By VICKI URBANIK

Earlier this week, Porter County Council members feared that tight budgets might force some major cuts or no employee raises in 2009. But come Thursday, they found that in reality, they had plenty to spare.

The council opened Thursday’s budget hearing with more than $970,000 available in its general fund, a far cry from Monday’s dire projections that the council was on the brink of exceeding state-imposed spending limits.

By the end of Thursday’s budget hearings, the question facing council members wasn’t whether they could award employees raises in 2009, but how large of a raise to give. Some members favored $750 across-the-board hikes, at least one favored $1,000, and at least two favored percentage-based raises. After not being able to reach a consensus, the council tabled the raise issue.

What caused the gloomy budget picture earlier in the week to turn much rosier on Thursday came in two big areas. First was the cut in next year’s Election Board budget that freed up about $450,000. Second was the council’s directive to Porter County Sheriff Dave Lain to rework his numbers.

The sheriff’s budget was a key component of this year’s budget reviews because of the potential impact of shifting up to $1.2 million for jailers and other jail expenses from a dwindling fee-based fund, known as Fund 217, to the county’s property-tax supported general fund.

The state is expected to allow a general fund levy increase of about $1.2 million, meaning that shifting all or most of those jail funds could have eroded that entire spending limit.

However, on Thursday, with a host of sheriff department employees in attendance, Lain presented revised budgets that included cuts in several areas. The revisions also shifted the costs of nine jailers and merit pay from Fund 217 into the general fund.

Left in Fund 217 will be supplemental pay and other jail-related expenses, totaling $664,745, or about half of this year’s total. In addition to the fees for housing state and federal prisoners, the fund will be shored up from fees charged to inmates for using the jail phones.

The sheriff’s budgets, and all other budgets for that matter, won’t be finalized until final budget adoption, which was rescheduled from this Monday to Sept. 30.

Overtime

Though the council and the commissioners have already agreed to restore comp time, the council agreed Thursday that some departments – namely the sheriff, the auditor and the county highway – will still have budgeted amounts for overtime. The council earlier eliminated overtime from other departments’ ‘09 budgets.

Lain on Thursday requested a total of $75,000 in overtime for sheriff’s police and $25,000 in the jail. He said that due to the emergency nature of the work, it’s absolutely critical that the sheriff’s department gets to use overtime.

Council member Karen Conover, R-3rd, said that after discussions she had with the Valparaiso police, she has come to the same realization that overtime is a must for police departments. Dan Whitten, D-at large, agreed, adding that the county can’t plan crime according to the police officers’ work schedules. Jim Burge, R-at large, noted that the sheriff’s department, unlike some others in county government, avoided excessive comp time through a mix of comp and overtime.

As a compromise, Burge suggested granting $50,000 in overtime for the sheriff, which passed 5-1, with Michael Bucko, D-4th, voting no.

“Watch that $50,000 like it’s gold,” Council President Robert Poparad, D-1st, told Lain, as he warned against departments coming back for additional appropriations next year if their funds run out. Poparad said the state might not approve the appropriations next year.

As for overtime for the jail, $25,000 was approved on a 4-2 vote, with Rita Stevenson, D-2nd, and Bucko voting no.

Sheriff Cuts

Included in the revised sheriff’s budget was the elimination – at least for budgetary purposes – of $641,298 in the public employee retirement fund. This year’s budget set the amount at $312,860.

The sheriff’s PERF will still be funded, but rather than being listed in the budget, Lain said the department will issue a verified claim to cover the expense through civil bureau fees, which automatically go into the county’s general fund.

Council attorney Dave Hollenbeck warned council members not to think that they are freeing up this much in the general fund. As Whitten, observed, the move merely “looks good on paper.”

Another shift came in the jail budget, when Lain proposed eliminating the $40,530 post of medical director, rolling this expense into a larger contract with a company that provides medical services at the jail.

Other shifts in the sheriff’s budgets, which were earlier agreed to, include the elimination of $13,600 for police services during the Porter County Fair and transferring the costs of a civil bureau supervisor to a fee-based fund.

Posted 8/22/2008