GOSHEN – County officials have approved a budget of more than $180 million for next year.
The Elkhart County Council this month set its 2025 budget at $181.3 million, after cutting nearly $10 million from the advertised total. It includes several self-government funds whose totals were not reflected in the $159 million 2024 budget.
Municipalities may create their own management funds for specific needs outside of the standard funds subject to approval by the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. Home rule funds in Elkhart County’s 2025 budget include local public health services, which passed at $4.74 million, and the Amazon Tax Increment Finance District Fund, which passed at $1 million.
Health Administrator Andrew Bylsma told the Elkhart County Board of Health on Thursday that they had received the full budget amount they were looking for. He said it gives the department more money to distribute in pass-through grants, as outlined in the Health First Indiana plan.
“This year, in 2025, we hope to spend more than $1 million,” he said. “I think it’s a vote of confidence in the work that we’re doing because it would have been very easy – we’re a very easy line item to clear if you need to save some money, especially with the state funds coming in.”
Health First Indiana’s funding formula requires a 20 percent contribution from local governments to receive additional money from the state. Health departments must pass on a portion of what they receive to community organizations that provide health care services.
The Elkhart County Health Department had $300,000 to award in pass-through grants for 2024. It awarded money to the Cora Dale House and Lexington House, two mental health communities in Elkhart County, to the Oaklawn Psychiatric Center, which proposed increasing staffing levels for crisis situations. response and stabilization services, and to Child and Parent Services and the Maple City Health Care center.
“Our commitment to spending public money, our commitment to community work, partnerships with the money, I think they really showed that we’re not just going to sit on it, we’re not just going to buy toys, we’re not going to do promotions that are not really necessary now,” says Bylsma. “We’re going to give it to the community, we’re going to try to make it impactful.”
The county council set the general fund at $80.6 million, up from $71.5 million in 2024. The local income tax special purpose was set at $17.4 million – an increase of about $900,000 from versus the 2024 budget – and bonds and interest were set at $9.4 million, which is essentially unchanged.
The local public safety income tax option was set at $8.4 million, an increase of approximately $1 million, and the landfill budget was set at $7.5 million, an increase of approximately $1.3 million. Cumulative capital development was set at $2.6 million, which represents a decrease of $1.6 million from the advertised figure for the 2024 budget.
Other major funds include health care, which at $4.7 million was about $200,000 higher than the 2024 budget, and highway, which at $4.3 million is $1.3 million higher than the current figure. The rainy day fund was advertised at $7 million but passed at $2 million, and the fiber internet budget was passed at $1.7 million after being advertised at $1.8 million.
The economic development fund was passed at $4.2 million, the solid waste capital reserve at $3 million, parks and recreation at $2.9 million, the convention and visitors bureau at $2.6 million and local roads and streets at $2.4 million. Funds for the emergency telephone system and communications center were set at $2.1 million each, road maintenance and construction at $2 million, storm water management at $1.7 million, the county’s major bridge at $1.5 million and election registration at $1.1 million.
