SPENCER  

Owen County commissioners at its 2003 county budget-adopting session on Sept. 16, the Owen County Council voted, 5-2, to close the home as of Dec. 31.

It didn't take long for the staff and angry supporters of the home to come up with 25 signatures, far more than the necessary 10, to file an appeal with the county. The commissioners will be given the petition this afternoon.

"They eliminated us, I guess, because we're a burden," the home's superintendent, Barbara Young, said Thursday afternoon.

What bugs the staff almost as much as the prospect of losing their jobs and seeing their residents forced out is the way they allege it was done.

"They pretty much did it behind our backs," complained longtime attendant Rachel Goss.

It's not the first time the home has been threatened with closure. Young said that three years ago, the county commissioners serving then proposed closing it, but backed off the idea when opposition arose.

"The last time, they let us know ahead of time," Goss said. "This time, they did not inform the superintendent."

Young said a closure "wasn't even on the agenda" as a discussion topic when the county council deleted the budget by motion during its official budget meeting on Sept. 16.

She said council member Vera Hughes made the motion to strike the home from the 2003 county budget, Rodney Taylor seconded it and it passed, 5-2, after some debate.

The home has been a source of financial concern to the county for years, and it's one of very few such facilities left in the state.

Young says noncounty residents can live there if they can pay the rent of $18.94 per day, or $568.20 for a 30-day month.

But Young said two things that shouldn't be an issue are the need for the home and the needs it fills.

"Anybody who has ever been to the home knows the facility works and that we meet people's needs," she said.

The home employs eight people, with current staff members having worked there up to 20 years. Young, who has been there 18 years, said she and older staff members, all women, never will be able to find other jobs because of their ages.

Owen County Auditor Bobby Hall said Thursday the home's budget for 2002 is $256,334 and a majority of the council decided it was an expense they no longer could handle.

"Right now, they're faced with having to cut the budget by $600,000," Hall said, noting that county governments are facing budget stresses across the state and are looking for costs to cut.

He said the council cut the home "in desperation" because "it is not making money."

"We've got eight people out there and eight people taking care of them," he said.

Young won't buy any claim that the home isn't carrying its weight. In 2001, she said, it spent only $221,363 out of a budget of $282,777, returning more than $61,000 to the county, and rent paid by some of the residents brought in $59,244 of the operating costs.

Of this year's budget of $256,334, she said $185,037 had been spent by the end of August, with $40,218 in rent being collected from residents.

Hall said that in addition to appealing to the county commissioners, he is forwarding the petition to reinstate the home to the county council and to the state's tax commissioners, who have the final word on setting appropriations for local government units.

Hall also remembered the prior effort to close the home, by current commissioner Wiley Truesdel and a commissioner no longer in office.

"They tried to do their best to get it out (of the budget) and didn't get it done," Hall recalled.

According to both Hall and Young, the other two current commissioners, Herb Ranard and Byron Stockwell, both told the council at the county budget session that they opposed closing the home.

Since the late 1800s, the old brick structure on Ind. 43 and its small but dedicated staff have been caring for county residents who can't take care of themselves. At present, the home has eight residents, ranging in age from their 50s through their 70s.