June 7

Nov 03, 2023

ALBION — The budget numbers still need to be crunched, but the Noble County Council discussed giving county employees a raise for 2024 in the 4-5% range during June 5's regularly scheduled meeting.

According to Noble County Coordinator Jackie Knafel, the 4% raise for all county employees would cost the General Fund approximately $300,000.

Councilman Tom Janes asked Knafel about how the county is doing from a fiscal standpoint.

"I think we’re in pretty good shape right now," Knafel answered.

The council had discussed the 4% number, but decided to set the tentative ceiling a little higher in the event the county budget could stand a slightly higher rate.

"I’d rather have a little more leeway," Janes said.

The Social Security Administration is proposing a 3.1% cost of living raise for 2024, but the council wanted to give employees more since the prior year's wage increase fell short of the inflation rate.

The Social Security Administration had set its cost of living increase a year ago at 8.6%. The council approved a 4.5% wage increase for county employees a year ago.

How much the county can actually afford won't be determined officially until budget hearings, which have been set for Aug. 21-23.

Also at June 5's meeting:

• The council voted to deny a waiver for a Kendallville area firm that had missed a deadline for completing tax abatement paperwork.

Kammerer Welding had received an abatement last year on the purchase of a new laser cutting tool. But while the company completed the proper paperwork for two other abatements it had received, it did not complete the third involving the laser cutter.

The mistake was not noticed until Kammerer Welding got its May installment for taxes.

The cost of the equipment abated was $476,000, and Kammerer would have saved approximately $7,200 in assessed value in the first year of the abatement.

The council has occasionally approved waivers of non-compliance. But because this mistake wasn't discovered until after May tax bills were due, granting the waiver now would cause a ripple effect.

The Noble County Public Library system, the township, schools and the county itself would experience budgetary shortfalls since the projections for spending had already been made.

"Someone is not going to get what they were budgeted," Noble County Assessor Ben Castle told the council. "It's already set aside. You will shortfall something."

Because of the ripple effect, the council decided not to approve the waiver.

Kammerer Welding will still be eligible get the tax break on the laser cutter purchase for the rest of the term of the abatement — as long as it files the proper paperwork on time.

Region III-A representative Matt Brinkman had appeared at June 5's meeting. Brinkman said the company was notified ahead of time about the deadlines for filing required paperwork.

There were no representatives from Kammerer Welding for the non-compliance waiver discussion, a fact not lost on the council.

• The council took under advisement a pair of bids from area financial institutions to provide short-term loan relief for the Noble County Courthouse renovation project.

The approximately $8.5 million project will be partially funded through set aside American Rescue Plan monies — nearly $4.5 million — with the majority of the remainder coming through a loan.

Lake City Bank and Community State Bank were the only institutions to submit bids on the loaning after the county solicited six different banks.

The council had some questions about the wording on the proposals, and decided to ask its financial advisor — Jeff Peters — to go over both bids to provide clarifications and some guidance.

Noble County Highway Department Engineer Zack Smith, who is the project manager, said both proposals would meet the county's need to fund the completion of the project.

The council hopes to use excess money from its Rainy Day Fund to make payments on the loan.

According to Knafel, the Rainy Day Fund had $1.7 million in it as of June 5's meeting. The council has said it doesn't want to see this emergency fund go below $1 million.

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