MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
DECEMBER 17, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
County Engineer Greg Parker: FY10 Budget......................................................................... 1
Secondary Roads (49).............................................................................................. 1
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek: FY10 Budget................................................................... 7
Sheriff (08)............................................................................................................... 7
FY 2010 County Budget..................................................................................................... 17
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:01 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
County Engineer Greg Parker said the budget as the Board instructed Secondary Roads reflects a zero increase except the three items the Board referenced. The only item Secondary Roads felt needed to be increased was fuel expenditure. In the past approved expenditures have not matched approved revenues. The FY08 actuals were 7.6 and there is a difference in the budget. Secondary Roads cut the requested budget from FY09 to FY10 to reflect the no increase other than the fuel usage. He said Secondary Roads cut about $1 million from the budget. He said requested expenditures were reduced to match the FY09 revenues except for fuel which was an increase of about $250,000.
Parker said he used the approved revenues for the existing budget and matched that for FY10, except for fuel expenditures. He said changes had to be made to accommodate that match and everything should be a negative except for fuel. R. Sullivan asked if he was referring to diesel. Parker said yes and that is the only increase they requested above approved revenues in the Fiscal Year 2009 budget. Neuzil asked why construction, maintenance, and new equipment dropped. Parker said in the past expenditures have not matched approved revenues and there was about $1 million difference. He said Secondary Roads had to come up with $1 million to make revenues match expenditures. That was a location the Board asked to cut new equipment. That was almost half of the money needed to get the budget to the right amount. He said $250,000 was cut for buildings and construction. He said that was a one time non-recurring expenditure. R. Sullivan asked if that expenditure was for the shed. Parker said yes for the Oxford Shed.
Parker said after taking those out, the cuts to the Secondary Roads budget were $750,000. He said they tried to zero out the rest of the numbers except the fuel. He said they did not add the fuel request until after revenues matched expenditures. The request was for fuel was added based on what had already been expended and fuel projections for the department. Harney asked what was under the $40,000 line item. Parker said materials, stable, granular. Harney thought it might be gravel. Parker said it would be road maintenance activities. He said every time they go through the budget they try to match actual expenditures and anticipate a growth in expenditures. The actual expenditures were $300,000 but they added a percentage to cover any increases received. He said the increase is most likely in the Seal Coat Program.
R. Sullivan asked Parker if they anticipate the cost of the product to decrease or if they are doing less miles. Parker responded $298,640 was the actual expenditure for FY08. He said when they look at the budget they try to mirror actual expenditures with a little bit of growth to cover unforeseen costs. R. Sullivan asked if Parker thinks they can get it done for $320,000 as opposed to $360,000. Parker said they are hoping they can accomplish and accommodate that cut to get to a budget location where those activities can be accomplished. Harney said he doesn’t want to do without gravel on roads that need it. Parker replied that the granular is a different line item. The actual granular is budgeted at $765,000 for FY09 and the actual in FY08 was $706,000. Based on the zero line budget increases they felt that the granular budget did not need to be increased based on how the gravel roads have been. Their request would be to allow an increase in that but since they were only allowed to increase three items they decided to keep it at the same level.
Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne said one thing for the Board to remember is for 2008 and 2009 they put $400,000 each year in the Rural Fund for capital improvement and $100,000 each year for trails. That is at the Board’s disposal for road repair and similar activities. Harney said he doesn’t know if they are going to do those new projects in this budget but they will do some for trails. Claiborne said a few weeks ago it was mentioned to Parker and the Board that they can tap into the $800,000 set aside in the Rural Fund rather than Parker using the reserve to make up for the cuts in his budget. R. Sullivan said that is a good reminder. Parker said historically the Board has matched the minimum tax code requirement towards the Secondary Road’s budget. He said he is not requesting a tax increase but it is an option for the Board to increase the tax levy for additional monies. There is room to grow on the percentage.
