South Central Reporter

Macoupin County Board Finance Committee met May 6.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Members Present: Jon Payne, Ross Adden, John Blank, Mark Dragovich, Gordon Heuer, and Bernie Kiel

Members Absent: Todd Armour

Officials and Department Heads Present: Pete Duncan and L. Amber McGartland

1. Call to Order

1.1 Roll Call

There were 6 members present and 1 member absent.

2. Agenda Items

2.1 Update on FY 24-25 Revenue and Expenses

Duncan walked through the revenue as of the end of April and said the county was basically right on track for what was projected and just a little bit above where we were at this point last fiscal year. He also handed out a summary of expenditures in the General Fund. He said each official and department head would be presenting at the budget hearing later this month.

2.2 Update on FY 25-26 Revenue Projections and Budget Requests before Hearings

Duncan walked through the revenue projections for next year which again are lower than the projections for the current year. However, now that the budget requests are in, there is nearly $500,000 in increased spending requested. This would make putting next year's budget together much harder than in previous years.

2.3 Update on ARPA Funding and Annual Report Duncan said that the annual report for ARPA had been submitted. He also had a breakdown of the remaining spending, which is 4 projects. The highway projects were able to be amended.

2.4 Resolution on Courthouse HVAC Funding Duncan walked through this resolution. The ARPA portion of the Courthouse HVAC funding had been exhausted and as had previously been discussed, the general fund reserves would pay the remaining of the contract. Back in December, the Treasurer's office inadvertently deposited $1.5 million in cash outs of CDs that should have gone into the General Fund into the ARPA Fund. Between the $477,000 that had been earned through interest and that that money, that would take care of most of the remaining contract costs. This resolution would approve all of that and allow for spending to be out of the ARPA Fund.

Motion to recommend the resolution.

Moved by: John Blank

Seconded by: Gordon Heuer

Carried

2.5 Update on Audit Expenses

Duncan discussed that the resolution recommended above would allow for single audit expenses to be paid from the ARPA interest earned. He also reminded the committee that there was about 4 years worth of tax fund audits that would need to be paid for once they were completed.

2.6 FY 23-24 Audit Letter Recommendations and Possible Actions to Take

Duncan passed out a copy of the letter the auditors had regarding possible areas for improvement. The two biggest seem to revolve around monthly reconciliation and possibly having all funds run through the county financial software. The committee decided they wanted to pursue doing and wanted to invite the other officials involved for a discussion on how to handle that transition.

2.7 Update on Health Insurance Renewal Process

Duncan said he had talked with Blue Cross Blue Shield and the earliest there would be renewal information would be the end of June. He had put out a notice asking those interested in bidding to sign up to be notified when a request for proposal goes out. He would hopefully have a draft RFP for the committee to review next month.

2.8 Update on 24 Payable 25 Property Tax Cycle

Duncan said that the Assessor's office was hoping to have their work done around the end of the month. It would then be up to him to complete tax extensions so the very earliest he would be done would be the beginning of July. McGartland then discussed the possibility of due dates in September and October but it would all depend when the bills could be mailed out.

2.9 Update on County Work Comp and Liability Insurance Issues

Duncan read an email from the broker regarding what information is available to all departments and what isn't. He also discussed that if anyone else were added to the privacy statement, all communication including legal notices on lawsuits and potential liability payments would receive it as well. Payne said he felt that having just the Clerk be the overall point of contact was the best course. Duncan also said he had reviewed the last 12 months, and there was one instance that he was asked to approve information being given to the Health Department, which was given in 3 days. He also said he had the policy to them within 24 hours of a request being made for it and had the payroll audit to the health department within 24 hours of receiving it. There was a discussion about how quickly Public Health could pay their premium. The committee asked how quickly Duncan could get Public Health the listing of their vehicles. Duncan said they were able to get that information without him directly from the broker and have done so previously, contrary to what Public Health had said last month. Barr said that on the work comp side, C. Blank said she was paying for that from grants and was not able to cut checks and then either get a refund later or cut additional checks which was why she had to wait until she fully reconciled the bill. Duncan said maybe other counties should be reached out to since he had talked with some and none of them had run into this being an issue along with speaking with the auditors who also said they were unaware of a reason the bill couldn't be paid as it was before.

3. Adjournment

3.1 Adjourn Meeting

Motion by Blank, seconded by Kiel to adjourn at 6:48 pm. All in favor. Motion carried.

https://macoupincountyil.diligent.community/document/11598/?lastModified=638828493763800000