County Council adopts $11.3 million budget

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Having spent four days in September pounding out the 2015 Putnam County budget, the Putnam County Council gave its formal approval on Tuesday, Oct. 21.

Faced with the difficulty of cutting $500,000, the council trudged its way through the pages and pages of numbers, giving final approval to a budget of $11,317,140.

The budget comes with a tax levy

of $5,201,000.

The numbers are now subject to the final approval of the Department of Local Government Finance before the county learns its final 2015 numbers.

Besides the budget approval, the council also reviewed a number of routine matters on Tuesday.

Sheriff Steve Fenwick received approval for a $31,000 plan to remodel the kitchen at the Putnam County Jail.

Annie Taylor, new director of the Putnam County Housing Authority, attended to introduce herself to the council. The organization recently completed the transition from being the Greencastle Housing Authority to the Putnam County Housing Authority, giving it the opportunity to serve the entire county, not simply Greencastle and Fillmore.

The topic of bond issuance for the Putnam County Airport Authority dominated discussion at the meeting. Although the council gave its blessing to issue bonds not to exceed $2.75 million, final approval of the project will be up to the Airport Authority Board.

Should the measure pass, the bond issuance will not mean additional taxes for Putnam County residents, as the bond obligation will be paid from the airport's debt service fund.

The issue will be explored in further depth in an upcoming edition of the Banner Graphic.

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