The Washington County Council met Monday morning (Sept. 29) to review a half dozen budgets to try to get a clear picture on how to make a final vote on October 6 before submitting the 2026 budget to the state.
Among those being discussed was Delaney Park, Public Defender, County Clerk, Sheriff and 911 Dispatchers, EMS and the County Fairgrounds and Fair Board.
Two groups initially asked for either less money or at least no increase in their budgets.
WATCH THE MEETING HERE – https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19vQJsVYZk/
DELANEY PARK
John Burlington, the manager of Delaney Park asked for no change in the $366,460 budget – but to make a change in line items.
Burlington asked to lower the gatehouse budget item from $45,000 to $42,568 so he could take the difference and apply it to the park secretary’s salary to raise her from $40,838 to $42,000.
Burlington said that would put all the positions in equal pay position.
FAIRBOARD/GROUNDSKEEPER
The other benefit came from the elimination of county employee Randy Lee as the fairgrounds groundskeeper.
Washington County District 2 Commissioner Todd Ewen passed out a handwritten copy of the budget savings to the council and said it was “pretty simple” and then walked the group through the notations.
Ewen said the total amount paid to Lee on an annual basis was $48,733 which included salary, insurance and benefits. There was also approximately $1800 spent on fuel for mowing for a total expense of $50,533.
After the request from the Fairboard to the commissioners earlier this summer to eliminate the position, Ewen said they are taking the lower of three or four bids for lawn care which would include 35 cuttings at $21,000.
Ewen did not say which local contractor submitted this low bid.
Ewen also said the Commissioners would be budgeting $20,000 to allow the fairboard to perform maintenance to the fairgrounds “as they see fit.”
That total would be $41,000 to do the groundskeeper’s job which would provide a savings of $9,533.
“Keeping into consideration there would be a couple of additional mowing before the county fair (to make sure it looks good),” said Ewen. “We are in the process of rewriting the contract [with the fair board]…should be ready next Tuesday to make up the difference for the groundskeepers position being eliminated. The fair board will assume all responsibility for taking care of the fairgrounds. Less the mowing. County’s contract 21,000 will come out of the commissioner budget and the 20,000 for the fairboard to do as they see fit. They are the boots on the ground. They are the ones who know what needs to be done up there.”
Previously the fairgrounds was the responsibility of the county with the fair board taking care of the property during the week of the fair.
Ewen also said the commissioners want to provide an additional $5000 to the fairgrounds to install additional security cameras this fall, which would tie into the system already in place that is monitored by the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.
When asked how the county would do the work, Ewen said, “They can take that 20,000 and hire whoever they please.”
“The idea here is it really makes more sense because obviously you councilmen and commissioners, have no business micro-managing the fairgrounds,” said Ewen. “It does belong to the county. It’s our goal … to see that the upgrades and work and the upkeep gets done. That’s the goal. To make sure it gets done and that it looks nice. Necessary repairs get done when they need to get done. [It’s] preventative maintenance and [we need to] let the fair board do their job and take care of the fairgrounds with our blessing and give them the tools to do it and i think it will be a much better situation.”
Council member Preston Shell questioned how to explain how the work around the fairgrounds hadn’t been done by the groundskeeper when the fairboard and county hadn’t provided him the tools to do the work.
Ewen questioned Shell, who responded that the county “wouldn’t give him the paint to paint the buildings.”
“That was his job,” said Ewen, referring to Lee. “Where did you hear that?”
Shell said that he was at the fairgrounds and had firsthand knowledge.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you there aren’t repairs up there that need to be done,” said Ewen. “They’re fairly minor. This just makes much more sense. [The Fairboard] know[s] what needs to be done. I say let them do it. And it will get done. It hasn’t been getting done like it should — everyone knows that. This is a solution.”
“If I had a million dollars, I could think of enough things to repair up there,” Ewen said. “I guess we could start a Go Fund Me page. There’s always things that need to be done…Lot of painting that needs to be done. Lot of little things that could make the place look better…to keep the place from rotting down. But this is very workable. This will help to make it better.”
