WASHINGTON — With few exceptions, Daviess County department heads requested 2 percent pay raises for their employees in 2011. During a day-long hearing on Wednesday, the Daviess County Council presided over budget requests from 30 different local taxing units including, among others, West Boggs Park, various fire districts, and libraries in Washington and Odon, in addition to those from regular county departments. The hearing continued Thursday morning with 18 requests from the city of Washington, towns and townships in the county. In preparation for the hearings, the council has been in possession of written submissions from the various units and departments for the past two weeks. In Wednesday’s hearing, the office of Daviess County Coroner Dr. Stephen Cullen requested a 41 percent budget increase, most of which consisted of a proposed increase in funds for autopsies from $25,000 to $45,000. Fourth District Councilman Kenneth Solliday wondered aloud during the hearing why the amount for autopsies was so much more than in 2009 but, as was the case last year, Dr. Cullen did not appear or send a representative to explain or justify the increase. The only courthouse office to request more than a 2 percent pay raise was Information and Technology. IT Director Dale Quakenbush requested a salary increase from $53,039 to $57,100 — more than 7 percent. County Commissioner Tony Wichman addressed the council during Quakenbush’s presentation and said when Quakenbush hired on he was told, “we would try to bring him up to what he was making before coming to work for the county.” Quakenbush was employed in a similar position at Crane Federal Credit Union. Following the hearing, the council as a whole said they were not surprised by any of the requests they reviewed and expressed their appreciation to the various department heads and taxing units for showing restraint in their proposed budgets. In the still evolving, somewhat mysterious, post tax-reform world of “Circuit Breaker Caps,” “GQ” is not the name of a well known men’s magazine. Rather it means “Growth Quotient,” a phrase heard frequently during Thursday’s hearing. The growth quotient is a percentage figure determined annually by the state Department of Local Government Finance based on the annual growth in non farm income over the past six years up to a maximum of 6 percent. DLGF has determined the GQ for the state of Indiana in 2010 to be 2.9 percent, and for Daviess County 4.7 percent. The higher the figure the better. Under new guidelines following the passage of property tax caps in 2008, the fiscal body (county council) is required to review proposed budgets of taxing units (other than schools), compare the budget and the levy to the county growth quotient and make non binding recommendations to the unit. In most instances Thursday morning, the budgets submitted by the taxing units were less than the county GQ and the council approved each such budget as presented. In some instances, however, the towns of Montgomery, Cannelburg, Elnora and Plainville, for example, the proposed budgets contained increases in excess of the 4.7 percent GQ. In each such case, the Council recommended cuts which would cap the proposed increase at the county GQ. The recommendation of the council is by law non-binding, however, in each instance the units agreed to the cuts and modified their budgets accordingly. Departmental budgets will be reviewed by the council and either adopted or modified at the council’s September meetings.
Local News
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Hill arrested on $100K bond
Andrew Logan Hill, 32, Washington, was arrested by sheriff’s deputies on a warrant for petition to revoke a suspended sentence. He remains in the Daviess County Security Center on a $100,000 bond.
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Cemetery owners plead for time, help
For nearly a century and a half, Daviess County folks have been laid to rest in Oak Grove Cemetery at the west edge of Washington, but in recent years maintenance of the 23-acre property has declined and people are no longer wanting to bury family members there.
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Washington High School to graduate 167 Saturday
Washington High School will hold its 135th Commencement Exercises at 2 p.m. today in the high school gymnasium.
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WC to graduate
Washington Catholic High School Commencement Exercises will be held at 8 p.m. today at the Bird Cage.
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PC to graduate
PETERSBURG — Pike Central High School will hold its 37th Commencement Exercises at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the high school gymnasium.
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ND commencement is Friday evening
North Daviess High School will hold it commencement exercises at 7 p.m. Friday.
Following the processional led by North Daviess faculty and juniors Janice Knepp and Cari Jo Wilson, the voluntary invocation will be led by Chelsea Graber. Stacey Beard, class president, will then make welcoming and introductory remarks. -
Fire destroys home in minutes
A Tuesday afternoon fire in rural Daviess County has left a family homeless, although unharmed.
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Barr-Reeve holds 47th commencement Saturday
Barr-Reeve High School will hold its 47th Commencement Exercises on Saturday afternoon in the high school gymnasium beginning at 2 p.m. Again this year, the graduation will be an afternoon affair.
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Loogootee to hold graduation Friday
Loogootee Junior/Senior High School Class of 2012 will hold its graduation exercises at 7 p.m. Friday.
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ND finds ways to use cell phones
A lengthy discussion between North Daviess school board and administrative members concerning future student cell phone usage dominated the board’s Monday meeting.
Board members were considering a second reading for the school’s junior and senior high school handbooks when the discussion began. - More Local News Headlines
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