Much of the discussion during Wednesday night’s Kosciusko County Council meeting centered around the possibility of lowering the the $40 county wide wheel tax on trailers that went into effect in January. Council President Robert Sanders explained how he would like to see that price dropped from $40 to $15 for small trailer, to $20 for medium trailers and to $30 for large trailers. Sanders said an ordinance would be ready to be proposed at next month’s meeting in order to get the ball rolling in time to see the reduced taxes go into effect by January of 2016.

Sanders issued a statement for residents of Kosciusko County urging them to not take their frustrations from the tax out on the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, due to the fact that they are simply acting on the council’s ruling: “The Kosciusko County Council would like to remind the public that the surtax and Wheel Tax Ordinance that was passed in 2014, and took effect as of Jan. 1, 2015, will be collected by the BMV upon the renewal of their license plates. This collected tax will go to the Kosciusko County Highway Department, and the city and towns in Kosciusko County, for use in repairing and improving streets and roads. The council and the commissioners both agreed this tax was needed to offset the continuing expense of maintaining or streets and roads.”

Kosciusko County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine presented information comparing the sheriff department’s activity in 2014 versus in 2013. He expressed that it may be a good idea in the future to know how the department is going to move forward as the demand for its services continues to rise.

Included in the numbers that saw an increase from 2013 to 2014 were calls to service (29,662 versus 22,655), total crash reports (1,318 versus 1,217), number of jail bookings (3,678 versus 3,396), citations (1,825 versus 1,692) and warrants (2,189 versus 1,892). He stated that the jail’s maximum capacity is 302 occupants and that recently there had been as many as 288 individuals detained in the confines.

The council approved the transfer of $20,000 in unused funds by the Statewide 911 in Kosciusko County to pay for a part-time position in order to alleviate some of the overtime hours being performed by current employees. The council also approved the transfer of $28,985 from a part-time case manager position in the the Kosciusko County Alcohol and Drug Programs department to a full-time position of the same name.

The next council meeting will be at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 12, at the Kosciusko County Courthouse.