Marshall County Council Approves Appropriation Requests

A number of additional appropriations were approved by the Marshall County Council at their recent meeting. One such appropriation was approved for the Highway Department, which requested an additional $250,000 to appropriate all of the county department budgets for vehicle maintenance supplies such as gasoline and diesel. According to Marshall County Auditor Penny Lukenbill, the department has agreements with Marshall-Starke Development Center and Older Adult Services to allow them to purchase gasoline from the highway department and reimburse them. The money that the organizations pay goes back into the general fund, so the department will occasionally request that the money be appropriated back into their budget so they can continue purchasing fuel.

A grant appropriation from the Sheriff’s Department was approved for $1500 to allow them to purchase a radar unit, and the Probation Department was approved for a $120,000 appropriation toward juvenile detention.

A resolution was also approved at the meeting to transfer appropriations from the two local 911 funds into the new statewide 911 fund, which was combined at the state level legislatively this year.

Statewide 911 Fund Implemented July 1

One of the new requirements that began July 1 was the statewide 911 Fund that replaces E911 and Wireless 911 funds. The Marshall County Council discussed the change at their recent meeting.

The state will now collect $0.90 for all landline and cell phones which replaces the current Marshall County-established landline fee of $1.53 and the $0.50 fee on cell phones. By statute, the county is guaranteed a “Hold Harmless” amount of $500,368, which is the average revenue for the past three fiscal years.

Remaining balances and budgets will be transferred from the two existing funds, E911 and Wireless 911 funds, into the new combined fund.