The Warren County Commissioners signed off on an agreement for grant writing services that will serve a pilot for potential future projects.

Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said the agreement before the commissioners on Wednesday is focused on a pre-trial service program he, Probation Director Carl McKee and the Criminal Justice Advisory Board have been working on.

“(We are) at the point where it’s time to hire a grant writer to actually facilitate” the application, Kafferlin said.

He estimated that $500 – at $22.50 per hour – would be a sufficient amount for the contract for this project.

Commissioner Jeff Eggleston said this is “something that we’ve been meaning to do for a while,” calling it a “good move.”

Kafferlin noted the approach seeks the service on a “contract, performance basis.

“This is kind of a pilot,” he added. “This was not locking us in permanently to that rate or any of these terms.”

County to tap the TAN

Director of Finance & Administration Eric Hern said the counties finances are “running as we normally do this point of year” and said the county would start drawing from the county’s tax anticipation note, a loan the county takes out annually to cover expenses between periods when tax revenue comes in, soon.

Hern noted that historically the county has pulled as much as $1.5 million from the TAN and as little as nothing from the TAN by March 15 “depending on what’s happening.”

He speculated that he anticipates within the next two weeks making a request for the first TAN withdrawal this year.