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Director asks council to transfer $25,470 within group‑homes budget after unexpected repairs
Summary
Norm Lautner, executive director for county group homes, asked the Vigo County Council to transfer $25,470 from salary lines to contractual services and building repair to cover emergency plumbing, mold remediation and ductwork replacement.
Norm Lautner, executive director of the county group homes, asked the Vigo County Council to reallocate $25,470 within his 2025 budget to cover unanticipated repair work at county residential facilities.
At the council meeting Lautner described three primary expenses: removal of concrete to access an upstairs restroom drain, mold remediation at the Carpenter Home and replacement of damaged ductwork discovered under a crawlspace. "When we tried to get to the drain to repair it, we found that there was about 2 and a half inches of concrete on the floor," Lautner said. Contractors later found evidence of standing water under the house and recommended ductwork replacement.
Lautner requested that $8,920 be moved into contractual services and $16,550 into building repair from the salaries line. He said the transfer would use previously appropriated 2025 budget funds tied to positions that have not been filled; the money is therefore available without a new appropriation. "This is not an appropriation either from the general fund or from the ... nonreverting fund. It's simply a transfer of already appropriated money from my 2025 budget," he told the council.
Council members pressed for clarity about the county's "nonreverting" fund balances and whether those funds should be used instead. Councilman Randy Gentry and others urged using nonreverting funds—funds generated by the group homes' state placements—because those dollars come from outside local taxpayer revenues. Lautner and other officials said using a transfer of already appropriated salary money was the fastest way to ensure contractors could be paid immediately, given statutory advertising requirements for appropriations and procurement timing.
The auditor provided an on‑the‑record cash balance for the nonreverting fund as $122,778. Lautner said he could pursue reimbursement from maintenance or other county accounts and return next month seeking appropriation from the nonreverting fund if council preferred that approach.
Ending: Council members debated technical differences between transfers and new appropriations and asked staff to provide additional fund‑balance information; no formal vote on the transfer is recorded in the transcript.
