Carl Abbott Age: 42 Address: 5378W. 300N., Delphi Married, wife Leah and three children, Noah, 8; Myah, 5, and Ellah, 3 Carroll County Council incumbent Carl Abbott wants to follow-through with his previous years in office to propel the county forward from the serious financial situation it has experienced.

Abbott said he believes he is the best candidate for council-at-large because of his experience over the past eight years in the seat. However, he is not opposed to term limits for the position.

"After completing my second term and with the past 16 months of financial unrest, I see the problem," he said. "I want to work on it through to the end."

"This problem is going to take longer to fix than one year," he added. "And it is more difficult than balancing a checkbook."

The council borrowed $675,000 from the cumulative bridge account, took out a line of credit for $1.2 million and used thousands of dollars from various department's restricted accounts to fund the budget, but Abbott said the problems are not insurmountable in due time. Although $325,000 of the cum bridge loan is to be paid back by the end of the year by ordinance, Abbott said his experience on the council has shown him that there is no entity that would police the debt repayment in that time frame.

"We will pay back what we can, but we won't go in the hole to do it," he said to explain why it was necessary for the county to end the year with a positive balance in the county general account. "We have to pick and choose what to pay back. There isn't enough money to do it all. It's important to make county general end the year in the positive."

Abbott said the line of credit with the local bank was repaid with fall property tax income, although the county has yet to have an official settlement. Abbott said it was important to satisfy that obligation first so as to incur less interest. He said he did not believe the council was obligated to repay $200,000 taken from the Rainy Day Fund.

"There are still inter-fund loans hanging over our heads," he said. "I would love to be able to pay these off completely, based on the first collection but there is only so much money to work with."

Abbott explained council members continue to make budget reductions as they develop the 2009 budget from the more than $6.3 million appropriation recommendations sent to them by commissioners. Although the process is not yet completed, the budget advertised in this week's Comet was what council members received from which to begin work.

Abbott said he believed county government was obligated to adhere to state statutes, including the one which requires the auditor and the treasurer to balance accounts between the two offices monthly. At the time he did not realize they were not acting within the state code. He said he asked about the offices not balancing "many times for several years." He said those questions may not have been asked during a public meeting or in a manner in which the public would be able to hear him ask. Abbott said he was not protecting either office holder.

"Communication between the auditor, treasurer and the council has improved," he said.

Abbott said he would like to see more public input at each council meeting.

"People need to hold elected officials accountable," he said. "They should come to the meetings and participate."

Abbott would prefer council members face the audience during meetings. He said sitting around the table sometimes results in at least three of the seven members' backs to the audience.

"My wish would be that we had a room where the council could face the audience," he said. "If the community dictated to us to use another room, I'd listen." Abbott said it was a necessity, rather than a desire, for council members to receive regular and accurate monthly financial reports. He said the auditor is the secretary to the council but her role has expanded in the years he has served on the council. He said she provides requested financial reports, information about claims and budget information. He said the expanded role was also due in part to the state no longer providing oversight to the council.

"It's imperative we know what the fund balances are and what bills there are to pay," he explained. "We have to know what each line item is. We receive more detailed auditor reports now."

Abbott said he considered himself a voice to department heads to encourage them to stop spending needlessly.

"I haven't voted for an additional in three years," he said. "We asked department heads to be frugal. If they didn't need it, we asked them not to make the purchase."

"Technically though, the council cannot freeze spending after the budget has been approved and appropriations have been made," he added.

Abbott said he was 110 percent against judicial mandates in relation to budget appropriations. He said he would vote to oppose another mandate from Carroll County judges. He said he would be willing to take legal action as far "as we can afford until it becomes an added budget expense."

"To mandate just because you can doesn't make it right," he said.

"It's been a tough year," he concluded. "I'm proud of the county employees and department heads. They need to be commended. Everyone pulled together and once we all realized we had to make drastic budget reductions, most everyone was on board and helped us with the task."

"Employees have hung in there for two years without raises," he added. "I'm running again because of my passion and desire for Carroll County to move forward as a whole to maintain infrastructure and services and be very optimistic about economic development opportunities."