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By VICKI URBANIK With the 2009 county government budget hearings now concluded, here is a recap of some of those who fared well in the budget process and some who didn’t. County employees: Across-the-board raises of $1,000 were awarded to full-time employees and elected officials. Department heads can also boost the pay for their hourly staff by up to $1, as long as their bottom line budget stays unchanged. Other county employees: Some lucky employees will get more than the standard $1,000 raise. These included four employees of the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission, whose pay increases will range from $2,505 to $5,927; the coroner secretary, who will get a $3,000 raise after it was determined that her current pay of $21,574 is the lowest secretarial pay in the county government; an Information Technology Services employee, who, as part of a job restructuring, will get a pay hike of about $13,000; and six auditor employees, whose raises will range from $1,200 to $2,600 over and above the standard $1,000 raise. Further, $5,000 raises were awarded to County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, Information Technology Services director Sharon Lippens, Voter Registration directors Kathy Kozuszek and Sundae Kubacki, and the contracted post held by County Child Support Director Bruce Dumas. Boards: Plan Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals members will see their per meeting pay doubled to $100. Further, county drainage board members will get a $50 per diem pay for their on site work. New employees: Unlike in previous years, there weren’t very many requests for new positions. The county airport did win approval for three employees. Veterans Services won approval for a new part-time post. And the coroner won approval for a fourth part-time deputy. Former assessors: The former township assessors who now work for Porter County Assessor John Scott will retain the same salaries they had when they ran their own offices, at $35,991. Social services: Higher fuel costs led to an increase in county funding for the Porter County Aging & Community Services, from this year’s $183,000 to $210,000, and for Opportunity Enterprises, which will get a $7,000 increase, bringing OE’s total county funding to $700,000. Not faring as well were the following: HR Department: The council repeatedly cast divided votes on a $120,000 proposal to establish a human relations department. Ultimately, the proposal died. Some department heads: Porter County judges, Porter County Clerk Pam Fish, County Coroner Victoria Deppe, and the Soil and Water Conservation District were among those that asked for pay increases for their staff above the $1,000 standard raise, but were denied. In the case of the judges’ request, council members noted that in some cases, the $1,000 raise will result in higher pay for court employees than what the judges first requested. Porter Starke Services: The mental health agency was initially set to get $1.7 million in county support for ‘09, up from this year’s level of $1.59 million. But Porter-Starke and county officials later learned that previous years of county funding for the agency was more than thought, since the amount fell inside the county’s levy, meaning that it cut into funding for other county departments. The 2009 county funding for Porter Starke was set at $1.58 million, the most the state would allow outside of the county levy restrictions.
Posted 11/19/2008
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