County seeking realistic 2022 budget

Ken de la Bastide, The Herald Bulletin, Anderson, Ind.
·2 min read

Aug. 31—ANDERSON — The Madison County Council has adopted a different approach in the hopes of creating a more realistic budget for 2022.

In the past, the council has reviewed requests from county offices, making reductions along the way.

At the end of the process, several departments had their budgets reduced with the knowledge that additional funding would be required during the year.

Councilman Anthony Emery said the intent this year is to have true funding requests from the county offices and elected officials and department heads will be asked to justify any increases in their budgets.

Emery said the council needs to get another $500,000 to $600,000 from the 2022 budget requests.

"Many of the offices were requesting a 7% increase for employees," he said. "We know county employees have done more with less for several years.

"We're looking at a pay raise," Emery said. "We can't fix it all at once."

County council president Ben Gale said his budget draft will include a pay raise for county employees in 2022, but the amount has not been determined.

"I'm optimistic about the 2022 budget," he said. "We're in better (financial) shape than last year."

County auditor Rick Gardner said Monday this year his office provided the members of the county council with actual expenditures for each department dating back three years.

He said actual spending for the past three years has averaged approximately $39 million.

Gardner has estimated revenues in 2022 for the county at $38.5 million.

He said the hope is to finish 2021 with an operating balance in the county's general fund of $9.5 million.

County departments submitted budget requests of $43.7 million for 2022.

The 2021 budget for Madison County was approved at $37.1 million.

The 2020 budget for the county was $37.8 million.

Gale said following the review process he has requested any budget thoughts from the other council members.

"I will be presenting a first draft of the budget at the September meeting," he said. "We're looking at the last three years of actual spending instead of the requests."

Follow Ken de la Bastide on Twitter @KendelaBastide, or call 765-640-4863.