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 The Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passes through downtown Wapakoneta Wednesday, September 1. Staff photo/William Laney By CARLA MEYER
Staff Writer
For 45 minutes, the roar of motorcycles could be heard passing under an American flag hanging from two ladder trucks. For 45 minutes, area residents gathered in the shadow of the Auglaize County Courthouse and Wapakoneta Fire Station waved and clapped as motorcyclists rode by.
The smiles and waves turned into clapping and cheers as the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passed down Willipie Street on its way to Custenborder Field in Sidney where it was greeted by a field of American flags.
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Asking for less: County clerk reduces her budget demands |
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Thursday, 12 November 2009 |
By KAREN CAMPBELL
Assistant Managing Editor
At $298,000, an Auglaize County official is asking for approximately $4,000 less from the Aug-laize County Commissioners to run her office in 2010.
“We’re taking it back to about the 2008 level,” Clerk of Courts Sue Ellen Kohler said. “We were able to decrease from what we originally asked for. We’re trying to be very conservative, yet realistic.”
In May when she submitted her first proposed budget for 2010, Kohler requested an increase of $8,730, but since economic conditions remain a concern she revised that figure again. She is no longer accounting for a 3 percent increase in employee salaries and subsequent increases in workers compensation and the Public Employee Retirement System (PERS).
In her latest proposal, which asked for $298,081 for 2010, Kohler decided against requesting a change in salaries, a hot button for elected office holders and department supervisors, as she knew that would be up to the Auglaize County Commissioners to decide.
“The salary line is what you make it,” Kohler said as she submitted her proposed budget to commissioners recently. “I can’t do anything about that. I’m at your mercy.”
In May she submitted a request for an $11,000 increase to the Municipal Court Budget. This time she decreased the budget by more than $9,000 in her latest submittal at nearly $310,000.
She asked for $3,000 more to consider a copier management agreement, but $2,000 less in services because the new credit card system is up and running, allowing for cheaper rates in that line item.
Again, she withdrew her request asking for 3 percent increases in employee salaries.
Kohler asked for the same amount down the line for the Certificate of Title Office in 2010. At $169,184, it’s a decrease of nearly $11,000 from her May request.
She said since the state Legislature enacted additional fees in July, they have collected $28,000 more than they would have been without it.
Since Cash for Clunkers ended, the office has seen a decrease in sales, but that is typical through mid-March since people steer away from purchasing new cars during the winter months.
“We would like to set that money aside for further renovations of the building as needed,” Kohler said.
Two computer funds supported by fines charged in each court case should be well funded for 2010, she said.
Ten dollars from each case, excluding traffic cases which charge $5 each, goes into the funds for the municipal and common pleas courts.
“We try to be realistic,” Kohler said. “We are not charging people to come before the court or for money we don’t need.”
She said they are charging below the maximum allowed by the state per case.
Judges approve expenditures from the accounts, which have combined funds of $241,000.
They are working on using a portion of that money to image court documents, something Kohler is hoping to have solidified next year.
“We’ve got 16 boxes of files that we have no place to put,” Kohler said. “We hope with money saved we can offer summer internships to image those old cases and get rid of those files by 2011.”
She said everything could be regenerated in paper format, but she is hoping that more work could be done from documents imaged on computer screens.
“We would keep the original documents through the appeal process and then the document would never have to leave the office,” Kohler said. “As we get a piece of paper imaged, we could write it to a disk and store it a more secure way.
“I’ve taken all the offices from paper, pen and typewriter to computers,” she said, “and imaging is where we need to be with technology today.”
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Last Updated ( Friday, 13 November 2009 )
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