By Lou Ann Millett
Tribune Correspondent
Tipton County Council is always hard at work minding the County’s coffers. Fall brings the added task of planning the county budget for 2025.
This year two members of the Council voiced their concerns over the upcoming budget. Council President Mike Terry stated, “The deficit is double what I’ve ever seen. It’s daunting.” After an early look at the 2025 departmental budget requests, Council member Jim Ashley remarked, “We have requests that far exceed anything that I’ve seen in my twelve years on the County Council. It’s a question of what we can do.”
One big ask comes from a committee that has been studying the advantages of enrolling full-time employees and elected officials in PERF – Public Employees Retirement Fund since Tipton County is one of only six Indiana counties that does not have PERF for its employees. The committee is comprised of the three county commissioners (Dennis Henderson, Tracey Powell, and Nancy Cline, two county council members (Jan Smith and Kirk Retherford), and three county department heads (Bret Morris from the county highway, Lindsay Ogden from county health and Steve Niblick from county planning). The county commissioners had been gearing up to pay for a complete re-roofing of the Court House with an expected cost of $2.l million. However, they found a company, Cornet, that could repair the roof for $250,000, a sum that includes the repairs and an inspector of the ongoing project. With this news, the PERF committee seeks to enroll the county elected officials and full-time employees in the program with up to a ten year “buy back”.
Costs for the first year are projected at $600,000. The percentage set aside for retirement benefits is a number fixed by the Indiana State Legislature. Currently, that number is 11.2 percent of the gross payroll. Councilman Jim Purvis commented, “The ‘hiccup’ is the yearly costs” (which would increase each year and with each pay raise).
No decisions on the fate of PERF were made at this August meeting. County Council members are seeking knowledge from their financial advisors Baker-Tilley.
County department heads, Adam DeWitt (Emergency Management), Lindsay Ogden (County Health), and Bret Morris (County Highway) all spoke about the positive benefits of PERF: Employees are your greatest asset; PERF aids in being able to attract potential employees and retain those already on the county payroll.
County Council members will continue to ponder whether or not PERF is affordable for Tipton County.
