Faces were grim around the room Thursday afternoon as the five Republican members of the Porter County Council met with leaders of the Health Department in the second of four annual budget workshops.
They have to figure out how they’ll deal with a $2.5 million shortfall in the department’s budget from 2025 to 2026.
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Outgoing director of the Health Department Carrie Gschwind told county officials she “started getting really nervous in March. I got home that night, got a message: ‘Halt everything. The budget’s been cut.’”
The department will lose $2.4 million due to changes brought about by Senate Bill 4 and another $115,000 due to losses from SB 1.
That leaves the department with an anticipated $909,000 budget per year for 2026 and 2027. Led by the auditor’s office for the second year in a row, the budget workshops aim to streamline the formal budget hearings that take many hours in themselves over several meetings every fall.
Gscwind gave a basic lay of the new funding landscape to Council President Andy Vasquez, R-4th, Vice President Red Stone, R-1, Mike Brickner, R-At-Large, Michelle Harris, R-At-Large, and Andy Bozak, R-At-Large. Not present were Councilmen Jeremy Rivas, D-2, and Greg Simms, D-3.
“The first thing we had to do was go back to our needs assessment we did in 2023,” she said.
“Are we still supposed to have the same KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) with the $909,000?” asked Stone, referring to the department’s new budget moving forward.
Gschwind and Board of Health President Linda Boxum confirmed that the department is still responsible for the same KPIs with the greatly reduced budget. Core services will be the focus, particularly chronic disease prevention. Gschwind said the licensed practical nurses recently hired to serve the population at the Porter County Juvenile Detention Center will not be in the budget for 2027.
Vasquez said he had spoken with Gschwind weekly over the past month and then asked Bozak, who was joining remotely, if he had any questions. “No, I don’t have any questions,” he replied. “Living the dream.”
“More like living the nightmare,” countered Chief Deputy Auditor Dave Wichlinski.
Porter Superior Court Judge Rebecca Buitendorp and the staff of the Juvenile Detention Center, while seemingly under less budgetary stress, said they’ll need a $23,000 increase to their general fund budget to pay for state-mandated salary increases and would like an additional $14,000 to replace the 25-year-old furniture that is not only shabby, but light enough for residents to throw around at each other and staff.
JDC Director Alison Cox said revenue has been down from fees collected from families whose children are incarcerated.
“We were generating $60,000 to $70,000 a year, but people just aren’t able to pay,” she said. “It’s gone down drastically.” The county charges $110 per day for juveniles held in the JDC, which prompted Stone to suggest the same should apply to adults. “Someone from Chicago who stays for a month should pay, not me,” he said.
Rounding out the workshop was news that the county will face its once-per-decade burden of 27 pay periods instead of the normal 26, adding $1.9 million to the budget. Wichlinski said his office is researching the challenge, including how other counties are approaching it.
“Can you give them two weeks off?” Brickner asked. Harris wanted to know how it was approached last decade. Wichlinski said Porter County Auditor Karen Martin and Porter County Board of Commissioners President Jim Biggs, R-North, are the only two current government officials who have dealt with the problem before.
Finally, the impending ambulance contract renewal with Northwest Health was discussed, particularly the frustration that the contract does not need to be inked until Dec. 31, but the county budget must be submitted to the state by Nov. 3. The current contract runs from Jan. 1, 2022, to the end of the year.
The county currently pays $450,000 per year, but Vasquez said he’s heard “something like $2.5 million has been thrown out” as an anticipated figure for a new contract. “That’s the only number that’s been thrown out,” added Harris, who serves on the negotiating team for the county.
The next budget workshop is Thursday, Aug. 21, at 3:30 p.m. in the basement conference room. Porter County Sheriff Jeff Balon and his staff are invited to discuss their 2026 budget, which he has publicly said in months past needs to include more officers on patrol, raises and a dedicated shooting range.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.