South Central Reporter

Macoupin County Board Finance Committee met July 1.

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, Anne Clough, Christy Blank, John Bresnan, Jordan Garrison, L. Amber McGartland, and Tom Reinhart

1. Call to Order

1.1 Roll Call

There were 6 members present and 1 member absent.

2. Agenda Items

2.1 Resolution Adjusting County and Community Development Appropriation for Grant Manager Position

Duncan said this resolution would adjust the County and Community Development Appropriation to allow for the grant manager position salary to be paid. It would increase it by $15,000 and would also increase the grant revenue projection by $15,000 to make it budget neutral.

Motion to recommend the resolution.

Moved by: Ross Adden

Seconded by: John Blank

Carried

2.2 Approving Hiring Additional Lawyer for Federal Tax Sale Lawsuit

Garrison discussed that 62 counties had been sued regarding a recent Supreme Court decision on delinquent property tax sales. The state has not updated the statute which has led to the suit. Our insurance has a tax exclusion so they will not represent the county and Garrison is not barred to practice in federal court. He was working to team with some of the other counties in the suit to hire a special assistant state's attorney to handle the case and he would need the Board to approve doing so.

2.3 Approving Salary Increases for Public Defenders and SheriffPublic attachment

Payne said this was the annual salary increase approval required to get the reimbursement from the state. The Sheriff would increase to $175,460 and the Public Defender would increase to $197,393.

Motion to recommend the salary increases.

Moved by: Ross Adden

Seconded by: Bernie Kiel

Carried

2.4 County Highway Non-Union Salaries

Reinhart said the Teamsters contract had settled and he had asked the Road and Bridge committee what to do about the non-union salaries and they had referred him to the Finance committee. He passed out a sheet showing options. After a discussion, the committee recommended the first option.

Motion to recommend the Engineer Tech position salary in 24/25 be $65,284, in 25/26 be $67,896, and in 26/27 be $70,612.

Moved by: John Blank

Seconded by: Bernie Kiel

Carried

2.5 Health Insurance Renewal Bid

Duncan passed out the draft health insurance renewal bid document. He had a date for the bid opening being Tuesday September 2nd and asked if that is what the committee wanted. The committee decided to have the bid due date be August 19th.

2.6 FY 23-24 Audit Letter Recommendations and Process of Moving Manually Reconciled Funds into County Financial Software

The committee discussed handling procedures for the new funds, using the Highway Funds process as a model. Deposits will be made through the County Clerk’s office using the standard cashiering process, with the Treasurer’s office finalizing and depositing. Departments can enter manual checks into the system but cannot finalize them—this must be done by the Treasurer’s office. Physical checks must be brought to the Clerk and Treasurer’s offices for signatures. Monthly reconciliations will be performed by the Treasurer’s office to ensure transparency and oversight, helping prevent unmonitored electronic transfers. The committee discussed if it was necessary to have two signatures on a check and felt it was not as banks would not honor it and wanted to avoid unnecessary work. It was decided then the officials or department heads would be able to cut checks as they have been and then just manually record them in the system.

Motion to recommend this process to the full Board effective September 1, 2025.

Moved by: John Blank

Seconded by: Bernie Kiel

Carried

2.7 FY 2025-2026 Tentative Budget

The committee reviewed budget options for the upcoming fiscal year. The department requests, shown in the far-right column, would result in a projected deficit of $204,701.73, not including additional estimated costs of $45,000 for Probation and AFSCME 4% raises.

A tentative budget proposal in the center column was presented, which includes:

· Sheriff salary increases and overtime

· 4% raises for AFSCME employees

· 3% raises for State’s Attorney and Supervisor of Assessments

· Moving Animal Control salaries to the General Fund, reducing the need for a transfer

· Budgeting for a Grant Manager salary (offset by revenue

· A $75,000 reduction in Capital Outlay

This proposal results in a projected surplus of $16,952.06. However, it does not include any non-salary related requests or raise above 3% for the Supervisor of Assessments. The proposal shows limited capacity for additional funding beyond salaries. The Grant Manager has been asked to pursue grants to potentially fund other requests, such as a new police vehicle and technology upgrades for the Sheriff’s office. Clough asked if her salary increase was included that had just been approved, Duncan said no as she had not submitted a new request. Bresnan asked if the committee was aware that his salary request above 3% could be covered by the GIS Fund and was half reimbursed by the State. The committee reviewed the numbers.

3. Adjournment

3.1 Adjourn Meeting

Motion by Blank, seconded by Kiel to adjourn at 6:54 pm. All in favor. Motion carried.

https://macoupincountyil.diligent.community/document/f9216203-8fde-4bf6-9d10-883105762b6e/