Monroe County councilors put brakes on raises for sheriff's deputies, all new personnel requests, want new jail project cost scaled down

At its regular meeting on Tuesday (March 12), the Monroe County council took two actions to conserve the county government's fiscal resources. 

The measures come in the context of anticipated lower tax revenues next year, and in years to come.

At the start of the meeting, the council delayed indefinitely Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté’s request that deputies receive a significant salary increase—a request that dates back to November last year. 

Later in the meeting, the council passed a resolution that suspended the work of its personnel administration committee (PAC), when it comes to considering “requests for new positions, reclassifications and/or job description amendments resulting in increased cost to Monroe County.” Serving on the council’s PAC are Peter Iversen, Kate Wiltz, and Liz Feitl.

Also on Tuesday, the council took up a discussion without a vote, about the conclusion of the predesign phase for the new jail and justice center, which has seen an increase in cost estimates. The council wants to see the cost reigned in. 

Why is there less revenue available?

The first bill on the Indiana Senate’s list of legislation for this year’s session (SB 1), has the short title “Property Tax Relief."

SB 1 has made its way over to the House still in a form that means significantly less property tax revenue for local governments across the state, including Monroe County. 

The amount of property taxes (aka the “levy”) that a local unit like Monroe County government can collect is determined by a percentage cap, known as the maximum levy growth quotient (MLGQ). The MLGQ is the allowable increase from one year to the next. Historically, the formula has worked out to an increase of at least 3.4%—most years better than 4%.

But SB 1 calls for an MLGQ in 2026 of 0.0%, followed by 1.0% in 2027 and 2.0% in 2028.

For Monroe County's council, the constrained MLGQ for next year comes in the context of a data entry error made in connection with Monroe County’s 2025 budget, which cut $3.8 million from the county’s tax collections this year.

Sheriff’s deputies pay increase

In November 2024, Monroe County sheriff Ruben Marté made a request to increase compensation for deputies by 2.9% plus a $12,000 flat increase. The council put off that request until this year.

By the end of January, Marté had put forward a proposal for a $9,400 flat increase. For the rest of 2025, that meant a fiscal impact of $8,813 for each of 43 deputies, totaling $378,959. The council did not take action in January.

The item appeared again on Tuesday night’s agenda, but county council president Jennifer Crossley led off the meeting with a proposal to remove the item, and to delay it indefinitely. Her six colleagues were in agreement. 

Crossley said, “We will table this indefinitely, but as we continue to work through this, … we still continue to watch the effects of SB 1 and how that will ultimately affect a lot of things that we are able to do here in the county.” 

Crossley continued, “I also look forward to working with the sheriff's office and their collective bargaining unit in regards to how we can make this happen.”

In the back of the Nat U. Hill Room, where the council meets, Marté responded to a B Square question about the wait-and-see approach by saying, “I’m fine with it—I’m trying to work within the confines of what we have here.” 

Resolution suspending personnel committee action 

The resolution that suspended the work of the county council’s personnel administration committee (PAC) was not particularly controversial for the council. But it wound up with a split vote on one amendment, and a less than unanimous vote on the resolution as amended. 

David Henry was out of the room when the vote on the resolution was taken, and Marty Hawk abstained. Asked after her vote why she abstained, Hawk told The B Square: “I just thought: They're just gonna talk this silly thing to death!” Hawk said that whether the PAC meets to consider requests from departments could be handled on a monthly basis. 

Hawk was alluding to one point of disagreement regarding the resolution—the wording of the clause that terminates the effect of the resolution. 

Trent Deckard put forward an amendment that changed the wording from “unless renewed prior to that date” to “unless renewed or eliminated prior to that date.” 

Henry questioned the need to insert “or eliminated” into the clause: “Couldn’t we just rescind the resolution at will?” 

Deckard responded by saying “I think that we could probably do that, but I think that these resolutions send messages to department heads and other elected officials that are watching this kind of anxiously.” Deckard continued, “And these things always start quiet, and then they turn to hums, and the hums turn to anger, and the anger turns to problems, and then suddenly, in two months, we're sitting in here going, how in the world did we let it get to this?” 

