Marion County approves routine invoices and payroll; commissioner questions certified-payroll review

The Marion County Commission voted to approve routine invoices and payroll during its meeting. The Clerk reported sales tax collected in April (for February) and presented an invoice from Elcon Services for $500.57 and two invoices from Western Associates totaling $1,794; motions to pay those invoices were seconded and carried.

The Clerk also reported a total payday of $1,483,483.43, saying roughly $771,484 of that amount was for payroll. Committee member C raised a question about oversight of payroll disbursements, saying that, by law, a county councilor is supposed to review and certify payroll before payment and that recent paydays lacked clear evidence of that review. "Back in December, I raised the issue... County councilor being required by law to review and certified payroll before we do," the committee member said, asking staff to clarify which documents had been reviewed in recent months.

The chair moved and the board approved the monthly warrants later in the meeting. No formal amendment to payroll procedures was made during the session; the concern about certified payroll review was raised for follow-up rather than resolved on the spot.

The meeting record shows the smaller vendor payments were approved by motion; recorded votes on the Elcon invoice included two ayes and one abstention. The clerk concluded the financial reports by noting the items were in the meeting packet.

The meeting then moved on to operational items and facility and road-maintenance topics discussed later in the agenda.