Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Asked at Tuesday evening’s “State of the County” meeting what does Kosciusko County look like in 2045, County Council President Tony Ciriello referenced the old adage of “leave it better than you found it.”
“When you look at where we were when I started working for county government 40-plus years ago, to where we are today, we’ve come a long way,” he told panel moderator Matt Deuel and the crowd of about 75 people at Lincoln Elementary School. “And with the economic growth that we’ve been seeing over the years ... the more we do in economic development, the better we’re going to leave this community when our turn is up and the next folks step in.”
He said in 20 years, he’d like to see the grandchildren of people like Allyn Decker want to come back to Kosciusko County to live, work and raise their families.
“This community is known for families, and I think family is the most important thing we have,” Ciriello stated.
Economic development drives people to come and come back to this county because it brings more workforce here, more opportunities for them to have a job and more opportunities for them to make money to raise that family, he said.
“I want to see this county continue to grow and to thrive, and at the very end of this, I want it to stay financially stable to still continue to do those things, to be able to work with KEDCO, to be able to work with the commissioners or whoever it might be to allow those things to happen so when your family does come back to raise their family, they’ve got something to be proud of,” Ciriello said.
Asked earlier to share something about Kosciusko County she’s truly proud of, Commissioner Sue Ann Mitchell said it was hard to pick just one so she strung a few together.
“So, obviously, my BaileyWick has always been the finances. So, one thing I’m really proud of is our strong reserves of cash balances that we have,” she said. “As we face a lot of changes ... but that coupled with the fact that our income tax is only at a 1% rate: Think about it. One percent. We’re one of about four counties in the state that has that low of an income tax rate, and many counties are much higher than what the new legislation is going to allow them to be able to collect, so they are really in a tough situation. I’m grateful that we have been good stewards of the money and that we are able to take care of ourselves, and I think we can withstand the storm.”
Deuel pointed out Kosciusko is Indiana’s fifth largest county with 531 square miles of land, 10,317 acres of public lakes and 1,163 miles of county roads. He asked what does it take to serve and maintain a county of this size.
Commissioner Bob Conley’s response was personnel.
“The people out on the roads that are doing the work,” he said, like the county highway department who are clearing roads of snow at 2-3 a.m. so people can get to work. In the summer, in 90-degree weather, the road crews are out laying asphalt, cleaning the roads and other road work. “That type of thing. That type of involvement by our employees. That dedication throughout all the departments is what I think keeps us going.”
Commissioner Cary Groninger said not only does Kosciusko County have over 1,100 miles of road, there’s also 110 bridges, 369 small structures and 1,050 miles of county drain.
“You just look at the magnitude that it takes for that infrastructure to be maintained by our people - the county highway of 37 employees - when you look at the number of miles they have to cover, even plowing snow like you talked about - we have 30 snow plow routes that they have to cover, so that’s 40 miles that each person is responsible for to get the snow off of. Well, it’s not just one pass. They’re making multiple passes to get that one roadway clean,” Groninger stated.
Before asking Mitchell to give a financial picture of the county, Deuel pointed out a handout everyone was given lists $46.4 million in combined county reserves. He asked her what that figure actually represents and how would she describe the financial health of the county.
“I think the primary thing that it represents is that we have had people in places that have been very frugal, have looked after the taxpayers’ money and have actually been planning for things that we know are forthcoming. Obviously, being able to have a crystal ball would be better, but we don’t have a crystal ball so we have to try to shoot for where we believe we need to be,” she said.
The county has a lot of “things” that are different funds and really trying to understand that is “very, very” difficult, Mitchell said, because they come from a lot of different places.
“So we wind up - on the sheet that you have, it shows that we have about $15 million in EDIT funds, and that’s to cover capital improvement plans, things that we have on the list of things that we believe are perhaps going to happen, that we need to have money laid by for. ... We have to try to be responsible and make good decisions and plan as we go,” she said.
The county’s capital improvements plan goes out to 2027 and every year it’s extended, along with a longer plan of various different projects that have been discussed.
“Some of what we’re doing with that $15 million - KEDCO has become a great partner with us, so we’re giving them money to take care of our economic development, work on that with many of the businesses. And we thank them for our ability to have gotten the businesses that we have in the community,” Mitchell said.
The county also created a special projects fund for KEDCO for them to be able to do additional things that are reaching out to farther-away communities.
Additionally, she said the county provides matching grants to the Warsaw Municipal Airport for airport improvements, which helps businesses in the community.
The county has about $31 million in the general fund. Mitchell said the county can sustain its obligations because it does have a good balance.
“We are in a position where we can be safe and sound, knowing what is coming or the fear of the unknown of what’s coming to finish out the rest of Senate Bill 1. We know that that is going to be a huge change. We’ve got two more years before what was approved in Senate Bill 1 is actually going to come into fruition, so we know that we have at least two, probably three, more legislative sessions before we really get down to the deep details of it,” she said.
Mitchell said you can’t plan today for something you don’t know how it’s going to end up. “So the fact that we have money laid by, I think it’ll be our total salvation. And while that might look like a lot of money to have in reserves, that’s not going to be a whole lot of money in order to be sure we are going to be solvent,” she stated.
Another piece of the puzzle, she continued, is the county has a 1% income tax rate and the maximum that can be collected all together is only 2.9% when the switch happens under SB1. “That’s big. Many counties have rates higher than that, along with great debt and that’s going to be another stumbling block for a lot of different counties,” Mitchell said.
The county’s share of $33,421,000 that comes in from income tax is $14,167,000. The balance of the $33 million is spread to cities, towns, townships and libraries.
Ciriello mentioned Kosciusko County itself is debt free and doesn’t have any bonds to speak of.
One other point Groninger talked about was emergency preparedness. He talked about the county’s Emergency Management Agency and its emergency plans.
When Mitchell responded to where does she see Kosciusko County in 2045, she replied, “I would hope that by 2045 we would have figured out how truly important the fire departments and the EMS services are in our community. I struggle with where that’s going to wind up in this whole financial picture.”
Deuel asked about data centers, and the commissioners agreed they weren’t against them but they have to be in the right place.
