By VICKI URBANIK

As Jackson Township resident John Ihnat sees it, government needs a shake-up.

“I feel we as taxpayers in Porter County are getting shortchanged by the state, number one, and by the county, number two,” Ihnat told the Porter County Council at Monday’s public hearing on the proposed 2008 county budgets.

Ihnat was among a dozen or so people who attended the annual public hearing on the county government’s proposed 2008 budgets. The others who addressed the council represented county departments or county-funded programs.

Ihnat addressed a few of the problems that he sees, citing how local government units have had to borrow money to stay afloat due to the late tax bills, resulting in interest payments and banks that are “making a fortune” off taxpayers. He also cited how the county assessor and county auditor have clashed over computer software and “can’t come to an agreement.

If there is a lack of communication at the county level, Ihnat implored the council to use its authority to find a solution.

“Everybody’s getting short-changed,” he said.

Also speaking at Monday’s public hearing was Bruce Lindner, executive director of the Porter County Aging & Community Service, which has requested county funding of $183,000, up from this year’s $143,000.

Lindner told the council that transportation projects have not been adequately funded in Porter County, and that his agency provides services to people in the lower 20 percent income bracket. His agency is federally mandated to run its bus service, yet has lost about $40,000 in revenue for four years in a row, he said.

Lindner said his agency will continue to depend on the county for support, at least until the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority and the Regional Bus Authority establish a mechanism for long-term transportation funding.

Also speaking at Monday’s hearing was Porter County Parks Superintendent Ed Melendez, who urged the council to look at the “big picture” when identifying budgetary needs. He noted that he gave council members a copy of the park department’s recently adopted master plan, and he asked them to think about what kind of a park system they would like to see over the next 10 years.

Also speaking was Becky Fox of the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission. Council member William Carmichael, R-at large, sought information on how the county handles the funding it gets from the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore toward the new jointly operated visitors center.

Beginning today at 5 p.m., the council will start to delve into the individual county department budgets.

County officials have estimated that the state will allow the county general fund to increase $904,000 next year. The current tax levy for the general fund is $31.8 million.

Employee raises could account for a big chunk of the allowed increase. Council members reviewed statistics showing that raises for the county’s 453 general fund employees would cost in the range of $113,250 if each were awarded a $250 pay hike to $679,500 for a $1,500 raise.

County Council member Michael Bucko, D-4th, suggested that the council consider a “waste factor” when deciding compensation. He presented statistics from national surveys showing that employees who work a 35-hour work week actually waste 1.6 hours per day on the job -- though employees in one survey admitted that they wasted 2.9 hours a day.

Bucko suggested incorporating a waste factor while giving department heads flexibility in determining what employees deserve bigger raises. But Council President Dan Whitten, D-at large, said the last time the county gave such flexibility, the result was a nightmare. He defended county employees by saying that the county government has many hard-working staffers who have always abided by the council’s requests to be as frugal as possible with the county budgets.

Posted 8/28/2007