Brad Knolhoff The Clinton County Board approved a tentative budget for 2026 during its monthly meeting on Monday, Oct. 20.
Board chairman Brad Knolhoff said, as of right now, the county is showing a deficit in the tentative budget of $510,000.
Knolhoff said that deficit exists because the county is transferring $1 million to the building fund for future building needs, specifically they hope to eventually remodel the control center in the jail.
Board member Ken Knolhoff asked Brad Knolhoff about the salaries on the tentative budget. He said some people have gotten a lot bigger raise than others. Brad Knolhoff said the salaries are just there for reference and are set by contracts, by ordinance, and union employees are set by the collective bargaining agreement. There are very few salaries the county board has any say over.
Ken Knolhoff said in the Sheriff's Department, some of the telecommunication people got 8% raises. Brad Knolhoff said a lot of that is contractual with their step, so when they go from year one to year two they get a larger increase.
"It is just odd that a few of them get a larger increase than the rest of them," Ken Knolhoff said. "Most of them are 2 or 3 percent, but there are quite some big jumps."
The budget is available to everyone for their viewing on the Clinton County website on the treasurer's page.
The final budget will be voted on during a hearing prior to the regular county board meeting at 6:45 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 24.
In the radio portion of the meeting, board member Curt Haselhorst updated the board on the emergency radio tower project. All of the towers and shelters are in place at their locations. Antennas will start going on towers next week. They hope that everything is on the antennas and ready for a test by mid-January. The project is slated to be completed by the end of March.
In the road and bridge portion of the meeting, county engineer Dan Behrens said the contractors have finished pouring all of the concrete for the Walnut Street project in Breese. They still have to stripe the median. He said the project should be wrapping up shortly.
They had a pre-construction meeting on the Lake Road bridge project. The beams were not going to be ready until sometime in November, so to prevent a winter shutdown, the contractors are not going to start until mid-March. Behrens said that will work out better for the US Army Corps of Engineers so that can be done before the major summertime traffic arrives.
The salt price this year is $80.73 a ton, which is up $1.59 from last year. They put a request in for 1,540 tons this year, and they have to take at least 80% of that request. They will spend between $100,000-$150,000 on salt this year.
Behrens said it looks like the county will get a grant to go ahead with a project to repair the two curves on Jamestown Road.
In the zoning and subdivision portion of the meeting, the board heard from zoning administrator Jami Staser about five of the cases heard at the zoning board of appeals meeting on Oct. 1. There were eight total cases heard at the zoning board of appeals meeting.
The board approved Daniel Loepker's request for a map amendment from commercial to residential in Santa Fe Township. The property is on the west side of Bartelso on Church Street. Loepker wanted to change the lots on the north side of Church Street to residential like the lots on the south side of Church Street.
The board approved a special use family split request from Thomas Johnson. The property is located in Germantown Township off of State Route 161. They would like to split three acres so their son can build a house on the property.
The board approved a special use family split request from James Ranz. The property is located in Sugar Creek Township on Ranz Road. The request is for 13.21 acres for one home.
The board denied a map amendment request from Dustin Taylor and Jamie Hoffmann. They wanted to rezone 10 acres of a property in Lake Township from agricultural to agricultural residential. The zoning board denied the request because it was against the county's comprehensive plan and there was no adjoining agricultural residential or residential district established. The county board agreed with the zoning board of appeals.
The board approved Leonard Beer's one lot subdivision request for a first subdivision in Germantown Township.
The board approved a letter of resignation and payout claim for Probation Department employee Sandy Fernandez and for Health Department employee Holly Timmermann.
The board approved a resolution regarding the state's attorney’s appellate prosecutor contract.
Jim Spires was appointed to replace the late Steve Kehrer on the New Memphis Public Water District.
The next meeting will be Nov. 24 in the county boardroom. The budget hearing will be at 6:45 p.m. and the regular meeting will be at 7 p.m.
