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Consultant warns council to match 2027 spending to receipts as reserves rise
Summary
Baker Tilly consultant Paige told Scott County leaders the preliminary 2027 worksheet shows a healthy but fluid cash position — roughly $4.8M starting cash and $10.4M in projected general fund receipts — and urged the council to avoid using reserves for recurring expenses amid uncertainty in local income tax projections.
Paige of Baker Tilly told the Scott County council the document they reviewed should focus on projected receipts for 2027. "So first of all, what I really want you to focus on is the receipts for 2027," she said, and emphasized column B on the worksheet as the primary balancing target.
Paige said the general fund was projected to begin 2027 with about $4,800,000, a figure that includes a distribution from the judgment bond fund. She told council members that the $10.4 million receipts estimate is built on a 4% assumed increase in local income tax, subject to state-provided estimates that were still pending. "We're estimating a beginning cash balance in 2027 of about 4,800,000," she said. The consultant recommended keeping recurring costs aligned with annual receipts and reserving one-time cash for capital needs rather than ongoing spending.
The presentation covered multiple restricted funds — special purpose, cumulative bridge, ambulance, health, and local road funds — and highlighted specific vulnerabilities, including a decline in ambulance receipts and cuts to Health 1st Indiana grant funding. Paige also noted the county could increase the cumulative capital development tax up to the statutory maximum rate if elected, explaining the maximum statutory rate is 0.0333 while the county’s current rate is 0.0182. The council asked staff to continue refining the worksheet as state income-tax estimates and departmental clarifications arrive.
