Vanderburgh County Council adopts 2025 budget, approves 4% pay increase for county employees

Vanderburgh County Council on Oct. 2 adopted the county’s 2025 budget and approved a salary ordinance that includes a 4% increase for full‑time county employees.

The council’s action, approved by roll call, also enacted a package of budget adjustments across multiple funds. Financial staff read changes into the record that lower overall appropriations by roughly $2.8 million while approving new or reallocated funding for positions and services. The approved changes added three residential officers, funding shared for three treatment‑court positions, and six additional confinement officers for the county jail.

Auditor/finance staff presented the line‑by‑line adjustments and noted several departmental transfers, including funding moves into LIT public safety and reallocations that free up bridge or road funds. Council members asked about the completeness of project estimates; finance staff said final costs can vary from preliminary estimates but that the adjustments reflect the most current information available.

Council member Kiefer, commenting on the pay adjustment, said, “I’m happy for our county employees with a 4% raise,” attributing the raise in part to prudent fiscal management by county leadership.

The budget adoption included separate, unanimously approved roll‑call votes to adopt the Evansville‑Vanderburgh Airport Authority and the Solid Waste Management District budgets for 2025. The council also approved numerous appropriations and transfers earlier in the meeting, including funding for sheriff overtime, election judges, circuit‑court expenses and other departmental needs.

Chairing officials said the budget process was bipartisan and collaborative and thanked department heads for work on the documents. The council closed the session having passed the salary ordinance and the overall budget package; the county will forward final documents to the Department of Local Government Finance as required.