Carbondale Reporter

Jackson County Finance and Administration Committee met Nov. 15.

Here is the minutes provided by the committee:

Call to Order (5:00 PM)

Members Present: Comparato, D. Bost, Erbes, Hunter, Larkin, Maxwell, Peterson and Rendleman

Also Present: Tamiko Mueller, Laurie Nehring, Sheriff Robert Burns, Mary Varner, Jennifer Lindsey, Maureen Berkowitz, Josh Barringer, Frank Byrd, Peggy Degan, Melissa Lange, Mike Carr, Christine Snyder, Kenton Schafer, Sarah Patrick, Chad Hill, Dana Dailey, Michelle Tweedy, Cindy Svanda, Larry Rienhardt, Sharon Harris-Johnson, Ed Ford

Approval of October 8, 2018 Minutes

Peterson moved and Larkin seconded to approve the October 8, 2018 minutes as presented, motion carried.

Chair's Report

Insurance

A. Worker's Compensation Update

B. Health Insurance Update

i. Health Savings Account

ii. Payment of Health Insurance Claims

C. Property & Liability

A. The committee reviewed the ICRMT workers compensation renewal quote. Larkin moved and Peterson seconded to accept the offer, motion carried.

B. i. Tweedy reported that she is working on getting it implemented. As information becomes available, it will be distributed to the employees.

B.ii. Tweedy began by informing the committee that from what she can tell the stop loss reimbursement is going to be about $100,000 but she is waiting on final numbers from Consociate. She then began reviewing the handout provided to the committee. The committee discussed the transfer of $800,000 that took place at the end of last year. Tweedy said she expects that there will be over one million dollars in claims that need to be paid by November 28th, she is waiting on Consociate to give her the exact number. Larkin moved and D. Bost seconded to authorize the Finance Chair and the Chairman of the County Board to pay the amount that needs paid in order to get the stop loss reimbursement, motion carried. Rendleman pointed out that this year the county is going to lose over one million dollars on health insurance. Hunter pointed out that there are things being done, like a Health Insurance Taskforce, to try and have this not happen in the future.

C. None

Finance

A. Payment of County Monthly Claims

B. Payment of Board Member Travel Expenses

C. Financial Statement Review

i. Reserve Account Balances

ii. Transfer of Funds

iii. Tax Anticipation Warrants

D. Proposed Budget Amendments

E. Property Tax, CAMA and wEdge Software License Maintenance & Support

A. Larkin moved and Comparato seconded to pay the county monthly claims in the amount of $326,611.80, motion carried.

B. Larkin moved and Comparato seconded to pay the board members travel reimbursement in the amount of $7,144.61, motion carried

C. Tweedy reported that the first disbursement of property tax money has been made to the county, it is around $3.8 million dollars. Hunter pointed out that the county gets $6.6 million dollars to make it to next years tax payment and since the county owes o ver one million dollars in health insurance, they will already be starting out with less money. This is something she wants everyone to keep in mind as they go forward. Peterson asked what is happening with the Grand Tower appeal; it is still with the state. Harris-Johnson reported that Grand Tower paid their tax bill. D. Bost asked how much had to be transferred to cover payroll and bills, $1.8 million has been transferred. Tweedy pointed out that the county did not make it a full year before they had to borrow funds to pay bills. She also pointed out that fines and fees are down as well as sales tax; revenue is down and expenditures are up.

D. Budget books were handed out. Hunter began by going through charts and graphs that she put together that illustrate where the county is and what the past few years have looked like. She pointed out that personnel expenses and expenditures are up and revenues continue to decrease. Hunter explained that some board members are frustrated with the county continuing to ta ke money from the solid waste fund, they believe there are other avenues that could be reduced more. Hunter reminded everyone that since the county was not levying the full amount they could, they are not capturing about $125,000 that they could be. This will translate to about a $5 savings on everyone's tax bill. Rendleman thought that the consensus with the Finance committee was to keep the levy flat and have a six percent cut in the county budget. Larkin said that was a goal in the beginning but due to the loss of revenue and the over $1,000,000 owed in health insurance claims, it was not possible. Rendleman said he understood the reasons for the change but that there has been a loss of consensus among the board members. In previous years there has been a consensus among board members on the budget. To achieve consensus, it may require the board to work harder and to accept that cuts may have to be made to personnel and services. Hunter stated that she took the time to look at each departments budget to see if there were any places where further cuts could be made. She then spoke with the department heads about her proposed cuts to see if they would be manageable. Then Nehring stated that she thinks the committee should do their due diligence in looking at the spending of the county and work with the elected officials to make reasonable cuts. D. Bost said it might be time for the county to look at letting go of some services. Hunter pointed out the recent 30% tax increase that Carterville is having to implement and cautioned the committee to not set up future boards to have to contemplate huge tax increases. Svanda addressed the committee to point out that each year every department is asked to cut; expected to do more and more with less. She went on to say that they do what they can to reduce but they have statutory obligations and a duty to the citizens to provide services. She is tired of hearing board members say that they are not doing enough. Hunter then stated that board members have asked for more cuts and she put together a spreadsheet outlining some more places where it might be possible to make more cuts so that less will have to be taken from the solid waste fund. Larkin suggested taking the same amount from solid waste and putting the extra in the health insurance line item. Rendleman suggested looking at lowering the levy. Svanda pointed out that the cost of everything keeps going up and lowering the amount levied is probably not the best idea. Berkowitz pointed out that in all her talks with citizens about their tax bills not one mentioned noticing the extra $5 the county saved them, they don't notice it when their entire bill goes up anyway because no other taxing body lowers their levy. Burns pointed out that in the future, it would be better if the board told the departments a bottom line number that needed to be cut instead of making cuts to departments line items. He went on to state that he could make it work with the amount that is being asked to be cut but that it would reduce the roll-over he is able to provide next year. Degan and Lange spoke about how the cuts would detrimentally affect the Public Defenders office. She also pointed out that her personnel line item is actually less next year than this year so not only is she not able to give her staff any raises she will not be able to keep the staff she has. Hunter said that was an error, it was not the intention of the committee to cut her personnel that much. Hunter added back the amount to the Public Defender line item in the amount to equal a 2% raise for each staff member. Reinhardt said that he could not take the additional cut because he is required to have that amount in that line item. He suggested that Byrd could not replace his position or use less in office supplies. Rendleman suggested that in the future, the elected officials could give a budget that is based on expenditures. Reinhardt suggested doing a mid-year review of the budget. Hunter suggested that the board cut back on travel. Rendleman pointed out that the travel was helpful to board members understanding their positions and learning about new legislation. The committee decided to remove funding for a County Administrator. Carr spoke about how the cuts are eliminating office holders ability to run their own offices. When the committee takes their numbers from a snapshot of the payroll, it does not take into account end of the year payments. He suggested the board reconsider increasing the levy to the full extent possible. He concluded by complimenting Hunter on all the work she had done. Larkin stated that due diligence has been done, in fact the budget process has been done better this year and it ever has before. He went on to say that sometimes compromise means that neither side gets exactly what they want and he hopes that there will be a consensus on the budget. Rendleman asked why Senior Services was not asked to cut anything, they asked for a small amount and use their funding well. The committee discussed how much to take out of solid waste, why money would be taken out of solid waste, and how to handle solid waste in the future. The consensus is to start putting solid waste funds into the budget.

E. None

Labor

Old Business

New Business

Executive Session

Adjourn (6:57 PM)

Larkin moved and D. Bost seconded to adjourn, motion carried.

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