Ewen finished with talking about the fair volunteers: “I would encourage anybody and everybody to talk to the fairboard members or the dozens of volunteers over the years who donate their time to make that place what it is. We have a very good fair every year up there. People work very hard and we get a lot of volunteers. Next time you see one you ought to thank them. Better yet, if you have a chance, I bet they would accept some help who would like to help up there.”
COUNTY CLERK
Stephanie Rockey, Washington County Clerk, spoke about having a $2000 stipend added to her budget for next year’s general election.
In 2024, Indiana added IC 3-7-12-22 which allows Indiana counties thata do not have a voter registration board to provide — in addition to the per diem compensation provided in subsection (a), a county fiscal body may provide a stipend, not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), to a circuit court clerk who serves as a voter registration officer each year in which a general election is held.
Washington County voted last year to provide $2000 additional stipend to Rockey during the Presidential General Election.
Rockey pointed out that there are only “five types of elections in Indiana — General, Municipal, Primary, School District and Special Elections. A presidential election is part of that general election category. There is not a labeled presidential election under state law.”
She asked for the matter to be corrected so that she could receive the stipend for 2026.
Council President Mark Abbott said he had contacted the county attorney and received information that said the county may award the stipend but wasn’t required to do so.
He said they would review that before October 6.
Council member Todd Armstrong asked Rockey what the stipend was for.
“It’s a stipend for myself because …. the “beast” of general elections to go above if your county does not have a voter registration board. Currently we have a county election board….they get paid on off election years and and during election years….$6000 each year. Usually voter registration board gets paid to match the election board. Washington County is not exempt from that.”
Abbott said they would review this again and have to correct the previous motion.
WASHINGTON COUNTY 911
Sheriff Brent Miller and 911 Coordinator Kelly Sargent spoke to the council about the 911 dispatch budget, which is heavy with overtime pay.
The dispatchers are schedule for 12-hour days, four of which are considered overtime.
The council would like to eliminate as much overtime pay as possible, but Sargent and Miller noted that paying overtime was cheaper than paying for additional employees with benefits.
Sargent explained that with a four-percent raise “the money [dispatchers] get now with four hours of overtime is approximately $40,398.
“With the proposed raise, the dispatchers will be loosing about $600 a year and my shift dispatchers will be loosing about $700 a year,” Sargent noted. “It sounds nominal, but these are people who have to put food on their families table and you’re asking them to keep working for the county at a decrease in pay overall – if you take away the overtime.”
Council President Abbott said he wanted to start a committee to work together to come up with an idea to help curb overtime costs.
“I’ve bounced this off the wall a million times,” said Abbott. “I’m not sure there is a clear cut answer for it. We all know that overtime…when we’re sitting here trying to create a budget, it’s a big animal for us to handle. One thing I want the council to think about ….before we vote on this next meeting. I really feel like for now, where we’re at…because we do know that if we take that away it’s going to affect these employees…but my thoughts are, I’d like to see a committee formed…representative from sheriffs, jailer, EMS, public safety…where this overtime is a concern….three council member and start this and leave the budget as presented with the overtime in there for 2026 and work on this moving forward.”
The council agree that Brad Gilbert, Andrew Davisson and Todd Armstrong would serve on the committee with Miller and Sargent along with members from EMS.
EMS
Tony Floyd and Mike Spurgeon from EMS spoke to the council about their budget and agree to cut one “floater” position that would save some money.
“I want to go ahead and remove that floater position for now and go from that point and try to come up with a solution with this committee,” said Floyd. “We’ve worked the numbers until we’re both cross-eyed. It’s a solution of what’s going to happen down the road.”
(Left) Brent Miller and Kelly Sargent approach the council Monday to speak about their budgets.(Bottom) The council met to discuss final budgets. (Bottom left) Commissioner Todd Ewen answers questions about the elimination of the groundskeeper at the fairgrounds. (Bottom right) Ewen presented this budget to the council that shows a savings of over $9,000 to eliminate the position. (photos by Rebecca White) 
