After reviewing the budgets presented by the county's department heads on Monday, Aug. 15, Franklin County Council recessed until the following morning to look for cuts to bring the expenditures more in line with expected revenue on Aug. 16 and 17.

Council president Jeff Koch suggested council first review the public safety local income tax (PSLIT) disbursements. Koch reviewed the amounts requested including $500,000 from Franklin County EMS, $300,000 of which covers the annual service contract, the remainder is earmarked for a new ambulance, fire departments in Blooming Grove, New Trenton, Oldenburg, Metamora, Brookville, Laurel, Cedar Grove and Drewersburg all requested amounts averaging around $20,000. Brookville Fire Department requested an additional $100,000 to go toward the purchase of a new ladder truck, which would service the whole county.

Council vice-president Joe Sizemore asked if a 911 director could be paid out of the PSLIT, noting his goal before leaving council in January is to allocate $65,000 to hiring a 911 director. 

Council member Carroll Lanning inquired about the request from Franklin County EMS, if the $300,000 was set is stone and details about the ambulance purchase. Koch replied the $300,000 is the contract between FC EMS and county commissioners. Council member Scott McDonough questioned why the county is paying money for an ambulance, noting that's why they pay an annual contract. Council member Brian Patterson noted FC EMS had requested $200,000 to cover half the purchase of an ambulance through the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA). Council member Glen Bischoff voiced concern on the lack of communication between FC EMS and county council. Koch explained the $300,000 contract is to provide emergency medical service to the county, as long as they are fulfilling their obligation at the agreed upon price, that's the contract.

Patterson noted FC EMS recently purchased real estate next to their building for $90,000, he has trouble justifying giving the group money for an ambulance when they are buying real estate. Patterson expressed similar concerns over the $100,000 request from the Brookville Fire Department when the Town of Brookville is buying up golf courses. 

Last year PSLIT disbursements included $300,000 for the FC EMS contract and $30,000 split between the fire departments requesting funding. McDonough suggested sticking with the same as last year, but add some more to the fire department split since more departments requested funding than in the past. Patterson suggested giving a flat $10,000 to the fire departments with the understanding they will not come back with more requests during the year. Sizemore asked about the ladder truck, Patterson suggested that come out of ARPA.

Franklin County auditor Karla Bauman stated the proposed disbursements of $10,000 per fire department and the EMS contract will leave $802,079 in the public safety budget, which is enough to cover the public safety fund requests for the sheriff's department and jail. McDonough suggested $6,000 per department, Sizemore suggested $8,000. McDonough agreed with Sizemore and made a motion to budget $8,000 for each of the requesting fire departments and the $300,000 EMS contract.

From there, council began its line-by-line of the proposed 2023 budget, first reviewing all non-payroll lines, then going back to discuss employee compensation. A first sweep was made, removing non-essential equipment requests from all departments and adjustments made to the insurance fund, which was over-funded last year. Next the budgets of each departments was analyzed, based on spending in previous years, looking for any potential savings from trimming office supplies to axing new vehicle purchases. 

After crunching the numbers from the cuts, Reedy Financial Group's representative explained council had cut the overall gap to a $287,055 deficit, down from $2.5 million. Most of those savings were from shifting health insurance and cutting capital expenditures. 

Council then moved on to the discussion of pay raises and new employees. The request for three new dispatchers and four new jailers drew the most discussion. Plans to move the 911 dispatch center out of the jail would require both more dispatchers and additional jailers, to be able to run both departments smoothly and separately. McDonough suggested the need to have a place to put new dispatchers before they can be hired and advised council wait until the project moves forward before funding the new positions. Patterson suggested setting aside money for the new positions contingent upon moving dispatch out of the jail. Council member Joe Gillespie voiced concern over the county being able to afford seven additional employees. 

Council discussed the new staffing requests further with Sheriff Peter Cates, who reiterated the increased staffing is to accommodate moving dispatch. Additionally, Cates pushed for a pay bump for the jail commander, commensurate with the responsibility that comes with the position. Council voted to approve the jail commander raise and budget pay for one jailer and one dispatcher; plus allocate money for two additional dispatchers if the dispatch center moves out of the jail. 

Council moved on to discuss pay raises, with McDonough leading off with the suggestion of a four percent raise across the board. Sizemore suggested giving all employees a flat $1.50 per hour raise, McDonough agrued against the dollar amount, suggesting a percentage is more fair. Koch asked for a vote on the four percent raise, which was approved by council. The board then went about reviewing other payroll lines throughout the budget, eventually coming back and revising the cost-of-living raise to five percent.