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County departments fine-tuning spending

Huntington County departments are fine-tuning their spending for 2017 as they hammer out budget proposals for 2018.

Four county officials appeared before Huntington County Council on Monday, July 17, seeking transfers or appropriations of funds already in their 2017 budgets.

Desiree Fritcha, Huntington County Drug Court coordinator, asked — and received permission from — the council to spend a $6,175 grant awarded to the local court by the Indiana Supreme Court.

The grant will be used to pay for training for the drug court staff, Fritcha said. A similar grant was used for the same purpose last year.

Tom Wall, president of the Huntington County Commissioners, requested and received an appropriation of $700 for the fuel account for the county’s pool car. That account is now in the red, but Wall said that shows that county employees are using the pool car rather than their own vehicles. The pool car is made available to discourage employees from using their own cars for county business.

Melissa Christman, director of Huntington County Public Safety Dispatch, received approval for a transfer of $5,000 from the dispatchers fund to the overtime fund. The money needs to be moved to cover costs of a retirement, she said.

Mandy Woods, director of the Huntington Countywide Department of Community Development, re- ceived approval to transfer a total of $2,200 from four funds — oil, gas and lubricants; travel; meals, lodging and airfare; and dues and subscriptions — to the furniture fund. She plans to purchase new furniture for her office, replacing old office furniture that has little storage and minimal desktop space.

County departments are currently drawing up budgets for 2018 and will present those budget requests to the county council during meetings on Aug. 21 and Aug. 22.