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Ontonagon County adopts 2025 General Appropriations Act, authorizes limited procurement rules
Summary
The Ontonagon County Board of Commissioners adopted the 2025 General Appropriations Act at a special budget hearing Sept. 16, 2025, approving rules on procurement, limits on obligations and authorizing temporary advances by the county treasurer to avoid bond default.
The Ontonagon County Board of Commissioners adopted the county's 2025 General Appropriations Act at a special budget hearing on Sept. 16, 2025. Commissioner Bourdeau moved to adopt the resolution and Commissioner Store supported the motion; the roll call showed AYES: Bourdeau, Store, Nousiainen and Nykanen, NAYS: none, ABSTENTIONS: none; Commissioner Cane was recorded as absent. The minutes state: "RESOLUTION DECLARED ADOPTED."
The adopted act includes procurement guidance calling for obtaining multiple bids, "when practical, for purchases over five hundred ($500) dollars of any durable items, such as equipment, furniture and specialized projects." It also restates a standard fiscal control: no obligation or payment may be made from an appropriation account unless sufficient unencumbered balance and funds are available. The act authorizes the county treasurer to make temporary advances to debt service funds and accounts if necessary "to avoid defaulting on bond principal and interest payments." The appropriation act further specifies that any deviation from the original General Appropriations Act must be made only by amending the act in accordance with state statutes.
Why it matters: the appropriation act sets the county's authorized spending for the year and establishes procurement and fiscal controls that guide county departments' purchases and obligations. The authorization for temporary advances is an administrative measure intended to protect debt service obligations but does not itself alter tax or revenue authority.
The motion to adopt was made during a special budget hearing before the regular meeting and was followed by adjournment of the budget hearing to the call of the Chair at 3:47 p.m. The regular meeting convened at 4:00 p.m. and proceeded to routine business.
What happened next: the minutes record routine approvals of minutes and the meeting's agenda and a subsequent slate of contract approvals and appointments during the regular meeting. The minutes do not record amendments to the adopted appropriation act at that meeting.