Claiborne said by code there are two transfers they have to do; one from General Basic and one from Rural Basic. He runs the formula and the County always chooses the lower percentage especially for General Basic. This is a place to save taxes rather than raise transfers they can use money that is there already. R. Sullivan asked Claiborne what their rural rate is. Claiborne said it is right at $3.00 and the cap is $3.95. Neuzil asked what is in the Rural Fund for the CIP program and what are they budgeting this year. Parker said the Board set aside $500,000 two years ago. There should be $1 million in the account as of July 1, 2009 and each year $100,000 of the $500,000 was set aside for trail construction. There is $200,000 designated for trail construction activities and $800,000 available for capital improvement programs. There were four projects they set aside which were the two level B roads and the two regrade roads Osage Street and Green Castle Avenue. One level B they have met with the neighbors and they don’t want that regarded which would be Observatory Avenue and Sioux Avenue.
Parker said he has not met with residents because of the budget issues they didn’t want to give them false promises in light of what has happened in the last year. If the Board is still instructing him to proceed with that he can. He was concerned about expenditures. He said as of July 1, 2009 they have already expended $1 million out of the current budget from the previous year. Neuzil asked why they were $1 million behind. Parker said effectively July 1, 2009 all of the bills from the flood expended in June were paid in July from the FY09 budget even though they were FY08 expenditures. By the end of October Secondary Roads had already expended 48% of their budget.
R. Sullivan said the County will be getting back FEMA money to cover those expenditures. Parker said they have already received some FEMA money and the Board should have received a spreadsheet showing what they have coming back. The County should have about $350,000 coming back. There should be about $150,000-$160,000 coming back from the Flood activities and there is $100,000 that may or may not be paid from Federal Highways, those are on federal aid routes. He said there is still one project to close out for those routes because they have to repair the Hills Bridge. They are also closing out the snow FEMA monies. Those monies will be coming back but they were just to cover the expenses incurred.
Harney asked if that money would go back into Parker’s budget or back into the General Fund and then transfer back. R. Sullivan said it goes to Parker’s. Parker said some of the payments have come back and gone directly into the Secondary Roads account and sometimes it goes into the General Fund and they did a transfer. Claiborne said a good example of that is the shed. Parker asked Claiborne was talking about the Tiffin sale. Claiborne said yes. Parker said Administrative Assistant Amanda Jacobsen was doing research on transfers and the $160,000 from the sale of the shed from the City of Tiffin went into the Central Services account and should have gone to Secondary Roads. They are trying to get that straightened out so it can cover the expenditures. R. Sullivan thought that money had to go into Central Services and the Board had to then transfer it to Secondary Roads. He said it was a verbal agreement from the Board that they were going to put it in because of the new Secondary Roads building. That was just because the Board chose to transfer; otherwise it would go to Central Services.
Neuzil asked if they were still planning to put $400,000 away. Parker said unless the Board directs something differently that is a continual operation. It’s the Board’s choice what is done with that money. He recommended dedicating those funds to increase the Secondary Roads rock budget activities. Neuzil said he would like to get that sorted out now rather than later. They have $800,000 sitting and $200,000 goes to trails. Parker said at the Board’s option they can redirect the $200,000 if needed. Neuzil said if they aren’t going to be using that money toward capital improvements then it shouldn’t be put in capital improvements. Claiborne responded that it is a separate fund not included in this budget. Harney said he doesn’t mind leaving it in capital improvements but the problem is they are going to have other projects that will need attention before starting new projects. They can always transfer it if they need too and if they don’t that’s fine.
Parker said he can use those dollars towards construction as well. Oak Crest Hill Road is going to be let in June, Highway 965 is going to be let in June, and the Oakdale Boulevard project is also going to be let in June. That is $7 million dollars in construction that is going to be expended next year. The money can certainly be used toward the Secondary Roads budget. Harney said if it is earmarked money then it will dictate what they can and can not do with it. Parker said that stimulus activity hopefully could modify the conversation which would mean they could release those funds to other projects. R. Sullivan said he would like to continue to budget leaving it alone and see where they are. Stutsman asked if R. Sullivan was talking about budgeting the $400,000 for capital projects with $200,000 going to trails and the other $200,000 going to capital projects. R. Sullivan said yes they have been doing half a million a year. Harney said $200,000 of that goes to trails. Parker said it is half million a year and out of that $100,000 is dedicated towards trails and $400,000 goes to capital improvements.
