Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 05-08-2000 ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING i TO: Chairman Thomas Dorsey St . Croix County Board FROM: Tom O'Connell, Acting Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: Finance DATE: Monday, May 8, 2000 8 :30 A.M. ***NOTE DATE CHANGE*** LOCATION: Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: Friday, June 9, 2000 8 :30 A.M. ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS 1 . Election of Committee Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary 2 . Review of Vouchers *3 . Health, Human Service and Nursing Home Staff Report - John Borup 9 : 00 A.M. 4 . Administrative Coordinator A. 2001 Budget Schedule - Long Term Planning, Budget Goal Setting, Budget Process - Library Funding B. Ag Center Air Intake Issue C. Health Insurance Status D. Defibrillator Issue 5 . Finance Director A. Preliminary Budget Information 6 . County Clerk A. Safety and Security Report 7 . Corporation Counsel A. Fairgrounds Lease *8 . Utilities Right of Way Easements for Perch Lake 9 . Reimbursement for Juvenile Detention *10 . Consider County Sponsorship of Community Development Grant Loan from WI Dept . of Commerce (Roberts Business Park Project) *11 . GTE Easement for Fairgrounds *12 . Re-organization of Court Commissioner' s Position CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) Date: 04/27/00, 05/03/00 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS ST. CROIX COUNTY NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING TO: Chairman Thomas Dorsey St . Croix County Board FROM: Tom O' Connell, Acting Chair COMMITTEE TITLE: Finance DATE: Monday, May 8, 2000 8 :30 A.M. ***NOTE DATE CHANGE*** LOCATION: Government Center CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: Friday, June 9, 2000 8 : 30 A.M. ACTION ON PREVIOUS MINUTES UNFINISHED BUSINESS NEW BUSINESS 1 . Review of Vouchers 2 . Election of Committee Chair, Vice Chair and Secretary 3 . Administrative Coordinator A. 2001 Budget - Schedule - Long Term Planning, Budget Goal Setting, Budget Process - Library Funding B. Ag Center Air Intake Issue C. Health Insurance Status D. Defibrillator Issue 4 . Finance Director A. Preliminary Budget Information 5 . County Clerk A. Safety and Security Report 6 . Corporation Counsel A. Fairgrounds Lease 7 . St . Croix Electric Coop Right of Way Easement for Perch Lake 8 . Reimbursement for Juvenile Detention CORRESPONDENCE ADJOURNMENT (Agenda not necessarily presented in this order) Date: 04/27/00 COPIES TO: County Board Office News Media/Notice Board County Clerk County Board County Departments ADDITIONS/CHANGES/CORRECTIONS FINANCE COMMITTEE Regular Meeting May 8, 2000 i Meeting called to order by Acting Chair Tom O' Connell at 8 :30 a.m. Members present: Tom O'Connell , Tom Dorsey, Stan Krueger, Nancy Bieraugel and Ralph Swenson. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Rich Loney, Corporation Counsel Greg Timmerman and County Clerk Sue Nelson. Others present: Suprs . Margaret Wolske and Julie Speer; Judy Wiff, media. i Motion by Krueger, 2nd by Bieraugel to adopt the agenda. Carried. Next meeting is June 9 . Motion by Dorsey, 2nd by Krueger to adopt the minutes . Carried. Election of Committee Officers: Chuck Whiting called for nominations for the Chair. Bieraugel nominated Tom O' Connell, 2nd by Swenson. j Motion by Krueger to close nominations, 2nd by Dorsey. A unanimous ballot was cast for O'Connell . Dorsey nominated Ralph Swenson for Vice Chair; 2nd by Bieraugel . Swenson was elected by unanimous ballot . Bieraugel nominated Stan Krueger for Secretary; 2nd by Dorsey. Krueger was elected secretary. O' Connell noted that Ralph Swenson represents Finance on the Personnel Committee and Stan Krueger serves on the Information Services Committee . May 10th is orientation session for new Supervisors . Vouchers: Loney said because of the earlier date change, the vouchers were not ready for this meeting. Health and Human Services: Director John Borup, Nursing Home Administrator Carolyn Krieger and Accounting Supervisor Judy Ziegler were present . Request for Juvenile Detention Funds : Public Protection Chair Julie Speer said this funding was removed from the Jail they had no way to bill parents directly for detention costs . Health and Human Services does have a billing system. Public Protection set up the