The Marion County Board has passed a nearly $13.9-million tentative budget for the fiscal year beginning December first. The board had to use $194,000 in CURES funding given to the county during COVID-19 that had been set aside for a rainy day. County Board Chair Steve Whritenour feels they passed a good budget, eliminating a deficit of $1.1-million from when they started in August and later cutting forecast revenue that fell well short of expectations the past few years.
“This was the cleanup year,” Whritenour said. “We were anticipating out of the local use tax $950,000, and this year we got $121,000. Last year we got $86,000. These revenue numbers were way overinflated. Now, after cleaning that up, we have a much better picture of the revenue that we’re anticipating in 2027.”
The budget cuts include $450,000 in capital improvements to the animal control facility and the jail.
“All the office holders did an amazing job this year. There was no large or unneeded expense that they came out with. After everything went through, the increase from ‘26 to ‘27 is just over $160,000. That’s an impressive number when you throw In the fact that you have contract raises in this budget, including a $2/hour raise for correctional officers.”
Still included in the budget is $48,000 to hire their budget consultant Bellwether as a part-time administrator to assist with cost management. As part of the agreement, Bellwether will complete an analysis of each office to determine if fees for services need to be raised. Whritenour says that could help cut the need for the CURES money. He says any unused money in this year’s budget could also be reappropriated to next year.
The final vote was 8-2, with five members absent. One of the two no votes came from Josh Dunahee.
“The board overall have done a great job balancing the budget, but my concern is the $194,000 that we had to take out of the CURES fund to balance the budget, we did not make the necessary cuts in my opinion for future sustainability whenever you have to pull from that. Ultimately, we had 9.7% in reserve, now we’ve got 8.2%. The expectation is roughly 10% in reserve.”
The other no vote came from Debbie Smith who said she was unhappy the committees had little involvement in the budget process.
The tentative budget is now on display at the county clerk’s office until the November 24th regular county board meeting where the budget will come up for final approval.
The Bellwether consultant says the county’s property tax levy should remain about the same as last year, with a an overall 3.8-percent increase, 2.7-percent for the cost-of-living increase and 1.1-percent for new construction.