Meyers said there is another $100,000 for trails that comes from the General Fund. Claiborne said they will be looking at those later. Neuzil said right now there should be $400,000 in the bank. Claiborne said $800,000. Neuzil said he was just talking about trails. Parker said that was correct. R. Sullivan said there is $400,000. Claiborne said in the Rural Fund the projects strictly have to be a Rural Fund expense. Parker said that is not a problem from this department to show them exactly where those funds were spent. Anytime the Board wishes to release the funds or wants to dedicate them Secondary Roads will comply. Stutsman asked why they are continuing to put money into trails when a $20 million bond issue was just passed for Conservation and part of that was to go to trails. She said Conservation has $1 million per year to spend. R. Sullivan said that is a good point.
Meyers said that is mostly because that just passed and they haven’t really discussed it. Stutsman said she doesn’t want this to be a given that they are going to keep doing this. Neuzil said he would like to make it a priority that it is a given and they are going to commit $200,000 a year to trails. Stutsman said not when people are driving on crummy roads. R. Sullivan said that is not necessarily for future discussion because $100,000 of that is in this budget that Parker is presenting. Stutsman said she would like to see it all go to road projects because trails have gotten enough attention from the Bond Issue. Harney said they don’t know what Conservation is going to do for trails. Stutsman said they need to give a message to Conservation that this is what they expect them to do. She thinks the taxpayers expected this too. She said she didn’t think taxpayers expected to fund trails through the Secondary Roads fund and also through a Conservation fund.
Neuzil said in the campaign in 2008 he was involved in, trails were a huge priority for the community and he would like the Board to continue that commitment. Stutsman said she isn’t denying that it is a huge commitment but she thinks roads are also a huge commitment for the community. She thinks the average person wants trails but if they are being funded by another source why should they continue to put money into them. Neuzil said because the Bond Issue was not just trails, it included land preservation and other things. They are talking about a $200,000 commitment and in the scheme of their budget he would like to see them still continue that funding at this point. Meyers said he looked at them as two different things. The $200,000 they are putting away for trail is in connection with the road project and is dedicated in the right-of-way. The Conversation Board is for buying green space land and putting a trail there, for example along the Iowa River on any of the space Conservation bought to build a greenbelt trail would come out of the Conversation Bond. He would entertain suspending it for a year to see what kind of a move Conservation made.
R. Sullivan said he thinks it is important they put the same amount of money away as they have been with the general understanding that $400,000 goes to CIP and W100,000 goes towards trail but the Board always reserves the right to do what they want with that money. If there is another winter like last year the Board can decide that the $100,000 needs to go to gravel. The question is if they want to put that $500,000 in this budget. Parker said as a side note there has been some discussion about submitting a grant through ECICOG Planner Mary Rump’s office for trails money. It was a federal grant and transportation enhancement fund that was delivered Monday. That $245,000 would be available in 2013. He asked for the whole amount for the Mehaffey Bridge separated trail activities. The goal would be to try to construct those at the same time but that may or may not happen. Meyers said most of that grant money would require matching funds of some kind. Parker agreed.
Harney said part of that match is engineering costs. Parker said it is an 80-20 match. They have many match monies out there because the bridge replacement to put a separated trail on that bridge is going to cost $1 million. They have to connect both sides and the County is going to pick up that section which is a $1 million match. Typically it is an 80-20 match activity so if they supply 80% of it the County has to supply a 20% match. The construction cost is going to be $700,000-$800,000 for that trail if they can construct it within the right-of-way. With the $245,000 they have the match covered for construction. The $200,000 the Board is setting aside Secondary Roads could use to cover the difference of the expenditure if they receive that. He still has to give his presentation to the Trails Advisory Committee. Neuzil said there are a lot of folks looking at taking $300,000 out of the Rural Fund and $300,000 out of the General Fund and start building a trail. That is one suggestion that is out there for the connection of the Reservoir to the city limits of North Liberty. He said he wants to continue to move forward with that connection.
