Members of the Porter County Council had more questions than answers during a recent budget hearing that included a controversial lease for the child support services office.

Without the council attorney, the county attorney or the board of commissioners at the Thursday meeting, they put off considering the child support budget for a second reading until all the players were in place.

“We have to deal with this but I am going to want (council attorney) Harold Harper with us on the lease, and I also want commissioners here on when space would be available to move (child support), and I want to hear more from our attorney on what he considers of the legality of the lease, because I think we have a bigger discussion here,” said Councilman Dan Whitten, D-At large.

At question is a 10-year lease extension for 15 N. Franklin St. signed by commissioners in 2014 that took many county officials by surprise and put into question the ability to move the child support services office into the former county jail, purchased as part of a $30 million capital upgrade plan for county facilities.

Also surprising county officials was a tax exemption for the lease, which Auditor Vicki Urbanik has said provided tax breaks totaling $87,695 over the last 10 years.

Council members, who have said they will not provide funds for the lease for the coming year, peppered Prosecutor Brian Gensel and Laura Stafford, the deputy prosecutor, who oversees child support, with queries during the budget session.

Council President Andy Bozak, R-1st, was curious about the lease payment, made in a lump sum early in the year.

Gensel’s administrative assistant was advised to pay the lease that way because it was easier and that way, the county receives its 66 percent reimbursement for the federal program in the early spring, Stafford said.

Urbanik said she is waiting for an opinion from the State Board of Accounts, which is reportedly unhappy with the arrangement, on the timing of those payments.

The budget for child support includes a line item for paying the lease. That was $87,757 this year and would be $90,601 for 2019, she said.

Whitten said he would reserve most of his thoughts for a future budget hearing because he didn’t want to see child support left without an office, but was unhappy with the way the situation played out.

He voted for purchasing the old jail at 157 S. Franklin St. for $3.6 million because of a promise by commissioners that taxpayers would see a savings when child support moved there, which was to occur by the end of this year.

“That sold my vote,” he said, adding he wouldn’t have voted for it otherwise. “I’m very upset the way this went down. I feel I was misled and people didn’t share what they knew. It’s not the way it should have happened.”

Additionally, Gensel faced questions about the 514 hours of comp time accrued by his administrative assistant within 15 months during the budget hearing for his department.

County officials have said that’s equivalent to $13,500.

Commissioners and the council are taking a closer look at comp time and, in a recent letter to those boards, Gensel said he plans to use funds in his pre-trial diversion account to cover the cost of the comp time, caused by changes in the online court docket system, e-filing and data record keeping.

Going forward, he would like the assistant to become an exempt employee who would not be subject to overtime accrual. He also hopes to add an employee once his office moves to the old jail and he has more space.

The council plans to take up comp time for all employees again at a later budget hearing.

Amy Lavalley is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.