BY JOHN REED LEADER EDITOR
Starke County officials will meet in special session on June 3 to figure out how to
deal with almost $1.5 million in budget cuts ordered by the state.
While the county has to cut spending, there is good news of a sort in that the county will receive $607,772, money Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered returned to local governments. Millions of dollars were kept by state during an extended period of deficit spending.

The June 3 meeting includes the Starke County Commissioners and council, the health department and the highway department. The council, which is responsible for making the cuts, asked departments to come to the meeting with their suggestions.
The county must cut about $400,000 from the general fund, which pays for salaries, daily operating expenses, fuel, insurance and more.
The health department is ordered to cut $57,000.
The biggest issue is the state’s order to cut $1,082,000 from the highway department budget. That cut comes on the heels of revelations that the department has already overspent a budget that included, in 2007, an infusion of $433,000 in state Major Moves money.
Council President Mark Smith disagrees with doomsayers that the highway cuts are massive. “The situation is not that dire. There’s other funds that can be used.” Smith said his calculations show there’s more than $2 million available, counting money in such funds as the cumulative bridge fund.
He also said another $99,000 is expected to be put into the Motor Vehicle Highway fund, the basic operating fund.
As for the state cuts, Smith responded, “We all felt that the figures we submitted (to the state) were going to stand.” He went on to criticize the state for waiting so long, almost mid-year, to approve this year’s budget.
But he offered an explanation, one Bruce Fingerhut also gave a few year’s back when large cuts were ordered. The issue, Smith said, is the “extra appropriations” sought by departments. Typically, the state orders cuts when departments ask for more money than was included in the budget, he said.
As for the $607,000 coming from the state, that money is coming by the end of May in the form of property tax rebates. The funds could include money going to the schools and other taxing units, so the impact on county funds may not be that significant.
Amounts to be received by other area counties are $1.6 million for Marshall County; $615,673 for Fulton County; and $4.2 million for LaPorte County.
On May 16, Daniels ordered that the remaining $212 million long owed to local governments be repaid by the end of May, a year ahead of schedule.
“As the only state in the Midwest that is in the black fiscally, we're being extremely careful about every dollar. But the very strong March and April revenues strengthen our confidence that we will register a fourth straight surplus this year, and that we can accelerate this final repayment of the debts the state once owed to schools and towns,” said Daniels.
During an extended period of deficit spending, starting in 2002, state government delayed payments totaling $761 million to K-12 schools, higher education and local governments.
Repayments began in 2006.t