Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Dubois County commissioners review budget cuts and staffing questions for jail, parks and insurance
Summary
At a county meeting, commissioners discussed a $143,878 reduction in proposed cuts, outstanding custody-related hospital costs, part-time jail and park staffing that may need reclassification, and requests for $20,000 more for electronic monitoring and roughly $50,000 for insurance shortfalls; no formal votes were recorded in the transcript.
Dubois County commissioners spent much of the meeting reviewing proposed budget revisions and flagging staffing and funding shortfalls that will return to a future agenda.
Committee member (S1) said staff had made about $143,878 in cuts but noted that custody costs for the county’s hospital still needed to be added to the budget. S1 asked staff to confirm line-item details and page references in the packet before the county finalizes the budget for advertisement after the next meeting.
The commissioners questioned several jail-related line items. S1 pointed to Page 18 where a single line lists a part-time "cook / jailer" and asked whether that position should be separated or capped, saying part-timers sometimes perform mixed duties and that creating a distinct part-time role can later convert to full time. S2 agreed that documenting the duties and counts would help clarify staffing needs.
Park and communications staffing also drew attention. S1 said park staffing counts were unclear and raised a separate part-time position that handles the county’s social media posts. "She does the Facebook post," S1 said, adding the county should consider whether that role needs to be full time if workloads continue to grow.
Budget tracking, pandemic-related allocations and program reporting were discussed. S2 asked for clearer breakdowns of funds labeled for COVID-related work and suggested regular reporting (quarterly or annual) so the county can see whether demand and costs are trending up or down.
Several specific funding requests were identified to be brought back for action. S1 said Dwight plans to request a transfer and an additional $20,000 to increase electronic monitoring funding toward $40,000; S1 also told the commission that building and vehicle insurance budgets are short and "probably gonna be needing about 50,000 more." S1 said the county would appropriate money from an endowment fund to repair a fountain.
On the question of prior spending practices, S2 emphasized that earlier expenditures from accounts such as commissary or state work accounts were not made maliciously and that state guidance and written resolutions control what is allowed. "Nothing was ever done maliciously," S2 said, adding that actions would need to be written and approved by the appropriate offices.
S1 closed by noting that several items — new jailer hires, courthouse security and the abatement committee’s scoring of applications — will appear on the next meeting agenda. S2 said they would forward a draft ordinance from a neighboring county for the commission to review as a possible template.
No formal motions or roll-call votes were included in the provided transcript; commissioners left several items for later clarification and formal action at future meetings.