Parker said the Trails Advisory Committee is still actively seeking State funds to get that project going. Neuzil he still thinks citizens voted for additional dollars to be put towards projects like trails not taking stuff out of the existing budget. Stutsman said she didn’t think most citizens realized that there were two different revenue sources. Neuzil said that is what the people voted for. Stutsman said they are getting a tax bill and the rural side did not vote for it. Neuzil said Johnson County voted for it. Stutsman said rural Johnson County didn’t vote for it and she is talking for the rural side of the budget. R. Sullivan asked if there was agreement to keep the $500,000 figure and he would like to see $500,000 in the budget. Neuzil said yes. Meyers said yes. Stutsman said she is not ready to make the commitment because she wants to see what the final number is and where they are at. Harney said he thinks they need to leave it there but if they need it for something else they can transfer it. R. Sullivan said within Secondary Roads. He said he is not saying that something won’t come up that is a higher priority. Harney said if their budget doesn’t look right then he doesn’t mind cutting it but for the time being leave it.
Claiborne said this issue is the Rural Fund and they will be discussing it again in a few weeks. R. Sullivan said there is existing money already and not just what they are talking about budgeting now. Parker said if you take the $250,000 request for fuel out, the budget is identical to the approved revenues for the current fiscal year. While they are looking at revenues they need to be more creative in finding revenues. He doesn’t want to pass additional costs to residents in Johnson County but it may or may not be a good time to consider increasing or creating permit fee activity for utility permits and for driveway requests because staff spends a lot of time reviewing those.
R. Sullivan said he thought they said to do that last year with the driveways. Neuzil asked what Linn County does. Parker said they charge a fee. He did a survey and most counties have some sort of a permit. R. Sullivan said the person is generating the cost to the county as an individual who you can track it to. Parker said exactly. It is still something Jacobsen and he have had conversations about and with Assistant Maintenance Superintendent Frank Floerchinger coming back full-time they will be able to propose that as a July 1, 2009 start date. R. Sullivan said he would like to see that. Stutsman agreed and asked if they talked about charging for driveway tubes.
Parker asked if she meant changing the current driveway policy making property owners responsible for the tubes once they have been installed. Stutsman asked if the County puts in one tube free the first time. Parker said the resident comes and requests the driveway through Secondary Roads and they approve it. Residents are told the size and length of the tube they have to have and all the requirements for installation. The property owner installs it and once installed the pipe and the flowage through the pipe is the responsibility of the County. If 15 to 20 years later the pipe collapses the County will replace the pipe at the County's cost and that was another cost they were talking about. He asked if that was something the County wanted to continue or do they maybe want to stop that process and have residents pay that cost.
R. Sullivan said his brother was at a meeting in Linn County where they were talking about this issue. He said Linn County is talking about switching to the way Johnson County does it because so many people don’t maintain their own stuff they end up doing it anyway. Parker said in most cases and if Maintenance Superintendent Kevin Hackathorn were here he would say it is best to have him do it because he’ll know it’s done and won’t have to come back and deal with it later. R. Sullivan said there is also an argument whether they have done it to the County's standards. Parker said there are lots of pluses and minuses on both side. Stutsman said maybe in the scheme of things it wouldn’t generate that much additional money in exchange for the public relations trade off. Parker said politically that might be tough.
Neuzil asked if the issue with the insurance on the Cosgrove Bridge was in this budget. Parker said no, the $100,000 is monies received for those who do private dust control activities or repair seal coats where they would request reimbursement. Not knowing what the insurance reimbursement was going to be he didn’t put it in the budget but they can make an amendment as needed to modify it. He said Stutsman has expressed she wanted that bridge replaced and they can certainly do that with the funds they will be getting back. If they are going to replace that his recommendation would be to replace it in the same way they replaced the bridge in the north part of the county that Linn County did. That would minimize the cost and has interstate loading capabilities. It would cost about $175,000-$200,000 to get that structure completed so they would have to come up with the difference. He would have to do a 28E Agreement with Linn County for design again.
