The Marshall County Council spent nearly 5 hours Monday reviewing the proposed 2023 budget and cutting out items to bring the budget more in line with the estimated revenues.
The General Fund budget came in at $15,832,363 while the Special Funds were $19,510,690 for a grand total of $35,343,363. The estimated revenue from the property tax collection was $12,132,336.
While county council members never mentioned how much they intended to cut from the 2023 budget request, they did manage to cut a total of $670,000. Their cuts included $459,000 from the General Fund budget and $212,000 from the Special Funds.
Cuts included $300,000 from the Commissioner’s budget for Group Health Insurance, $5,000 from the Humane Society. It was noted that the commissioners increased this line item from $42,000 up to a requested $55,000 and the council cut it down to $50,000. They also cut $50,000 from Repairs to Buildings and Structures in the Building Maintenance Fund which was going to help pay for a new air handler. $95,000 was removed from the Motor Vehicle Highway (MVH) Fund for roadside mowing because it was also in the Local Road and Streets (LR&S) budget. The Council cut $199,730 from the MVH Fund for Group Health Insurance and $55,000 from the Coroner’s budget for a new vehicle next year. In the coroner’s budget, they also reduced the department head’s wages from the requested $54,500 to $40,000. Coroner John Grolich had previously discussed moving the position from part-time to full-time and increasing the salary accordingly. While council members understood the additional time is required to cover the additional caseload they didn’t want to increase the pay to match the other department heads although Grolich said he does receive all the full-time benefits.
Other cuts to the 2023 budget requests made by the County Council this week included $12,514 from Group Health Insurance in the Reassessment Fund, the $5,000 stipend for Judge Bowen in Marshall Superior Court I, and Judge Colvin in Superior Court II.
Council members decided to “freeze” their salaries at the 2022 rate reducing the budget by $31,500. They also decided to “freeze” the commissioner’s salaries at this year’s rate saving an additional $13,500.
Another decision the County Council made on Monday was to move all the jail operation costs from the General Fund into the Special LIT. This removed about $1.5 million from the General Fund. The vote was 5 to 2 with Jon VanVactor and Steve Harper voting against the move.
