For the second year all county councils in the state are required to review other taxing entities' budgets in their respective counties. The directive came from the state legislature and was not specific in scope. Counties were directed to offer non-binding recommendations to the others, such as township government officials, libraries, towns such as Flora and Yeoman, the city of Delphi and other groups which levy taxes for income.

Carroll County Council members were unsure what to do with their new duty in 2008 and after a cursory review of the budgets, no comments were formally made. They decided to take a slightly more active role in the process in 2009. Last week each budget was reviewed in groups by each council member and recommendations, although nonbinding, were noted in writing and returned to the taxing entity. Only four out of the 22 budgets reviewed sparked concerns determined to be serious enough to note.

Most concerns noted were township spending and had to do with fire departments. It was noted that Jackson Township increased the fire fund from $33,500 in 2009 to $72,500 in 2010, a 116.42 percent increase. Democrat Township increased the cumulative fire fund from $5,000 to $30,000 or 499.20 percent.

Jefferson Township increased the fire fund from $65,000 to $105,000 and a concern was noted by council members. According to township trustee Harold Erdmann, the measure was needed to be able to purchase a $50,000 piece of equipment for the Monticello Fire Department as part of a three-year contract for fire fighting services, plus a $47,000 annual contract obligation to the same organization. In addition, the township general fund will experience an increase from $24,100 to $55,750 to pay up to $35,000 for ambulance service provided by the same department.

Erdmann said he thought the review process was advisable to provide more input into budgeting and planning for the future.

"The more people who look at the budget, the more checks and balances we have," he said.

"I don't think the county council understands what all the numbers are on our budgets," he continued. "I would like for them to host township hearings for us to answer questions at the time of review."

However, one council member does not believe the review is necessary but agrees that meeting with township officials would be helpful.

"I don't think the council has any business looking at township budgets," Ron Slavens said. "Trustees are quite capable of making their own budgets work."

"However, we did more this year than last year with them," Slavens continued. "We didn't spend enough time with them this year though. If we met with the taxing entities we could get them to answer our questions on the spot and it would be more meaningful to everyone."

"I thought it turned out well," council president Ann Brown said. "Everyone took a stack of budgets and made comments about them. The group decided what to focus on and we functioned as a team."

"I thought it was quite interesting and it was very easy to see what is going on," she continued. "We found mistakes."

The fourth budget to receive a comment was Carrollton Township. According to county auditor Beth Myers, after the concern was conveyed to the township trustee, it was discovered a number-recording error was made. It was immediately corrected.