By Sam Parsons

The Marion County Board of Supervisors held their third round of budget discussions of the week yesterday morning. The departments that presented included Development, Zoning, Treasurer, Health Insurance, Sheriff’s Office, and Attorney.

County Economic Development Director Carla Eysink presented on behalf of the development department and said that her department was seeking funding for four main areas.

Eysink has worked with Marion County Development for over 20 years and said she’s planning on retiring in 2025. She explained that current salary levels for Marion County Development were not competitive with similar counties in Iowa and that the requested raise had more to do with attracting talent in the future.

County zoning administrator Melissa Poffenbarger represented another one-person department and she said the position has become increasingly demanding. She floated the idea of adding another person to the department for areas such as code enforcement and inspections. 

The board said they could look into having other departments cooperate for those areas.

The final round of budget discussions is scheduled for today with Marion County Veteran’s Affairs and Conservation set to present to the board.