Wayne County Council cleaned up the county’s 2024 finances and organized itself and its finances for 2025.
To begin its Jan. 2 meeting, council elected Max Smith as its president, replacing Beth Leisure, who had presided over council for three years.
Smith thanked his fellow councilors for the confidence, and he thanked Leisure for her leadership.
Leisure thanked the council members and other county staff for their work during her leadership period.
“I just wanted to thank council for letting me be the president for the last couple of years; it was a pleasure to serve in that role,” she said. “To the commissioners, we have created a relationship with commissioners that most counties don’t have, and it makes it a joy to do this job and work together.”
Barry Ritter was elected council’s vice president. Leisure chairs the finance committee, and Ritter chairs the personnel committee.
During that day’s finance committee meeting, council appropriated money included in the 2025 budget and handled transfers to fill known needs in the budget.
One appropriation was the remaining $6,369,184.54 in American Rescue Plan Act money that’s all been committed. Commissioner Jeff Plasterer told council members that the county had all of its money properly committed before the Dec. 31, 2024, deadline and he does not expect any problems.
Other appropriations included the Economic Development Corporation of Wayne County and Wayne County Convention and Tourism Bureau budgets previously approved, as well as committed money from the county and consolidated economic development income tax funds. The county has committed $1.6 million from county EDIT as match money for proposed READI projects and has a variety of commitments to programs and incentives through consolidated EDIT.
Transfers included $500,000 for the health department’s budget and $12,000 for community corrections to correct the budget so it matches the department’s request. Council transferred $40,000 of the requested $150,000 for line items that provide juror per diems. The rest must be advertised for public hearing and will be handled during the February meeting.
During a special Dec. 30 meeting, council handled last-minute transfers and payments to close out 2024. Departments requested transfers within their budgets to ensure all line items had enough appropriated money to pay its responsibilities. One of the seven transfers was for four cents, and another for 12 cents.
Council also covered departmental shortfalls with its contingency or one-time funds. It agreed to pay $157,615.18 from its one-time 2024 money for the first 2025 insurance and worker’s compensation premiums. The county’s insurance runs July 1 through June 30, which makes budgeting difficult for the second half of the budget year. Using 2024 funds for the first 2025 payment retains funds in the 2025 budget line item to handle premium increases for the second half of 2025.
EIRPC representative
A decision about who would represent council on the Eastern Indiana Regional Planning Committee was delayed.
Wayne County joins Henry, Randolph, Union, Fayette and Rush counties in EIRPC to address regional planning issues. Plasterer represents commissioners in the organization that meets quarterly. He said having Wayne County representation is important because the county is the population, financial and industrial center of the region.
Consultant contract
Council approved spending up to $28,680 with its human resources consultant Waggoner, Irwin, Scheele and Associates of Muncie for a review of county job descriptions and classifications.
Kim Clauser, the county’s HR director, said the consultants expect to complete the project by Aug. 17.
“I feel this is critical in our work toward the 2026 budget,” Smith said.
A version of this article appeared in the January 8 2025 print edition of the Western Wayne News.