Marion County Court voted to establish a unique fund, numbered 3408, to track revenues and expenses for a vehicle lease program for the Marion County Sheriff’s Department and declared the ordinance an emergency so the county can order replacement vehicles without losing its place in vendors’ queues.

Court members said the fund will not receive spending allocations for 2025 but must be set up now so the county can budget and place orders before agencies close their ordering windows. The court adopted an ordinance amending the annual operating budget and compensation ordinance for calendar year 2025 to create the fund and declared an emergency to speed implementation.

The measure’s backers told the court that five county vehicles purchased in 2018 are failing and that ordering now is necessary to avoid months-long delays from manufacturers and suppliers. The court amended the ordinance text to remove the phrase “county general” from the title and section 1 and to tighten the language describing the fund’s purpose before voting.

Members debated whether the circumstances meet the statutory definition of an emergency. The county attorney told the court that, by statute, an emergency designation must relate to the health and safety of the county and advised caution in using the emergency clause. Other members argued the procurement timing could effectively delay receipt of vehicles and therefore affect service delivery.

Court members also discussed budgetary context: no dollars are being transferred into fund 3408 for the current year; the fund is being created on the books so the county can place orders and include the line item in next year’s budget. Court members said reimbursements for cleanup and disaster response can affect overtime expenses and budget planning, and that last year’s multiple natural disasters produced unpredictable overtime costs.

A motion to amend the ordinance language was made and seconded; the amended ordinance and emergency declaration were put to a vote and approved. The court did not specify a dollar appropriation for 2025 in the ordinance.

The court’s action sets an administrative account to track leasing revenues and expenses for sheriff vehicles and signals the county’s intent to place vehicle orders in the coming months to replace aging units.