By David Purvis-Fenker
david@nmpaper.com
WABASH,IN The Wabash County Commissioners unanimously passed a new ordinance amending how the “Rainy Day Fund” is used on July 11. Steve Downs, county attorney, presented the ordinance amending the “Rainy Day Fund” ordinance to the commissioners. According to Commissioner Scott Givens, the amendment will change the ordinance back to “its original purposes, which were unfunded liabilities generally pertaining to employment, but not always.”
Givens said that the County Council initiates the changes to the ordinance, but the Commissioners must also approve.
According to the amended ordinance, the fund shall be used for employee benefits due at the end of employment, transfer of prisoners, elections, unemployment, professional services, legal consultants and services, the Commissioners’ Attorney, the Personnel Administration Committee, legal ads, Animal Shelter Allocation, ARC of Wabash County and Soldier Burial, among other items. The full ordinance may be viewed on the county’s website. The ordinance was previously amended in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The fund is intended to provide funds to the county when it must “pay certain non-recurring expenses that were unanticipated at the time its’ budget was adopted,” according to the 2015 amendment. The 2015 amendment stated that the purpose of the fund would be to pay “non-recurring, unanticipated, and unbudgeted expenses for the construction and financing of a new jail.” The original ordinance only provided funding for paying benefits due to county employees when their employment with the county was terminated. The funds deposited in the Rainy Day Fund are unused funds from a variety of accounts including the CAGIT, COIT and CEDIT special accounts, and interest earned on the fund itself.
By Jacob Terrell
WABASH,IN — In a Wabash County Board of Commissioners meeting, Bob Land, the Wabash County Sheriff gave a jail report stating that the jail population is 87 with 24 new book ins and 9 transports. He also states that we have 40 booked over in Miami County with 17 of them being female and 23 of them being male, also 6 booked in Elkhart County with 5 being male and one of them being female.