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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFinance 09-02,03,04-09 NOTICE OF COMMITTEE MEETING AND AGENDA ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE DATE AND TIME: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday September 2, 3 and 4, 2009 — 8:00 A.M. LOCATION: Room 1281, St. Croix County Government Center, 1101 Carmichael Road Hudson, Wisconsin CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL ADOPTION OF AGENDA DATE OF NEXT MEETING: APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING: August 6, 2009 OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: 1. 2010 Budget Review NOTE: This is expected to be a three -day committee meeting lasting approximately to 5:00 p.m. each day. Department budgets will be presented periodically over these three days. A working schedule for those presentations is available from the County Clerk. ADJOURN (Items may be taken in different order) * *Additions /Changes /Corrections Items for County Board approval must be submitted to the County Clerk's office by Wednesday morning preceding a County Board meeting. 1:35 PM 8/12/2009 OFFICIAL MINUTES OF THE ST. CROIX COUNTY FINANCE COMMITTEE Budget Review Meeting September 2 -4, 2009 Meeting called to order by Chair Standafer at 8:03 a.m. in Room 1281 of the Government Center in Hudson. Present: Daryl Standafer, Clarence Malick, Esther Wentz, David Peterson and Sharon Norton- Bauman. Staff present: Administrative Coordinator Chuck Whiting, Finance Director Michelle Pietrick, Finance Accountant Mike Wanshura, Sheriff Dennis Hillstead, Victim Witness Coordinator Ann Gustafson, District Attorney Office Manager Cathy Halverson, Chief Deputy John Shilts, Jail Captain Karen Humphrey, Sheriff' Department Office Manager /Accountant Mary Martell, District Attorney Eric Johnson, Child Support Director Katy Kapaun, Medical Examiner and Director of Emergency Communications Casey Swetlik, Emergency Management Director Jack Colvard, Highway Commissioner Tim Ramberg, Veterans Services Director Merlin Blaisdell, Planning and Zoning Director Dave Fodroczi, Register of Deeds Beth Pabst, Director of Land and Water Conservation Bob Heise, UW Extension Agent Pete Kling, HHS Director Fred Johnson, Nursing Home Administrator Frank Robinson, HHS Accountant Fiscal Manager Jennifer Pempeck, and Behavioral Health Coordinator Ron Kiesler. Staff noted were present at different times throughout the three days of meetings. Others present: Supervisors Roger Rebholz, Julie Speer, John Borup, Richard King, Gene Ruetz, David Ostness, Richard Marzolf; and Norm Matzek, Bill Rubin, Steve Smart, Dick Sullwold, Patty Robinson, and Bill Ihlenfeldt. Supervisors and individuals noted were present at different times throughout the three days of meetings. Motion by Wentz, 2 " by Norton- Bauman to adopt the agenda. Carried unanimously. Motion by Norton- Bauman, 2 "d by Wentz to approve the August 6, 2009 minutes. Carried unanimously. Committee and staff reviewed the status of the budget before the Committee. Discussion included debt levies, the gap between departments submitted expenditure budgets and revenues, equalized valuation and the mill rate, economic factors such as unemployment rate, fund balances and the bond rating, finance software, building services software needs and future budgets. Also noted were items not yet in the budget such as employee health insurance, non - represented employee wage adjustment and potential capital items. Department Budget Presentations: Sheriff - Hillstead and his staff reviewed with the Committee the Sheriff and jail budgets. Of note, wages up due to contract and court security position approved in 2009. Discussion on gas prices. Review of water patrol needs. Liability insurance decreased. One fewer patrol car is proposed. Increases in capital outlay due to delaying purchases in the past. Jail — Hillstead noted a drop in jail revenues due to decrease in Huber judgments because no available employment, and the success of diversion programs. Expense increases include wages, and wages due to return of military leave employee, although the latter helps reduce overtime costs. Discussion on overtime. Medical and dental expenses for inmates are up due to additional nursing hours scheduled. Meals are down some due to fewer inmates. Discussion on electronic monitoring and increases in capital items. Finance Committee — Budget Review September 2 — 4, 2009 Page 2 of 4 District Attorney — Johnson reviewed his proposed budget. Discussion on likelihood of receiving grant revenues. Johnson reviewed state employee furlough requirements. The Victim Witness budget was reviewed with Gustafson. Her pending retirement and service to the County was noted. Copier costs and last year's revenue generated by restitution surcharges were reviewed. Child Support — Kapaun presented her department budget. A retirement is anticipated. Stimulus funds restored some federal funding previously cut. She reviewed operation expenses. She noted federal funds cannot supplant local operations reductions. She noted replacing the retired employee would allow the department to capture federal funds that would not be possible if department expenses cuts were made. Discussion of process serving options. Medical Examiner — Swetlik presented the Medical Examiner budget. He noted his budget is based on responding to deaths which he cannot predict. The budget is based on 28 autopsies and results in a 0% expense increase. Emergency Management — Colvard reviewed his budget which includes increases in training exercises. He noted receiving over $lm in grants since 9 -11 including a communications interoperability grant in the proposed budget. Discussion on employee health insurance budget. Whiting suggested Colvard's employment contract be reviewed and options for moving emergency management services forward be developed. Borup noted the topic will be placed on the next committee agenda. Emergency Communications — Swetlik reviewed his proposed budget noting a reduction in expenses due to renegotiating a phone contract for the Government Center. Discussion of the phone system and billings. Proposed budget is a 1% reduction. Budget reductions could only be done with staff reductions. Discussion on the nature of and volume of calls to the 911 center. No significant capital items are proposed. The Finance Committee reviewed general budget issues and discussed finance software options, then recessed for lunch. Highway — Ramberg and King presented the highway budget. Ramberg noted 5.4 miles of construction and the status of staying up on their six year road reconstruction trend. He reviewed three budget options, with their preferred option following their maintenance program. Other options reduce the amount of chip - sealing. He noted the need to do a minimum of nine miles of