Following an Executive Committee meeting Wednesday morning, the St. Joseph County Board of Commissioners held a workshop to start planning the 2021 fiscal year budget. For the last several years, the county has operated under a balanced budget, but only by making up shortfalls through drawdowns from the Delinquent Tax Fund (DTF). This year, possible revenue impacts from the ongoing pandemic and a slowed economy brought the imbalance to the front of many of the commission’s conversations about money.

This week, Watershed Voice heard from several readers who reported rumors were circulating that in some townships, up to two-thirds of absentee ballots had been tossed without being counted. After an inquiry to her office, County Clerk Lindsay Oswald, who serves on the BOC, provided the minutes of the August 6 BOC meeting, when its members reviewed the sealed ballot boxes that the townships submitted.