process and H&HS agreed. Finance Committee agreed to this plan but no motion was made. Cost so far this year is $13 , 000 . Borup said they have absorbed a service without a revenue and it is difficult to add this expense to the block grant . Ziegler said when parents are billed, the family needs to come in with financial information to see where they fit on a sliding fee scale. If they do not appear, they are billed at 100% . i' Motion by Krueger, 2nd by Bieraugel to transfer $30, 000 from the Contingency Fund to Health and Human Services for Juvenile Detention costs . Carried. Health and Human Services Staff Report : Borup explained the Nursing Homes and Home Health services are at risk. One third of Home Health groups have closed due to the 1998 Balanced Budget Act . The County Home has been in business for 104 years; starting as an asylum and then becoming a skilled nursing home . There are presently 129 beds . Efforts to sell the nursing home in 1988, 189, 191 and ' 92 failed. Borup stated the Nursing Home is losing money with a $487, 808 loss in 1999 . The good news is this year is in the black so far. Loney distributed a Nursing Home expense and revenue summary. Borup and staff will give a presentation to the County Board to make Supervisors aware of the situation. Carolyn Krieger, Administrator, said the home is penalized for the early sign up for medicare which didn' t cover the cost of care. Some funds have been restored by Congress. Of the residents in the home, 70% are on Medicaid (loss of $20 per day for care) , 80 on Medicare and 22% are private pay. Krieger said the three main problems are : decreased medicare, increased labor costs plus shortage of help and increased enforcement of regulations . Unanticipated expenses in 1999 were $99, 043 . Whiting said this is a budget problem which will be addressed during the next budget process along with policy direction and a long term plan. Chair O'Connell complimented the staff for their efforts in running a fine facility. Swenson recommended a proactive presentation with actual figures available . Administrative Coordinator: Whiting and Loney developed a budget time line with departmental budgets due on August 25 and tentative dates of Sept . 26 and 27 for budget review and October 24 for County Board budget hearing. Whiting asked Finance members to consider mill rate and levy goals for 2001 . Library Service Plan: Loney said $412, 000 was distributed to the 10 county libraries in 2000 . The new Act 150 requires counties to reimburse a minimum of 70% of rural circulation costs . This reimbursement is favorable to the larger libraries but not the smaller ones . Kathy Setter, Deer Park Librarian, met with the Finance committee in February to discuss a more fair allocation. Loney suggested she meet with the committee in June to further discuss Act 150 . Bieraugel questioned a letter from Indianhead Library Director Milt Mitchell indicating the county might lose funding if a library plan is not adopted. Timmerman replied a library system is different than a library service. This county provides library service and will abide by the requirements of Act 150 . Air Intake Problem at Ag. Center: Whiting is still working on this problem by checking with contractors . Timmerman has construction contracts but has not had time to look at them. Health Insurance : Whiting said this issue is on hold until negotiations are completed. Some investigation was done prior to Whiting' s employment . O' Connell indicated this would be back on the agenda after contracts are settled. Defibrillator: Whiting reported Emergency Management Director Jack Colvard indicated buying the equipment is the easy part . Training and use is the difficult part . Krueger suggested using CPR to keep the person stable until the EMT arrive. O'Connell noted other sites should be included also - Health Center, Highway, Ag. Center. No action taken. Community Development Block Grant Loan: Ann Raid, West Central Regional Planning; Bill Rubin, St . Croix County Economic Development Director and Supervisor Margaret Wolske present . i O'Connell asked if new applications should be directed to the Administration Committee . Bieraugel who is also Administration Committee Chair, believes applications should go to the Finance Committee rather than Administration. Ann Raid explained the loan process in