 15117, which is an interim transition position. That line is used for positions that are going
to be there several months at a time. So after speaking with Lisa Ridge, the highway director, what
they're actually needing for the beginning of the year is a transitional
temporary training line. So that's why we're making that edit. She only wants a dollar because it's
all going to depend on when they get that person in and when that line will be utilized. Thank you.
Councilmembers, do you have any questions or comments about this $1 item? This is a very council thing.
We deal with millions and millions of dollars and then the very last item is $1.
All right. Is there any public comment on this item? Seeing none, can we please have a roll call vote?
Councillor Iverson? Yes. Councillor Feidl? Yes. Councillor Hug? Yes. Councillor Wilts? Yes. Councillor
Henry? Yes. Councillor Decker? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. All right. That brings us to the other
items and Council Member Wilts, do you have another item?
I might. I was reviewing the supplemental information that we were given for the health department budgets.
And it, Councilor Feidl is double checking, but I didn't hear the reading of the last fund. It wasn't
on the. No, it wasn't. And that's because they're going to come back at a later date because
They have to have additional appropriations to go along with that because it's a grant. So they have
to come back. They have to advertise that and then prepare. Got it. So they they weren't going to do
anything until they knew you guys were going to, you know, move forward with these changes. I'm telling
you, nothing gets past the left side of this bench. Thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah. And it's like
something for a man to take the credit of two women. There we go.
We are at the end here and I will just make another plea to folks. We are going to be in this room for
the next two weeks. I'm going home. We will be coming back to this
room one week from tonight at 5 p.m. for a regular business meeting and then the very next week on the
20th we will be back in this room at 5 p.m. for budget adoption so also be back on October the 27th
for a regular council meeting so you're hitting all four Tuesdays and you know it is what we're at it
October 23rd at noon is the next must meeting so there's a lot of one it is at
One or noon? One. One o'clock. I'm on the left side here. They're really catching all this stuff. So
there's a lot of ways to be engaged with the fiscal business of this body, both the short term and the
long term. So stay attention. Thank you folks for recording. We are adjourned.