overlays to secure federal funds. Veterans Services — Blaisdell reviewed his budget proposal. He noted 53 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans that now reside in the County. Otherwise his budget changes are minimal. Planning and Zoning — Fodroczi and Ruetz presented the Planning and Zoning budget. The budget includes the reduction of two staff and a 25% reduction in operation costs. There is a total reduction of almost $140,000. Discussion of revenues and state issues with septic inspections. No capital outlay is included in budget. The regional planning commission also reduced its request. It was noted the proposed budget was unanimously approved by the Planning and Zoning Committee. Finance Committee — Budget Review September 2 — 4, 2009 Page 3 of 4 Register of Deeds — Pabst reviewed her budget and some changes she is making. She noted a new copier and future interest in office remodeling that is not in her budget. Discussion about options for combining real property lister functions with deeds functions. Discussion on record keeping functions. Committee discussed non - represented employee wages, health insurance and retirement options, four day work week issues, gas purchasing and broke for the rest of the day. The Committee recessed until the next morning and continued discussion of budget issues. The gap between revenues and expenses noted after the first day was just under $1.2m. Land and Water Conservation — Heise reviewed a balance sheet of his programs and revenue. Discussion of the predictability of non -levy revenues. Program fund balances are down. He reviewed a capital expense for a server. Discussion on server and Information Technology options. Discussion of staff use. Review of Farm Service Agency lease. Parks — Heise reviewed the Parks budget. Discussion on in -house versus third party services for mowing. He noted camping is up with most campers from outside the County, and there was discussion on fees. Reductions in budget would mean removing capital items. Discussion on use of volunteers. Heise reviewed capital items. UW- Extension — Kling presented the Extension budget with a 0% increase. He noted the state furloughs and their impact on Extension staff and the budget. The salary reductions from furloughs are offset by small increases in operating costs. Discussion on County fair premiums for 4H program. Fair — Smart and Sullwold reviewed the Fair budget. Their request is for a larger contribution from the County. Discussion of Fair revenues and past County allocations. Discussion of non -Fair activities and revenues. Discussion of premium checks for Fair awards. Economic Development — Rubin, Robinson and Ihlenfeldt presented the EDC budget. Their request is a 0% increase. Ihlenfeldt addressed the County's contribution to Momentum West. The Committee recessed for lunch. Health & Human Services — Johnson, Pempeck and Kiesler reviewed the various HHS department budgets. He noted overall a significant decrease in the levy request. Johnson reviewed the management of the farm. Discussion of water loss in the HHS facility. He noted the ADRC levy request is down. Review of 100% time accounting. Discussion of the ADRC van purchase with St. Croix Industries. Johnson reviewed Aging budgets and explained the transition costs to the ADRC. He reviewed changes the department has worked on with their regional peers to include an assessment on the ability of a client to pay in certain guardian court issues. Kiesler explained the Behavioral Health wrap around program and issues Community Health Partners may have. Johnson reviewed the HHS Administration budget. He noted staffing changes, reviewed rental revenues and consultant fees for strategic planning. Kiesler reviewed Behavioral Health programs. Discussion of voluntary versus law enforcement intervention in alcohol /drug abuse situations, and emergency detention decisions. Kiesler reviewed mental health programs receiving an increase in revenues. He noted under Finance Committee — Budget Review September 2 — 4, 2009 Page 4 of 4 21 commitments will require County contributions for those taken to Winnebago or Mendota. Successful diversion efforts should reduce costs considerably. Kiesler reviewed CFS and YCSS programs. Budget levy request is up $130,000 due to losses in program revenues. Office movement within the HHS facility has led to greater efficiencies. Kiesler reviewed a commitment from the state to the County of $271,000 to serve disabled children, but department is short staff to do this and will likely be asking for a new position. Johnson noted higher cost for children services. He reviewed using other models to possibly develop a court model for kids. Johnson reviewed Economic Support. He noted the increase in activity in the department in the weaker economy. The budget includes funds for indigent death burials. He noted food share cases up the second highest percentage in the state. Johnson reviewed the Public Health budget. Restaurant inspections have been added which has generated some additional revenue. Tobacco control funding is down over 50 %. Still waiting for the state's regionalization plan. Discussion on H1N1 preparation. Johnson reviewed St. Croix Industries budget. He explained the negative surplus the operation has in order to balance their budget. Discussion on this. Frank Robinson reviewed the nursing home budget. The levy request is down $322,000, or about 30 %. He noted the success of the two day planning session held in July. He is increasing daily census by 2, improving patient mix to bring in more Medicare revenue, and is in the process of creating a rehab unit. His five year goal is to remove the nursing home entirely from the levy. The Committee recessed for the evening. The Committee discussed the budget as a whole and preparation for the September 22 Board meeting. Discussion on levy limit options and the library levy. Committee agreed to remove Administration suite improvements from the budget. Discussion on non - represented employee wages. Discussion on finance software options. Committee agreed to remove the finance software and replace it with funds for using a consultant to advise on finance software needs. Discussion of employee health insurance. The Committee determined the levy should hold to the percentage increase of new construction of 1.253 %. Discussion of the use of ARRA economic recovery bonds for various capital improvements. Discussion on the sales tax figures from UW- Extension and whether they are conservative enough. Discussion of available general fund balance to apply forward. Committee discussed adding $5,000 for Board goal setting. Discussion on libraries options. Committee discussed again the presentation to the Board. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 11:17 a.m. Sharon Norton - Bauman, Secretary Chuck Whiting, Recording Secretary