By VICKI URBANIK

Several social service agencies that get county tax funds came away from their budget hearings Tuesday with more than originally requested.

The Porter County Council agreed to boost next year’s county funding for the Porter County Aging & Community Services from this year’s $183,000 to $210,000, due to an increase in fuel costs.

Higher fuel costs also prompted the council to grant an additional $7,000 for Opportunity Enterprises, bringing OE’s total in county funding to $700,000.

And Porter Starke Services tentatively won $120,000 more than it requested, with the added funds earmarked specifically for a drug education program that the mental health agency provides at the county jail.

In each case, the three agencies complied with the council’s directive and submitted budgets seeking no increases from this year, although Aging & Community Services submitted a letter highlighting the challenges of rising gas prices. The agency, which provides bus service for seniors, the disabled and low-income, saw its fuel costs jump from $4,500 to $8,000 in just one month, according to the letter.

Community Services Executive Director Bruce Lindner told the council that said if gas stays at about $4 per gallon, his agency will face a $12,000 deficit.

“If it goes over $4 a gallon, we’re going to get hurt,” he said, estimating that if fuel jumps to $4.50 a gallon, the deficit would likely soar to more than $20,000.

Lindner noted that because his agency receives federal funding, it cannot cut back on its bus services.

Council President Robert Poparad, D-1st, expressed frustration with the budgetary contrasts facing the county. On the one hand, he said the county must spend millions on courts and jail expenses – “we spend millions on the flock” -- but an agency like Community Services doesn’t have the money for basic transportation needs for the elderly.

The council then offered to boost county support for Community Services in 2009 by another $37,000.

OE is facing similar increases in its fuel expenses, said executive director Gary Mitchell. OE, which serves the mentally and physically disabled, transports about 1,300 people per month, he said. The council agreed to boost OE’s county funding from this year’s $693,000 by another $7,000.

County funding for Porter Starke follows a set formula established by state law. Property tax revenues this year are expected to provide $1.59 million for Porter Starke. Under the state’s growth quotient, the agency anticipates $1,658,140 in 2009.

Possibly expecting opposition from the council as Porter Starke has encountered in some previous years, President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Lomaka presented the council an overview of how Porter Starke has grown in the past year.

He noted, for example, that Porter Starke fully took over operations of the only inpatient pyschiatric hospital in Porter County, which serves more than 550 people annually. Porter Starke has also opened a methadone clinic for opiate addicts, expanded its South Porter County Alternative School, and floated a $2 million bond for a major new Portage facility.

Lomaka said the inpatient unit was projected to suffer a $800,000 loss, but that deficit actually turned out to be half as much. He commended Porter hospital for providing $10,000 a month toward the unit, noting that if there wasn’t an inpatient psychiatric unit, patients would likely stay at the hospital’s ER.

Council members didn’t protest the increased funding for Porter Starke. In fact, at Poparad’s suggestion, the council agreed to boost the funding by another $120,000.

Poparad noted that Porter Starke’s alcohol and drug treatment program at the county jail is now being funded through fees paid for housing state and federal prisoners at the jail. But the fund is in turmoil, since the state is no longer sending its prisoners to the jail and no longer paying the fees.

Poparad said in order to keep the jail program going, the county will have to come up with an estimated $120,000.

“Everyone agrees the IOP program at the jail can’t die,” Poparad said.

Council members agreed with his suggestion to boost Porter Starke’s funding, though a question was raised as to whether the state would allow it. Porter Starke Executive Vice President Mary Idstein said any increase above the state’s growth quotient might fall outside the county levy, meaning that cuts might have to be made elsewhere in the county’s general fund budget to accommodate the increase.

Porter Starke officials were asked to research the matter further.

Another agency that gets county funding is the Family & Youth Services Bureau. Its county budget of $500,000 was left unchanged for next year.

Posted 8/13/2008