Warren County isn’t releasing a 2022 budget for another week

But Commissioner Jeff Eggleston said the preliminary budget for next year “doesn’t involve any increase in taxes.”

Commissioner Tricia Durbin said it will be available for public review on Dec. 1.

Eggleston stressed that the proposal is balances, that health insurance costs have remained flat and that a decrease in the county’s retirement contribution is expected to decline.

He said there’s also funding for the creation of a county land bank.

“All of those are very positive pieces,” he said.

RIVETT RECOGNIZED

Elections Director Lisa Rivett told the commissioners — functioning as the Board of Elections — that the recent election “went really smooth” and that there weren’t problems with any machines or scanners.

“Our numbers were spot on” for the mandated state Commonwealth Court recount, she added. “We’re all certified.”

Eggleston said the Board of Elections meeting, though, was a “ruse” to recognize Rivett who is retiring.

“There are many people that work really hard in this county,” he said. “There are few people that work as hard as Lisa does.”

“I really just wanted to insert one word — impartiality,” Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said. “To this day, I have no idea what her party is, who she has supported over the years…. Both parties trust her implicitly.

“(She has) been one of our best when it comes to impartiality which is so critically important,” he added. “She has been top notch.”

LIBRARY BIDS AWARDED

The commissioners awarded a series of bids for a massive renovation project at the Warren Public Library. Bids for the contracts approved were well in excess of $1 million.

Grants Administrator Lorri Dunlapsaid the library will match the amounts.

Kelli Knapp, the library’s director, thanked the commissioners for applying for a state grant that libraries can’t apply for themselves.

“(We are) so excited to finally be able to get this project underway which was supposed to have started in May,” she said.