In a historic move, the Lake County Council unanimously adopted a 2009 budget that was $15 million slimmer than the previous year's budget.
"This will be the first year I can recall we actually worked below the previous year's job (budget)," said Councilman Larry Blanchard who has served on the county council since 1994.
Councilman Blanchard said the county not only has a balanced budget but also a cushion which will eliminate the need for a county option income tax.
Since the early 1970's, county government spending increased every year; sometimes by as much as 5%. Not so, this year because the county's property tax collections were frozen by the state for failing to pass a county income tax. Lake County is now the only county in the state of Indiana without a county income tax.
Property owners will pay roughly 56 cents for every $100 of assessed value on their homes, farms, small businesses or industry. The county will take in a total of $125.8 million, which will be $6.1 million less than last year's tax draw.
The $15 million in budget cuts were achieved as follows:
1) Elimination of 112 county jobs
2) Hiring freeze
3) Incentives for early retirement
4) Consolidation of document printing & business machine purchases
5) Elimination of contributions to employees' individual retirement accounts
6) Assuming government user fees for electronic court paper filings & sheriff services
The 2009 budget will include 3% pay increases for 170 county police officers. Also, $1.5 million will be divided up among the county's 2,000 employees as one-time bonuses. The council members say these bonuses are justified because county employees have had their salaries frozen for the past two years. Also, with the 112 job eliminations, remaining employees will have to assume more work.
This budget is a win-win for the weary taxpayers of Lake County and is finally, a step in the right direction.
However, we are sure there is much more that could be done to reduce the waste in county government spending.