County OKs court orders, discusses drainage concern
by Patty Cheffey
Following the approval of the 2021 budget, the Marion County Commission signed a couple of court orders to start the year off.
Budgeted transfers included $100,000 from General Revenue to the General Revenue Emergency Fund and $50,000 from General Revenue to the Marion County Jail Renovation Fund.
During Monday’s meeting, the commissioners also approved the lone bid from the Palmyra Spectator for $1,200 to print the annual county financial statement.
They also signed the paperwork to send to the State Emergency Management Agency for the emergency preparedness grant.
Teya Stice, county coordinator, also reported the new plat books have errors and the company will be reprinting them at no charge to the county.
She was also instructed to continue checking with other counties about trading BRO funds for soft match funds to help pay for the bridge on County Road 402.
During last week’s meeting, which was held on Tuesday because of the Monday holiday, the commissioners also met with Winford Vaughn concerning water on his property.
According to Vaughn, since a culvert was installed on County Road 342 in the Marion County Drainage District area, water now dumps onto his property “quicker than we can get rid of it.”
According to Mike Schaefer, county highway supervisor, the drainage district asked to have the culvert installed and are currently digging out ditches in that area. He suggested Vaughn contact them.
Schaefer said he would try to set up a meeting if need be.
Dornberger presented an update on sales tax, noting the sales tax collection was down from this time a year ago.
Sales tax was $176,826.99 compared to $191,677.78 in January 2020.
She added, however that local use tax was up from a year ago. January 2021 showed $63,079.84 collected, compared to $45,105.74 collected in January 2020.
Also last week, the board adopted a change to employee policies, capping the comp time for employees in the assessor’s office. The commissioners met with Mark Novak, county assessor, concerning the change.
They also asked him to keep an eye on his budget.
The commissioners also voted against joining the Monroe County Fire Association. They had been notified because of a cemetery which lies in Marion County but within that fire district.
