There are 42 different departments that keep Vanderburgh County operating.
These include the sheriff’s office, Burdette Park and even the Old National Events Plaza. They all run on a fiscal budget, and the County Council oversees that budget.
There are several steps in getting these budgets approved.
The 2025 budget process began on Wednesday with hearings. This is where department heads bring their proposed budget to the council.
These concluded Thursday, both sessions taking several hours.
“So basically, it's taking their wants and their needs and going through those in a two day process,” Jill Hahn, council president said.
During that time, council asks questions of the department heads. Hahn said the 2024 county budget was $129 million. This year, county departments have proposed a budget equaling $139 million.
“We are going to have to cut somewhere,” Hahn said. “And so we're trying to see where maybe we can consolidate certain things, maybe another department do something.”
For example, the county wants to spend about $46,000 to pick up litter. Council is exploring having County Jail inmates do some of this work. She said they can usually do so without cutting employees.
Among the largest requested budgets of the departments are the sheriff’s office with $15 million.
The next step are individual meetings with department heads to figure out how to cut costs while balancing that with retention efforts like cost-of-living raises. This is a challenge in an era where public entities are competing with private entities for employees.
After such discussions, there are line itemizations of every department.
“It will show what the amount that was asked and the amount that is either going to be cut,” Hahn said.
It will also show revenues and expenses. The goal overall is not only a balanced county budget, but money left over for incidentals such as facilities damage from natural disasters or maybe hiring a new employee.
Hahn said they haven’t recently run a deficit.
“In the last 10 years we have kept within our means, and that's due to those of us that want to make sure that we're doing our due diligence.”
The final approvals are in October and the budgets are put into use January first.
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