Bridge tax reinstated

Mar 5, 2010 — The Evening News and The Tribune

Braden Lammers

Mar. 4, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- JEFFERSONVILLE -- The Clark County Commissioners made several attempts to mitigate the impact of budget and employee shortages at its meeting Thursday.

The commissioners approved an ordinance reinstituting the county's cumulative bridge fund at a rate of 3 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

A cumulative bridge fund that was previously in effect in the county was cited as one of the reasons the county's general fund had shrunk, according to consultant Dan Eggermann.

"The failure to have this fund, to the extent of the 1984 cumulative fund levy, and our failure to do that resulted in the general fund reduced by $308,895," said attorney for the commissioners Greg Fifer. "To the extent that you reestablish this fund and end up funding a budget of at least that amount of money that comes back to the county as an addition to the general fund. It adds to our maximum levy."

To recover the money lost the commissioners advertised reinstituting a rate of up to 6 cents per $100 in assessed value.

The commissioners are aware that the rate will not need to be as high as advertised and will also likely get final approval below the 3 cent rate.

Anything raised above the approximately $309,000 lost would it will operate to take other monies away from the general fund, according to Fifer.

While the likely rate will be about a penny, the rate enacted can always be lowered, but it cannot be raised following approval of the ordinance.

"We can always go down, we can't go back up," said Commissioner Ed Meyer.

Ordinance 5-2010 was approved 2-1 with Commissioner Mike Moore voting against.

Clark County may also have a temporary answer to being understaffed and to cover costs for some county services.

The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration was mandated by Gov. Mitch Daniels to reinstitute the Indiana Manpower Comprehensive Training Program.

It is a community work program, for specific eligible residents, which requires the person to work in exchange for state benefits.

"What we're doing is establishing work experience sites to basically have the participants that are receiving this assistance to go to work and work off their assistance in some capacity," said State Eligibly Consultant Pam Yoho.

The individuals eligible for work could be placed in either non-profit or for-profit businesses.

"It would be free labor for the county to use in any way," Yoho said. "These are able-bodied adult workers."

The state also provides a certification of liability for those workers.

To be a qualified candidate for the IMPACT program the individuals must meet federal poverty standards, be unemployed and be receiving state assistance in the form of cash assistance or food stamps.

Offices within the county have complained about staffing issues following the imposed cuts of 30 percent from the Clark County Council.

However, workers that have been laid off were still a concern of the commissioners wanting to make sure that they were not being replaced by the IMPACT workers.

If the workers laid off by the county are eligible for public assistance then the individual would be able to apply for this program.

However, the worker must still meet specific qualifications.

"It depends on how much unemployment they are getting [and] how many are in the household," Yoho said.

The contract for Clark County to become part of the community work program was unanimously approved.

Economic Development Income Taxes may also provide some relief to the county.

The commissioners passed a resolution allowing EDIT funds to be marketable as a backup to the $2 million bond approved for capital improvements approved by the county council for the Clark County Building Authority.

While it is solely a backup plan, it was approved in case the county could not fund the buildings operations.

"Otherwise it has to come out of your [cumulative] cap, which is what we are trying to avoid," Fifer said.

An additional $700,000 of unallocated EDIT funds may also be available to the county for 2010.

"That [money] could be used to fund the lease payments, specifically including the variable rents, which is the operating expenses here," Fifer said. "So it goes a long way to solving this years problems of keeping the lights on in this building."

The figure may also be higher than estimated.

"That $700,000 that was a conservative figure," said Auditor Keith Groth. "It's closer to $800,000."

In other business

The commissioners made three appointments at Thursday's meeting.

Clarksville Town Council President Greg Isgrigg was appointed to the Clark County Solid Waste Management District Board of Managers.

Rex Lockard was appointed to the Wage Determination Board for both Ivy Tech Community College and the Greater Clark County School Corporation.

All appointments were unanimously approved.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0418-42628126