Van Buren County quorum court adopts 2024 budget with 3% COLA, approves multiple appropriations

Van Buren County's quorum court voted to adopt the county's 2024 budget on a unanimous roll-call vote Wednesday night, approving a package that includes a 3% cost-of-living raise for all county employees and a series of appropriation and transfer ordinances to cover accrued comp time and other line-item needs.

Nikki, a member of the budget committee who led the budget presentation, said the 3% raise was the most newsworthy element of the package: "I'm proud that this budget includes a 3% cost of living raise for everyone in the county," she said during the meeting. Committee members spent many hours reviewing and revising department budgets to reach the final figures.

The court also approved a string of smaller appropriation ordinances and transfers. Actions adopted included an appropriation of $141.44 into the election commission budget to record a mileage refund, transfers to the county road fund (including $75,000 added to road salaries and $10,000 to note principal), and appropriations to cover comp-time payouts for the Corps of Engineers, the detention center and the sheriff's department. John Bradford's ordinance to appropriate $21,000 into the solid waste fund — drawn from increased tipping-fee revenues — was also adopted; court members noted the solid waste fund balance is now over $100,000.

Discussion during the budget debate focused heavily on the process and accuracy of the documents that feed the court's decisions. Nikki and other members described repeated discrepancies in draft budget spreadsheets, citing that "25% of the department's numbers were wrong" during the drafting process and that the committee had to reconcile multiple iterations in lengthy review sessions. One member asked for clearer notices when numbers change and for updated sheets to be distributed in advance.

Several appropriation measures were temporarily tabled for clerical corrections or to align wording with the personnel policy before being returned to the floor and approved. The court suspended rules to consider the budget ordinance by title only, then conducted roll-call votes for individual ordinances and transfers where required.

The court recessed for a short break and returned to clear the remaining items on the agenda; after approving transfers and hearing no public comment, the court adjourned.

Copies of the adopted budget and the individual ordinances will be filed with the county clerk and available in the county's official records.