Marshall County Council President Tim Harmon approached the board with a draft of a resolution to the Indiana General Assembly regarding the disbursement of funds from the county’s jail fund once the bond is complete.
Harmon told the board that at the expiration of the bond, he projected that there would be between $3.5 and $4 million left in the fund, including the $1.1 million the county has held in reserve for the bond issue over its course.
The fund has continued to accrue interest over the years, and the original statute by the state assembly in 2006 earmarked any leftover to be used for the highway department. The statute was amended by the state in 2021 to earmark funds left over exclusively for the maintenance of the jail.
Harmon told the Council that the current balance of the fund was $6.442 million, and the county could operate it at a $2 million deficit and still have the $3.5-$4 million balance at the end of the bond.
He said that he had approached Representative Jack Jordan and State Senator Ryan Mishler on the issue and said that Mishler was concerned that the balance be held entirely for jail expenses exclusively.
The resolution proposed by Harmon would achieve that but would expand the applications to all jail operations along with maintenance.
The Council voted unanimously to make the resolution request to the state legislature.
