By VICKI URBANIK

The Porter County Council nearly wrapped up its 2008 budget hearings Tuesday by tentatively agreeing to give most county employees $750 raises next year while approving three more positions.

At a five-hour budget session, the Porter County Parks Department emerged as one of the biggest winners of the night, securing two new horticultural staffers for the new Furnessville arboretum and another full-time fitness supervisor. A public defender was also added, and a plan to create a new position for the Geographic Information System department was finalized.

As with several other budget hearings, many of the budget decisions Wednesday prompted a lengthy discussion and split votes.

The council will finalize their budget decisions on Monday, when they meet at 5 p.m. to adopt the 2008 budgets and salary ordinance and clear up any loose ends.

Near the end of Wednesday’s hearing, the council lay to rest an issue that’s been lingering since budget hearings began three weeks ago, by agreeing with a suggestion from County Council Member Robert Poparad, D-1st, to give most full-time employees -- except for elected officials -- a $750 raise.

If, after the auditor’s office determines the county can’t afford that much of a rasie, Poparad proposed a back-up plan of $500 raises.

The raises were approved 4-2, with council members Poparad, Dan Whitten, D-at large, Mike Bucko-D-4th, and Rita Stevenson, D-2nd, voting yes, and council members Jim Burge, R-at large, and Matt Murphy, R-3rd voting no. William Carmichael, R-at large, was absent.

Burge said across-the-board raises hurt morale and don’t give employees who aren’t as productive as others an incentive to work harder. He suggested a percentage-based increase instead. But Poparad said that would result in the higher-paid employees getting a heftier raise, even though workers at the lower end of the pay scale tend to do most of the work.

The across-the-board raises won’t apply to the handful of employees who emerged from this year’s budget session with larger raises. One of those will be County Attorney Gwenn Rinkenberger, who was granted a $5,000 raise Tuesday.

But a few other requests for larger raises were denied. The council rescinded its decision from last week granting a secretary at the Porter County Airport a $6,000 raise, instead increasing the rate for the airport’s hourly workers, some of whom are now at or just above minimum wage, to up to $15. And a last-ditch effort by Bucko to grant larger raises to staffers at the Porter County Convention, Recreation and Visitors Commission failed on a 4-2 vote, with only Bucko and Poparad voting yes.

Unless the council makes other changes at Monday’s budget adoption, the council will end this year’s budget hearings having created 11 new positions, two of which are considered part-time, out of about 20 new employees originally sought.

County Park

Flanked by a display of county park items -- including a stuffed coyote and Sunset Hill Farm historic memorabilia -- the council voted 4-2 in support of a big increase for the Porter County Parks Department. Though there was some question about the final numbers, the decision Tuesday will add about $105,000 to the park’s 2007 general fund budget of $358,103.

The budget increases include three new full-time positions: A horticulturalist/programmer and a horticularalitst/maintenance worker who will work at the new Furnessville park and a recreation supervisor. The new posts total $96,200.

County Park Superintendent Ed Melendez said the park’s new arboretum represents a jewel of an acquisition, and that the new park has already attracted worldwide interest. But the plant species on the property are so diverse and unique that maintenance of the park requires special skill, he said.

The park department continues to look at other acquisitions, including the possibility of another 230-acre park, said Board President Harold Erwin. “We are growing by leaps and bounds,” he said.

A motion to keep the park’s budget flatlined failed on a 4-2 vote, with only Stevenson and Whitten voting yes.

Poparad went to bat for the park increases, noting that the council had earlier approved an $8.2 million budget for the Department of Child Services, for programs serving a small percentage of the county’s youth. He said that it’s time that the county does something for the majority of the people, and that the county parks is one way to do that.

The motion then passed 4-2, once again with Stevenson and Whitten casting the minority votes. Both indicated that the move goes against the council’s decision to try to flatline the 2008 general fund budgets.

Public Defender

Another new position approved Tuesday was for a public defender, at a $25,035 salary, about $2,000 less than requested.

Attorney Ken Elwood, one of the public defenders, said the office has seen an overwhelming increase in the number of Class D felony cases and cases involving Children in Need of Special Services (CHINS), such as those in abuse and neglect cases.

One public defender who should be handling no more than 75 felony cases under Indiana Supreme Court standards has 250 cases, he said.

“We’ve had some deputies who have left” because the caseload was so great, preventing them from doing the more lucrative private-sector legal work, Elwood said.

Stevenson made a motion to approve the new public defender, but at the $25,035 pay, and to award a $1,000 increase in office expenses. “You guys have been struggling for a long time, and you don’t have choices here,” she said.

Her motion failed on a tie vote, with Stevenson, Bucko and Whitten voting yes and Poparad, Burge and Murphy voting no. Whitten called for a new motion several times, but no council member wanted to budge. Then, after more discussion, Burge said that one of the basic tenants of government is a fair judicial system. He said if he knew someone who needed an attorney but couldn’t afford one, he would rather see them defended by a competent person able to devote the time necessary.

A motion to approve only the new public defender, but no other budget increase for the office, then passed 5-1, with only Murphy voting no.

Commissioners

The largest single general fund budget in county government is that for the Porter County Commissioners, who ended up with a budget that’s about $619,000 less than this year.

The council axed $675,000 in the ambulance subsidies, agreeing that this cost will come out of the interest earned on the hospital sale. The council was also able to ax $48,594 in maintenance agreements, due to a decision to centralize the costs for maintenance for copy machines and other equipment by tapping the county’s income tax funds.

But the council also added to the commissioners’ budget by granting the county attorney a $5,000 pay hike, brining her pay to $78,135 next year. Harper pushed for a $10,000 hike, noting that Rinkenberger has taken on a much heavier workload, including her work involving the hospital sale. Stevenson objected, but after Whitten noted that the council’s own attorney got an $18,000 payment related to his work on the hospital sale, Stevenson proposed cutting the pay hike in half, to $5,000. The motion passed 4-2, with only Burge and Murphy voting no.

Another big increase in the commissioners’ budget was a $209,199 hike in employee health insurance and $9,490 in added hourly expenses. The overall commissioners’ budget passed 5-1, with only Murphy voting no.

Posted 9/12/2007