Aging equipment drives budget plans
Staff writer
Replacing aging equipment before it fails dominated Marion County’s 2027 budget presentations at Monday’s commissioners’ meeting.
Sheriff Jeff Soyez proposed a budget remained close to this year’s spending despite a roughly $40,000 increase for a second payment on the department’s body camera and dashboard cameras.
The office also plans to replace department pistols while continuing to work through insurance claims on county vehicles damaged in this spring’s hailstorm.
Jail administrator Jim Philpott proposed increased spending as inmate populations continue to increase.
His budget included $60,000 for groceries, $35,000 for inmate medical care, $10,000 for prescriptions, and $29,500 for utilities.
Maintenance accounts for one of the largest increases. Philpott requested $74,594 for jail maintenance, up from $19,000 this year, largely to continue replacing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning equipment. Five units need replaced, Philpott said.
The jail also continues upgrading its camera system. Replacing the 15 remaining cameras would cost about $16,000, Philpott said.
Dispatch Supervisor Chelsea Weber proposed a $579,875 budget, compared with $531,934 this year. Contractual services alone would increase from $43,625 to $83,323.
The largest request is $29,898 to replace a recorder. The existing system still records 911 calls and radio traffic but no longer can archive text-to-911 messages or caller location information because a required software update failed, Weber said.
Weber also requested $16,300 for software maintenance, $6,000 to upgrade dispatch workstations, $2,500 for console cleaning and $1,990 for Avaya systems maintenance while continuing to research a future computer-aided dispatch system.
The recorder is one of dispatch’s highest priorities because recordings are retained for seven years and routinely become evidence in criminal cases.
Road and bridge superintendent Steve Hudson and administrative coordinator Doug Kjellin hope to replace an inoperable paddle scraper with a used machine costing about $150,000, purchase a tree trimmer estimated at $200,000, and eventually replace a grader expected to cost about $300,000 rebuilt or $430,000 new.
Road and bridge’s proposed budget totals $8,015,986, compared with $7,843,804 this year. It includes increases of $150,000 for blacktop commodities, $55,000 for gravel commodities, $40,000 for gravel projects, $30,000 for gravel contractual services, and $20,000 for maintenance shop contractual services.
County appraiser Nikki Reid’s proposed budget remained largely unchanged outside personnel costs but continues the office’s technology replacement schedule.