Porter County Administration Building, 155 Indiana Ave., Valparaiso. – Original Credit: Porter CountySometimes you have to spend money to make money. Porter County Assessor Sue Neff and Porter County Sheriff Jeff Balon got buy-in from the Porter County Council on that adage Tuesday night as they were collectively approved for $185,500 in additional expenditures that are expected to see a return on that investment down the road.
She expects the vendor assistance to raise the commercial and industrial valuations by $7 million to $18 million. With approval from the council, Neff said she will now seek permission from the Porter County Board of Commissioners to put the work out for bid. For his part, Balon was unanimously granted an additional $85,500 to spend on contractual services with Summerill Consultants, a company that will help the Porter County Jail negotiate a better daily reimbursement rate from the federal government for housing federal inmates. Former Sheriff David Reynolds began working with the company three years ago and got the per diem raised quite a bit at that time, Balon said.