Council adopts budget and salary ordinances and approves prosecutor grant-funded salary amendments

On Oct. 8 the Saint Joseph County Council completed its fall votes on routine budget ordinances and salary items, approving multiple appropriation and salary measures by unanimous votes.

Auditor Murphy summarized the budget process and gave figures for the upcoming year: "Total general fund budget was $89,200,000. The total county budget was $239,000,000," and he described an extended budgeting process involving departments and staff.

The council approved the following by roll-call votes recorded in the meeting record:

- Bill 93-24 (solid waste appropriation/rate budget) — passed 9–0. - Bill 94-24 (Airport Authority appropriations) — passed 9–0. - Bill 95-24 (county appropriation) — passed 9–0. - Bill 96-24 (establishing 2025 salaries and number of employees) — passed 9–0.

During the salary amendment portion of the meeting, the prosecutor’s office presented two grant-funded requests: a one-year continuation grant of $172,286 to finance salaries for deputy prosecutors, paralegals and victim advocates (Bill 104-24) and a partial-salary grant of $87,156 for victim services (Bill 108-24). Both measures were recommended favorably and approved unanimously.

Council also handled fiscal transfers and an omnibus fiscal bill (Bill 103-24) that included an item (part g) that had been tabled earlier; after discussion about legal-service budgets the council approved Bill 103-24 by a 9–0 vote.

Clerks read roll calls for each item and the meeting record shows consistent unanimous votes on the budget and prosecutor grant items.