BMV errors mean more than $50,000 in lost revenue for county

As is often the case when dealing with the State of Indiana and revenue streams, it was a case of good news, bad news for the Putnam County Council Tuesday evening.

The good news, Auditor Lorie Hallett reported, is the 2015 county budget had been approved as submitted, with no reductions in spending recommended by the Department of Local Government Finance.

Even with no spending reductions, Hallett continued, the county will still have to make it happen with less revenue coming from the state.

The revenue reduction -- nearly $54,000 -- springs from overcharges by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) and the subsequent refunds issued by the state.

Counties are helping foot the bill because they received some of the overcharged funds in previous years.

The original budgeted amount for excise revenues from BMV collections was $267,117. The real amount will be $213,13.

While some individual motorists in Putnam County will reap the benefits of the refunds, county government itself is on the hook for helping pay it back.

While $54,000 is not a huge figure compared to the overall county budget, the shortage simply presents another challenge for county leaders in the coming year.

One county official starting out the year in a challenging situation is new Recorder Tracy Bridges, who has been without her one full-time deputy since the first of the year.

With the deputy recovering from back surgery, Bridges has increased her reliance on her two part-time deputies. Although this arrangement is working, it is leading to a depletion of part time payroll funds.

Bridges was present Tuesday to request a transfer of $2,759.67 from the full-time fund to the part-time fund. The money is excess in its current fund because of the lack of full-time help at this time.

The transfer, approved unanimously, puts the part-time fund in a better position for the remainder of 2015.

In other business:

* The sheriff's department received tentative approval for previously discussed building projects, including four new roof air handling units, parking lot resurfacing and the conversion of storage space to office space.

Requests to fill a merit deputy position and six part-time jail positions were also granted.

* A $102,176.40 additional appropriation was approved for payment to Cummins Mental Health, one of two payments to Cummins each year.

There is nothing out of the ordinary about the payment, except that it is actually the second payment for last year and thus drawn from unspent 2014 money.

Making the payment after the first of the year required that an additional appropriation be approved.

* A vehicle excise surtax for motor scooters and mopeds was discussed, but will have to be revisited at a later meeting due to questions about the amount the county can charge.

The ordinance would be in addition to the wheel surtax approved by the county several years ago. The new vehicles can now be added since some motor scooters and mopeds must now be licensed.