Porter County Council member Sylvia Graham said she'd had enough Tuesday after listening to representatives from the Porter County Auditor's office make another request for additional office funding.

"It seems like in the year and a half I've been here there have always been requests and I don't know how it will end," Graham told representatives standing in for Auditor James Kopp, who was not at the meeting.

Graham made a motion to deny the auditor's request for $26,775 that would fund part-time help processing refunds as the office continues to sift through 1,637 property tax appeals dating as far back as 2007.

The council voted in favor of Graham's motion, ending the ongoing dispute over additional funding between the Council and the auditor.

"I feel as if somehow this office just can't catch up," Graham said.

County Assessor John Scott told the board his office was willing to help the auditor work through the backlog of appeals, requesting he be able to create temporary data entry positions using money left over from the salary of a retiring chief deputy.

"We have the opportunity to hire somebody to help the auditor's office," Scott said. "We can assist them in getting this bottleneck straightened out."

The Council approved Scott's request, allotting $25,264 to go toward one full-time and one part-time position. Scott said both positions would be temporary and would end at the end of the year.

"We're not taking (Kopp's) work," Scott said. "We're just doing it to make this process go faster."

In other business, the Council approved the first of two rounds of longevity pay totaling $168,703 for county employees, most of whom did not receive a pay raise this year.

Council president Dan Whitten said the lump sum payments, ranging between $225 and $2,250 based on an employee's number of years in service, will be distributed as soon as possible. He said employees can expect to receive the second round of longevity pay in November.

The decision to grant longevity pay came despite some concerns voiced by officials earlier this month.

"There are no guidelines when you look at the longevity policy," said Marylyn Johns, who voted in favor of the motion after expressing some lingering uncertainty.

Whitten said longevity pay is something county employees have come to expect and will continue to receive.

"I'm not really sure why this suddenly became an issue," Whitten said." It's something we always do...There are employees waiting on this money."