Monday morning Carroll County Council arrived at figures and numbers that satisfied all 2009 county appropriations and the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) to be able to adopt next year's budget. This was the second meeting in less than a week to reach consensus about appropriation numbers. The first meeting was Nov. 20.

Decisions were not without controversy, discussion and disagreement. After an impromptu Saturday meeting between Carroll County Judges Jeffrey Smith and Donald Currie with council member Carl Abbott, at the judges' request, council members increased the total appropriation amount. An error in developing budget numbers for the joint courts per a 2007 agreement reached to avoid a judicial mandate was made and then corrected.

The budget adoption process also involved development of the tax rates for the local option income tax, which figured significantly into the expected income on the final balance sheet.

Carroll County will send a $5,566,878 budget to the DLGF for approval in 2009. Five council members voted to adopt it. Jerry Hendress was absent and Ron Slavens disagreed with the appropriation distribution and voted against it.

"I don't think it's proper to reduce the appropriation for EMS (ambulance service) and not make cuts in more of the courthouse offices," he said.

Ann Brown agreed with Slavens. She said there would have to be more budget reductions in the future to meet all expenses and repay loans.

"We are going to have to cut more," she said. "You can't raise taxes enough."

Rob Baker also agreed with Slavens about the potential for additional budget reductions. However, he said a budget had to be adopted by the end of the year. He said the council was bound by the state to finish the process now.

Near the start of the meeting, county auditor Beth Myers said she was advised by DLGF Friday the council should request more money from the state than just department spending appropriations. She said DLGF predicted the county would receive more than $5.5 million in income in 2009 but the county would receive no more than what it requested. It was explained that if income exceeded the request, the income would remain at the state level.

Slavens said the DLGF did not give correct income predictions for the past four years. He said there was no reason to believe the current prediction. Council consensus was spending could not be based on DLGF predictions, but rather on historical data and first-hand knowledge of income levels.

However it was deemed desirable to capture every dollar available to the county. Council members devised a system to explain the need of additional income to satisfy DLGF requirements knowing if the money did not materialize for the county, there was a contingency to cope with the situation.

The amount to be submitted to DLGF included $5,228,988 for departmental appropriations, $337,890 for a total loan repayment to the cumulative bridge fund, and $180,000 for added funding for county employees' health insurance premiums. The funding, if received, will be in the sole control of the council to appropriate for those purposes only.

"We were pleased the state gave the extension for budget submission this year," council president Nancy Cripe said. "Property tax reform created a huge roadblock for us. The extension gave us more time to process information to make more informed decisions."

LOIT

For the council to be able to arrive at final funding decisions, members were forced to decide what the additional local option income tax rate (LOIT) would be for county residents. Council member Steve Ashby explained the county expected $590,000 less from 2009 property tax than was received in 2008.

Ordinances were written and submitted for advertisement for an increase of .3 percent income tax hike for 2009, which sets the overall income tax at 1.45 percent for county residents. County residents pay property tax, economic development income tax, county adjusted gross income tax (CAGIT) and LOIT, for property tax relief. The final LOIT adoption meeting will be Dec. 9 at 9 a.m.

Cripe said 14 out of Indiana's 92 counties adopted LOIT in 2007 for 2008. Due to property tax reform, it is expected more counties will adopt a tax hike for 2009. She said Carroll County was being "very conservative" with the overall tax rate. Tax rates across the state range from 1.50 percent in Gibson County to 3.13 percent in Pulaski.

According to Brown, the council could have imposed a 2.25 percent increase in income taxes, bringing the combined tax rates to 3.4 percent. She said in the best interest of county taxpayers, the tax rate should never exceed a full 2 percent for county residents.

The plan developed by Carroll County allows for a 31 percent tax relief for residences, 46 percent for farm land and rental properties, and 23 percent for commercial and/or business properties.

Other business

Transfers approved at the Nov. 20 council meeting included:

• Courthouse custodian - $1,500 from building repair to equipment repair;

• Extension/4-H building - $225 from part-time clerk to custodian;

• Soil and Water - $14.19 from copier maintenance and $25.24 from education materials to office supplies;

• Commissioners - $15,000 from social security to unemployment;

• Veterans' office - $19.50 from copier supplies to office supplies;

• Treasurer - $40 from printing paper/toner to office supplies; and

• Highway - $10,200.06 from trucks to repair parts.

A highway department transfer of $17,268.15 from trucks to other road equipment for a balloon payment for a road grader was tabled Thursday.

Acting highway superintendent Keith Barnes reported Monday the transfer was no longer needed. He said former superintendent Ron Francis arranged to refinance the road grader for three years to avoid the balloon payment. The action was done without council knowledge.

Commissioners' president Loren Hylton said commissioners were also not aware of the refinancing.

The council also approved budgets for townships, cities, towns and libraries at Monday's meeting.