The Marion County Board Tuesday night approved its tentative budget. The $12.9-million budget is balanced with the county anticipating starting the fiscal year on December 1st with $ 5.2 million in the general fund.
Finance Committee Chair Christopher Krupp said the process began with a day-long presentation where elected officials and department heads made a budget presentation. Changes were then made in a series of finance committee meetings that followed to be able to present a balanced budget.
“We cut a lot of what looks like things that may have slipped through the cracks over the years. For instance, we had money in a line item that hadn’t been used for two years and just hadn’t been caught. So, we were able to take that out of the budget, which makes it more accurate.”
The county board Tuesday night was able to add $177,000 back to the building fund after a mistake was found that allowed a similar reduction in the probation department budget. $727,578 will now be available to complete a number of building projects, including surfacing the county parking lot in the 200 block of North Broadway. Testing at the old gas station property is now underway without cost to the county after the title to the property was finally transferred to the county.
Two members of the Marion County Board of Review were reappointed for another two years. John Wright and Patrick Kyker are both retired appraisers.
The board approved a new three-year contract with the AFL-CIO for workers at the highway department. The contract calls for a $2 wage increase in each of the first two years and $1 in the third year.
