The Marshall County Council used the opportunity for non-binding budget reviews to unanimously approve each submission.
The Department of Local Government Finance requires the review each year as a way for the County fiscal bodies to analyze and make budget and taxing recommendations to the local entities of government. During Monday Morning’s meetings, libraries, schools, Cities, and Townships were all reviewed.
Plan Commission Director Ralph Booker delivered the presentation. He says there’s a good reason the review takes place.
“From my knowledge, the reason we go through this, and the state wants to go through this, is that each one of these budgets has an impact on the other one and has an impact on the tax caps and those kinds of things, and that’s why the state in their esteemed wisdom wanted us to go through this,” says Booker.
The reports show the growth quotient in budget spending alongside changes in tax and property tax levy rates.
According to the reports, libraries will see a 2.6-percent rise in budget spending in Marshall County to $3.9-million. Cities and Towns saw a 34-percent increase for 2015, payable in 2016 at $22.7-million.
Any taxing body that fails to provide their financial information to the County can have their current appropriations and tax rate continued into the next fiscal year. Booker says if you take the average, the growth is negative, but the schools push the figure positive
“So ours is a little bit smaller than the state and that’s what I’ve always used as the guideline of comparing budgets,” says Booker.
While Marshall County outpaced the state of Indiana’s growth in 2014, the county reported 2.4-percent spending growth in 2015. That compares with the state’s rate of 2.6-percent.
Council members remarked that there are taxing bodies that are hitting the maximum cap rate. If the figure increases, some of the Council members say that may limit funding for other entities.