Henry was the sole dissenter on Deckard’s amendment when the voice vote was called. 

Jail and justice center construction budget

The planned Monroe County jail and justice center project now has an estimated construction price tag of almost $207 million, which increases to $237 million when soft costs are added, which is way more than the $200-million figure that county officials were given in mid-2024. 

The price tag assumes a jail with 500 beds.

The increased cost estimates were revealed more than a week ago at a joint meeting of the county commissioners and the county council, an occasion when commissioners voted to proceed to the next phase of design. Under the terms of its contract, it was permission from the commissioners that DLZ Corporation needed, in order to forge ahead. There was talk at the table by councilors that any vote they as a council took would be “symbolic.” 

But at Tuesday’s meeting, one takeaway from the deliberations among councilors was that they recognize their ability, as members of the council’s fiscal body, to control how the project progresses. 

David Henry said, “We do have the power of the purse. We do need to stick with our budget that we've proposed…” 

Council president Crossley responded to Henry’s remarks by saying, “It is up to us, in a way, because we are the purse strings. … We hold that power.”

The council is looking to tap two basic sources of funding—the economic development local income tax (EDLIT) and the jail local income tax. Another takeaway from the discussion was that councilors are not inclined to look for additional funding to pay for the increased cost estimates. 

Last year, the council could have enacted the jail local income tax at the maximum rate of 0.2%, but opted for a lower rate of 0.17%. About that choice, Trent Deckard said on Tuesday: “There's not an appetite to go back to the well, and figure that out and say, ‘Oh, I didn't get that right the first time.’” Deckard continued, “No, I think we got it right the first time.” 

The big cost, Deckard said, is driven by the choice to co-locate the jail and the justice center, which was something there was a consensus about.

Henry reported that he has made attempts to find square footage to cut, but rejected the idea that it’s the responsibility of the council to “redline” the project. “It's not, I think, on us to do that,” Henry said. He continued, “But it is on us to go back to the vendor and to the commissioners and say that we've given you what our tolerance is. We know we're out of time. We've also passed resolutions that indicate what we think the size and scope should be.” The vendor in question is DLZ Corporation, which is the design/build firm that Monroe County selected for the project. 

By mentioning resolutions about size and scope, Henry was referring to the council’s policy position, adopted last year, that the new jail should not have a bed count that is greater than 400.

Henry also talked about his interest in forging agreements with organized labor in connection with the jail and justice center construction, to “make sure it's built with labor hands.” As an example, Henry pointed to the way that the Monroe County capital improvement board (CIB) had handled the adoption of pre-qualification bidding criteria that favor organized labor.

Molly Turner-King, a Monroe County attorney, told the council that she did not yet have an update on the request that Peter Iversen had made, for a breakdown for the cost of operating the new jail facility, after it is constructed. 

Turner-King has forwarded to DLZ the council’s interest in seeing ways to eliminate the proposed tunnel and the two elevators, as well as the council’s concern about the sheer number of total parking spaces, which is around 700. Turner-King said that the total number of parking spaces includes spaces for justice center staff, the sheriff’s office, and the public. 

Marty Hawk led off her remarks about the cost of the jail by saying, “Some people thought we should sharpen our pencils. I think we should get out our erasers.”

When so much of the decision making about the jail location was driven by the desire for a one-story facility, Hawk said she was “shocked” to see a two-story design. About the 700 parking spaces, Hawk said, “When I saw the 700 parking places, right away I knew somebody had lost it someplace along the line.”

“What is it we think the public is willing to pay for?” Hawk asked. She continued, “Because it's not our money, it's the people's money.” 

Hawk expressed concern for “the people who are out there working for a living, paying for this.” 

Hawk also asked about the plan for the current building at 7th Street and College Avenue that is home to the jail and justice center. It would be expensive to demolish the structure, Hawk said, and if it were sold to someone else, the cost of demolition would be subtracted from the purchase price.

Photos: Monroe County council (March 11, 2025)