Macoupin County Finance Committee met June 13.
Here is the minutes provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
PRESENT: Thomas, Harding, Kiel, Lewis, Rull, Tranter, Reinhart, Bishop, Woesthaus, Deihl, Verticchio, Clagg, Dragovich, Boehm, Duncan
ABSENT: Armour
II. BUDGET HEARING
Tom Reinhart - Highway Department
Reinhart spoke about the Highway Department budget. Motor Fuel Tax being doubled won’t result in twice the MFT distributions, but should see a 73 1/2% increase. This should get us back to where we were 10 years ago for buying power. Based on revenue the last 12 months, the MFT budgets was down compared to last year. For the Highway Fund, based on anticipated revenue, the budget went down.6%. This figured in contractual raises and also showed a slight decrease in IMRF as the rates have gone down. Matching Fund shows an increase based on revenue projections.
Aaron Bishop - Emergency 911
Bishop with Emergency 911 discussed his budget. His budget was approved by the E911 Board in May. There is no increase in the total budget. There were changes between certain line items. The big increases were mapping and address changes that need to happen on the server as well as the 2% increase with the agreement between the county and E911 for dispatchers. Bishop reminded the Board this budget is not supplemented by General Fund money, though the 911 department and County do work together well on projects they can both spend money on.
Andrew Woesthaus - Animal Control
Woesthaus spoke about the Animal Control budget. His temporary salary line will increase as he has four kennel staff who help man the fort and keep animals cared for should he be called out on an emergency call. He hopes to be able to keep the maintenance of the animal control truck down as it is still running and he can handle most of the fixes. For vet costs, he has cut it again as he is able to handle many of the vet issues which has saved a lot of money in those fees.
Ken Deihl - Circuit Court
Deihl spoke about the Circuit Court budget request. He was requesting the same amount of money as he received after the supplemental request that the Board had already previously approved. He believed that would be sufficient for the following year with the contractual part time public defenders instead of simply relying on hourly rates. He hoped to update the court committee later on how that budget request. For Law Library Fund, he was requesting the same amount as he has over the last few years.
Jono Verticchio - Public Defender
Verticchio discussed the Public Defender’s budget request. He has a small increase for supplies (postage, phones, papers) as he was basically spending only $700 of his budget for everything besides salaries. There would no raises for himself, the assistant public defender or his secretary.
Sharon Clagg - Child Advocacy Network
Clagg spoke about the Child Advocacy Network and their request for funding from the County. They have been open for about 2 years and help cover the interviews and counseling for children that are part of serious crimes or sexually violent crimes. They have had 209 cases in their network, 72 is from Macoupin County, double over anyone else. She is asking for any type of funding she could get from the county. They had a DCFS grant for $65,000. This was to pay for her salary and the initial center. Any additional center is not covered. If you do not have a center in Macoupin, it would require officers and victims are required to go to Jacksonville, pulling officers off of Macoupin Streets for interviews as well as requiring victims to travel that far, some of who can’t afford the cost or to take the time off of work to do so. The costs of the expense for the building is about $1,000 a month and there is also a budget of $1,500 a month for counseling, though that may not be enough to cover the total need.
Mark Dragovich - County Board
Dragovich spoke about the Board and County Administration budget requests. The County Board will remain the same. County Administration has an increase in total. The audit will decrease about $2,000. The collective bargaining contracts for three different unions are coming up and as we now have to pay an hourly rate for the labor attorney. The total budget will be about $50,000, an increase of about $21,000. That number will depend greatly on how much effort and time is required for the contract negotiations.
Anne Boehm - County Treasurer
Boehm discussed the Treasurer budget is the same this year except for the salary increases for her two union employees. Thomas asked about the transfers from her special funds to the General Fund. Boehm said she expected to transfer about $52,000.
Pete Duncan - County Clerk
County Clerk Duncan presented his budget. The only change was decreasing the County Clerk's budget by $25,000 and increasing the Election budget by $25,000. This was to help cover the costs of new voting machines. A year ago, he had asked to put out bids for new voting machines. The main thing the Board has discussed since then is how he was going to pay for it. Tonight, he had a plan to pay for all costs related to the machines. By combining precincts down to 40, that allows for savings by having less costs for the services contract as well as less money on Election judge salaries. Duncan also is applying the current costs for licensing and maintenance to the lease costs. These moves, along with the movement of money from the Clerk budget to Election budget, cover every penny of the costs. Duncan also reminded the committee in all his time as County Clerk, there has never been a time the Board has voted against allowing an official or department head to spend additional money on something if they had a way to pay for it. He hoped that would not change now.
http://macoupincountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=15&ID=3512&Inline=True
Alerts Sign-up