President of the Marshall County Council, Tim Harman, stated his positive outlook for the county financially.
“Really we’re in very strong fiscal health here in Marshall County,” said Harman. “We have increased cash balances combined General and Rainy Day funds. We are responsibly spending down our General Fund. We’re leaving ample reserves. Last year we ended with a $1.8 million increased amount in all of our funds in the county.”
Speaking during a joint work session of the Council and Marshall County Commissioners, Harman presented numbers that show the reason for the optimism.
Harman stated that the combined balance of the county’s Rainy Day and General Fund is over $13.4 million, with revenues up from the previous year.
Harman pointed to a few items to watch in the coming year with legislation being considered in the current General Assembly.
The Jail Fund has a balance of $9.6 million, and recent legislation would limit the way the county is allowed to spend that money. The bill would allow the county to use the money in the fund for jail maintenance only. The county ran a deficit in that fund in the previous year to deplete some of the surplus, but Harman said that if the county continued to spend down the balance, it would leave a $4 million surplus in the fund. He told the combined boards he had reached out to Senator Ryan Mishler to see if some special legislation could be enacted to free up the money.
A bill under consideration in the legislature would likely mandate a wheel tax in the 38 counties — including Marshall — that do not have such a tax. The bill would tie matching funds for the yearly Community Crossings grant of $1.5 million to such a tax. Counties that have a wheel tax would have to provide a 20 percent match for the funds, while counties without would have to provide 25 percent.
Harman said the change would cost the county $125,000 a year.
Commissioner Jesse Bohannon told the Boards that his discussions with lawmakers in Indianapolis cause concerns about what will be expected locally by the statehouse.
Bohannon said, “I think there will be some options for us to do something that would cause the lowest amount of pain possible for locals, but it would be very difficult for us to give up that $1.5 million a year. It’s a terrible spot to put us in, but we’re going to have to deal with whatever comes down the road.”
