Hancock County Council & Budget Committee: 8/5/26

Hancock Council and Budget Committee 08/05/26

Terry Bynum

The bulk of this meeting was spent in trying to finalize the 2027 budget for the county.  Deadline in Sept. 9.--the date of the first public hearing on the budget. 

The council approved another amended Animal Control Services agreement with Greenfield–it's a 2 year agreement costing $479K the first year, and over 500K the second. 

    The council realizes they have a decision to make regarding Hancock Senior Services...it sounds as if there is some reluctance on the part of Greenfield to contribute funding–even though 76% of requests for service originate within the city. 

They spent a lot of time moving money between budget lines, and attempting to reconcile salaries to remain competitive with outside business (GIS dept), and to fulfill state mandates (Prosecutor & PUblic Defender), and between the Drug Court administrator and the Behavior Court Administrator. 

Along the way, they also discovered that the Prosecutor's office and the Public Defender close for an hour at lunch.  They expressed displeasure about that–saying the lunch hour may be the only time residents can visit the office during their work day. 

     They approved a request from IT for an additional 12K to purchase more microphones for the meeting room–to help with audio problems. 

    Sheriff Burkhardt made another presentation about potential changes to the Sheriff's pension program.  He and the Merit Board are considering changing the age for full retirement from the department. 

Greg Gutteraz went over the current situation with SEA 1.  As well as the sustainability report and the MUST meeting that will happen if a few weeks between the county and municipality representatives concerning setting tax rates for the future. He also mentioned that they are putting together the wording for the 2026 General Obligation bond ordinance.  The bond will be offered in sept. or october.

They spent a lot of time hearing a presentation from the Treasurer of Hancock County Tourism Inc.--Bob Mattsey.  Mattsey was upset and indignant about some remarks about Tourism that councilors had made in previous meetings that he felt were inappropriate and disrespectful.  There was also some mention previously about Mattsey's health struggles, which he called inappropriate and illegal in a public meeting. He presented a spreadsheet of all money incoming and outgoing since he became treasurer in 2019.  The council ended up approving his budget request. 

     Even though a Walmart Tax abatement was on the agenda, it was not presented.