By VICKI URBANIK

A fee that parents pay when their child is in detention will now be used toward a new juvenile court employee in charge of programming for kids with behavioral problems.

The Porter County Council on Tuesday unanimously agreed to a plan presented by Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary Harper to tap the fees known as CODES (Court-Ordered Detention Enhancement Services). Last year, the CODES fees generated $72,602.

The plan approved by the council Tuesday will create new behavior program manager post at a $33,873 salary. The fees will also pay for $5,000 raises for the Juvenile Detention Center director and assistant director. In addition, a current probation officer will have her salary supplemented by the fees, instead of being paid out of a mediation fund.

Harper outlined for the council the history of the CODES fees, noting that she first came before the council for approval for the fees back in 2003. Setting up the fee program wasn’t something that juvenile officials rushed into, she said, since they had to take care developing the collection, assessment and tracking method.

Harper said the fee system uses a sliding scale based on the parents’ ability to pay. The fees must also be court-ordered and assessed against the parents when their child is in detention.

The fee program, in place since 2005, has now gotten to the point that the fees are generating a stable source of revenue, Harper said. She emphasized that the fees aren’t being used to pay routine expenses, but for improved programming.

The judge said there are many good programs already offered, noting one of the newer programs in which kids with a mental health problem can be diverted into treatment instead of the court process. But she added that there is so much more that juvenile staff could if it had the resources.

County Council member Karen Conover, R-3rd, praised Harper for recognizing a need and then coming up with a plan, especially one that doesn’t impact property taxpayers. She also cited the priority of providing services for troubled kids.

Council member Jim Burge, R-at large, also commended the fee program, saying that it’s important to hold parents accountable for their kids who end up in detention.

Harper agreed that often, parents turn to the juvenile court system to ask officials to “fix” their child. But she also noted that parents need to be responsible for the type of children they raise.

New Auditor Post?

Potentially representing a big change in the way that various tax matters have been handled at the county level, Porter County Council President Robert Poparad, D-1st, proposed creating a new position in charge of tax settlement, the tax abstract and Tax Increment Financing data, all of which have been problemmatic in recent years.

These duties are now the county auditor’s. But as proposed by Poparad, the new employee would be hired by the council and would fall under the council’s authority.

Poparad said that there has been talk of hiring a person responsible just for tax settlement, a final step in the property tax collection and distribution process. He also said that the county’s tax consultant, attorney Beth Henkel, has prepared a job description for such a staffer.

He suggested that the council consider the funding for the position at next month’s meeting. But Conover said that the council should follow its own rules and address the new position during budget hearings. Poparad concurred, and the consensus seemed to be that the council’s 2009 budget will include the position, which will be further addressed during budget hearings that get underway in August.

Posted 6/25/2008