New hires, employee raises top list of expenditures
Hamilton County Councilors wrapped up two days of budget hearings at the Judicial Center Wednesday afternoon. They finalized a budget of just under $100 million for the 2020 fiscal year.
“I’d like to commend our council for doing a great job,” Council President Brad Beaver said. “There are seven different viewpoints on this council and a lot of passion in the decision-making process, but overall I’m happy with the outcome. We spend very wisely.”
McKinney
Beaver
The proposed budget includes six new full-time positions, one each in the Surveyor’s Office, Parks and Recreation Department, Sheriff’s Department, Office of Emergency Management, and Soil and Water Conservation District. A new full-time and part-time employee have also been budgeted for the Youth Assistance Program as well as a part-time employee for the Purdue Extension Office. The proposed budget includes raises averaging 7 percent for county employees and 3 percent for elected officials. A total of $1.2 million was also budgeted to support 13 Hamilton County not-for-profit agencies, including Janus, Aspire and the Humane Society.
“All in all, budget deliberations went extremely well,” said Council Vice President Rick McKinney. McKinney will become Council President in January. “Hamilton County government is in a solidly strong financial position today, which will continue through the end of 2020.”
A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 4 at the council’s next monthly meeting. The council is scheduled to formally adopt the proposed budget at a special meeting at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 16 in Conference Room 1A. Once approved, the budget will be sent to the State of Indiana for approval before going into effect Jan. 1, 2020.