Whitley County Council approves trim $7.9 million county budget for 2011
(Talk of the Town photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Above, from left, Auditor Linda Gerig, Whitley County Council president Kim Wheeler, councilman John Barrett and councilman Jim Bayman discuss the impact of the newly finalized 2011 budget.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
Five of seven members of the Whitley County Council met this morning and unanimously approved the county's $7.9 million 2011 budget.
"There wasn't a whole lot to adjust this year," said council president Kim Wheeler. Wheeler said that last year, county department heads spent considerable time shaping their budgets to be conservative and within their means, making this year's process much easier.
"Last year, the department head spent a lot of time adjusting and it benefited us all this year," added councilman Jim Banks.
"They really bit the bullet on a lot of things," said councilman Tom Western. "You have to give a lot of credit to those department heads for living within their budgets. It really took a lot of headaches off us."
The $7.9 million budget approved this morning is actually $1.3 million less than last year and featured an additional $300,000+ cuts added just prior to this morning's council meeting.
When asked if the budget reductions made over the past two years have been noticeable in terms of reduction in services or quality, Wheeler said the county has been fortunate and the cuts have not been negative.
"We just handle more," said Auditor Linda Gerig. Geric implied that county offices are working smarter now to best utilize their funding in a way that gets the jobs done effectively and without added expense.
Councilmen present for the meeting included Kim Wheeler, John Barrett, Jim Bayman, Tom Western and Jim Banks. Those not present were Glen Larue and Bill Overdeer.