The Marshall County Council members heard from department heads Monday morning who submitted their proposed budgets for 2022.
The council members talked with the commissioners about the added expenses for the Marshall County Courthouse Clock Tower repairs and renovations. It was noted that the estimate for the most current issues found has not been provided to the commissioners, but Commission President Kevin Overmyer said those numbers should be presented this week by the contractors. For now, $1.5 million was set aside as a possible estimate of costs to replace all of the wood on the clock tower and other related expenses.
The commissioners also discussed the potential purchase of generators as outlined in the Continuous Operations Plan, along with the purchase of vehicles out of the Enterprise lease program and the purchase of the Plum Street property for storage of equipment for the maintenance department.
Marshall County Highway Superintendent Jason Peters asked to reduce a mechanic position and add an operator position in his budget.
The Marshall County Parks and Recreation Board presented a budget of $124,000 with an additional $1,000 to be added to the supplies line item for the purchase of a computer in order to store records.
Sheriff Matt Hassel noted that he included the salary of the Jail Chemical Addictions Program Director position in the budget in the amount of over $57,000. The position was previously funded by a grant that was not renewed. Additionally, the sheriff said he was going to take out a patrol officer and add a detective next year.
Superior Court No. 3 Judge Matt Sarber presented a full budget for his court for 2022 in the amount of $166,501.
Most of the other budgets seem to be line with 2021, but with a $1,600 increase for full-time salaries next year and slight adjustments for small line items.
The council members also talked about jail funding, specifically the Jail LIT Special Purpose Fund and what can be spent out of that fund. The courthouse Clock Tower repairs could come out of that fund, but more research is going into that possibility before a determination is made. Until then, Commissioner Stan Klotz asked to set a meeting for a joint session to discuss future funding of the jail operations.
In the end, the budget requests total $31,702,779 before adjustments. The General Fund budget is estimated at $14,869,137. The budget will be advertised with the public hearing set for September 13 and the budget adoption set for October 11.
