A Porter County board defunct for years has been reinstated to oversee the county’s investments, including the proceeds from the sale of Porter hospital.

The Porter County Board of Finance held its annual meeting Thursday, the first such meeting in a number of years, possibly since 2001.

County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger said a state law requires that counties have the finance boards, but at some point, Porter County’s board stopped meeting, probably because the county didn’t have any sizeable funds to invest.

But now, with the approximately $170 million in proceeds from the sale of Porter hospital, the county board has been reinvigorated.

By state law, the board consists of the three commissioners and the county treasurer and must, at a minimum, meet once a year to review county investments.

After the hospital sale two years ago, the Porter County Council formed a committee to begin the initial work to secure a financial management firm to oversee the investment of the hospital sale proceeds. Rinkenberger said the newly revived board has agreed to review those proposals to possibly retain a financial manager for both the hospital funds and the county’s share of revenues through the Indiana Toll Road lease.

Under the terms of both the hospital sale and a subsequent county agreement, the county can spend the interest earnings - earlier projected at about $5 million a year -- but will leave the principal intact. County officials have not yet tapped the interest earnings.

The board of finance agreed to meet again in two weeks after more information is compiled on all the county funds invested and the list of depositories.

State law allows the county commissioners to authorize the treasurer to open certificates of deposits in institutions other than those specifically designated by the county board of finance.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners passed a proclamation endorsing a county committee that will promote widespread participation in the next official U.S. Census Bureau count next spring.

The proclamation will now make the county and its communities eligible for grant funds of just under $3,000 each for promotional materials.

Porter County Auditor Jim Kopp, who is coordinating the county committee, noted that the effort to ensure a complete count started in Duneland’s towns out of concern that the current population numbers are considerably too low, given the growth in the past decade.

Getting an accurate population count is critical since census figures help determine the annual disbursements of state and federal funding to each community.

Kopp noted that the county census committee will have a booth at the Porter County Fair and that chambers of commerce are participating in the outreach effort.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners agreed to allow technical changes in the contract with the county’s new tax software vendor, as long as Rinkenberger first authorizes the changes.

Rinkenberger said she had hoped to have a final, revised contract with Low Associates, but found out shortly before the commissioners’ meeting that there are still a few outstanding contract issues under negotiation between Low and the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance.

Low has not yet approved its contract with Porter County because of disagreements over state-required contract language. The new software has been installed but not yet activated.

North Porter County Commissioner John Evans at first agreed to give Rinkenberger the authority to make the contract changes, but only if all revisions are finalized within two weeks.

He said he’s tired of Low delaying the final contract. “They’ve had ample opportunity to get this done,” he said.

However, he and the other commissioners agreed to proceed as Rinkenberger requested so that the final contract won’t be further delayed.

Commissioner President Robert Harper noted that the final language is close to getting resolved.

Posted 6/18/2009