which the WI Dept . of Commerce makes funds available for business loans . The County gets the dollars to loan and the repayment comes back to the County for future loans . The Economic Development Corp. is in charge of the program. This loan is for new equipment for Poly Cam, that wishes to locate in the Roberts industrial park. The loan is $100, 000, 4% interest rate for seven years . Supr. Wolske showed the diagram of the business park and the 6 .4 A on which Poly Cam will build. Bieraugel objected to the statement in the resolution which said "The Finance Committee had reviewed the proposed project ..." and suggested it be changed to "The State has reviewed.... " Krueger agreed and said iI this committee should see financial statements and UCC reports if they are to review the project . Discussion regarding the Village of Roberts sponsoring the loan. Supr. Wolske will check with the Village and report back at a meeting h scheduled for Finance prior to County Board, May 16tat 6 :30 p.m. i Re-Organization of Court Commissioner's Position: Judge Lundell advised the present law clerk is now licensed in MN and WI and can do Court Commissioner work. He could help the Family Court Commissioner and also do traffic intake . This would make the position a full time employee with benefits rather than paid hourly. There is money in the Circuit Court budget to pay the remainder of the year' s salary. Motion by Dorsey, 2nd by Krueger to approve reorganization of the Circuit Court dept . to create a full time Court Commissioner position, eliminate the part time law clerk position and refer this recommendation to the Personnel Committee . Carried. GTE Telphone Fairgrounds Easement: Gary Schieffer, Sr. Engineer for GTE, showed the proposed route that was changed to the easterly side of the Fairgrounds which will be 928' long. The Fair Board approved this route and easement . Krueger thought the County should receive the same amount for this easement as the one for the Wildwood Trail . Motion by Krueger, 2nd by Swenson to recommend approval to the County Board for the Fairgrounds easement with a payment of the standard $ . 06 per foot plus a balance of $244 . 32 for a total of $300 . Carried. Dorsey objected to the easement charges because these companies are providing a service to the taxpayers . Finance Director: Loney will present preliminary budget instructions at the next meeting. He explained the Public Hearing process for the _ County Board Budget session. County Clerk: Sue Nelson had no report or recommendations from the Safety and Security Committee . Tax Deed Property, Town of Warren: Timmerman explained the buyer of this tax deed property was getting a bank loan but the Title Insurance Company would not insure the title. There is a statute that allows a previous owner to attempt to reclaim this property for three years after the tax deed. There is a legal process called in-rem which is time consuming and court costs are involved. Committee did not take action on this process . Motion by Bieraugel, 2nd by Krueger that if the first bidder, David Olsen, does not pay by May 12th, the bid award would go to the next highest bidder, Brian Cloutier. The down payment would be refunded to first bidder. Carried. j Perch Lake Easements: Parks Director Joe Grant said electric, gas and phone companies all need easements for the same area at Perch Lake Homestead Park. Planning, Zoning and Parks has given approval . Motion by O'Connell , 2nd by Krueger to approve easements for St . Croix Electric, Midwest Natural Gas and Ameritech and recommend approval to the County Board. Carried. Fairgrounds Lease Agreement: Timmerman advised the County Fair is operated on County land managed by the Fair Board. The Fair Board maintains the property and buildings and rents out buildings for events and storage. The five year lease has expired. Motion by Krueger, 2nd by Dorsey to extend the lease for five years. Carried. County Board Chair and County Clerk will sign. Swenson asked about monthly financial reports . Loney will give the usual reports at the May 16th meeting and committee can decide which ones to receive in the future. Krueger asked if the Sheriff' s Dept . will be reimbursed by the promoters for help at the rock concerts . Whiting will check. Motion by Swenson, 2nd by Krueger to adjourn at 12 : 15 p.m. Stan Krueger, SJrL e eL i