Neuzil said that is in the Five Year Road Program discussion. Parker said it is currently in the Five Year and has been kept in the Five Year. He wanted to see what they were getting for insurance money to make sure the Board had a full picture of what was happening. Meyers asked if Parker expected revenue taxes to increase $229,000. Parker said $229,000 is the projection from the most recent numbers received from the DOT. He is surprised the DOT projected that amount because they are seeing fewer miles driven. He was glad to see an increase. He thinks the DOT is being optimistic and that maybe that is something that could change. Through the revenues he has tried to reflect actual amounts based on the previous year's income. He said Secondary Roads increased very small amounts for this size budget. Trying to project 18 months out is very difficult.
R. Sullivan said there isn't anything in capital technology. A lot of the big decisions for Secondary Roads will come when they talk about the 5 Year Road Plan. Parker agreed. He said they will have public meetings and if everything goes well they will be looking for approval towards the end of March. The process will be very similar to last year's program.
County Sheriff Lonny Pulkrabek said they are proposing an increase of $55,200 for fuel. He said they assumed fuel will be $3.50-$4.00 per gallon based on previous use and the fuel amendments done the last two years. Sheriff's Major Steve Dolezal said there has also been a fuel increase because of the transportation of prisoners. Pulkrabek said they are driving to Marshalltown and Jasper County to transport prisoners. Linn County's jail may open in the next few months for housing some inmates. Linn County is not opening the first level and he isn't sure if it will help or benefit the County. R. Sullivan asked if Pulkrabek assumed the exact same number of miles for patrol. Pulkrabek said yes, it is based on the average over the last few years.
Pulkrabek said the Board's direction was to only increase fuel and postage. The Sheriff’s Department’s requests for increase are for things based on the cost of fuel and petroleum. The $5,500 increase is to account for the increased cost on tires, tubes, and fluids. The next increase is $5,000 for vehicle maintenance patrol which again are service items such as car maintenance and repair. The next increase is jail food. They continue to manage the inmate population and food prices have sky rocketed directly related to fuel costs for delivery. Pulkrabek said he raised the daily average of the number of inmates the County keeps. He said that increase saved about $100,000-$150,000 by housing a few more inmates. He said it is a fine line because flexibility of moving inmates around can be lost with too many in house. He said there is also the possibility of more assaults, inmate on inmate and inmate on officer, with too many in-house prisoners. He said the Sheriff’s Department strives to find a balance of housing as many inmates as possible while still being responsible and leaving room for one or two inmates to stay in-house after court.
Pulkrabek said Dolezal had a conversation with the cook that does the ordering and menus were revised which should save $6,000-$7,000. They have asked the cooks to do things differently to cut costs. Dolezal said cutting food costs is a fine line to walk because they can only cut so much. He said they buy in bulk when possible. He said the cook used to serve a meal with beef and noodles and now it is just macaroni and cheese. They used to serve peaches and now it is Jell-O. He said they went through and revised meals and found a $6,000 to $7,000 cost savings. Harney asked if they have looked about getting a savings on damaged cans. Dolezal said food is purchased through Hawkeye Wholesale and Cisco. He said currently they buy bulk things like cereal.
Pulkrabek said there was a $1,750 cost increase for jail alternatives. He said that number reflects a cost of living increase for MECCA, to pay for employees that do substance abuse evaluations in-house. He said the Board increased that program to seven days a week. He thinks it’s an extremely valuable program.
Pulkrabek said the next increase is for $400,000 for inmate housing expenses. He said they discussed this with the Board in FY08 and the direction was not to do a budget amendment, but to tax for this increase. Even though it has slowed the last month they are on pace. For November 2008 the cost for the month was $64,000 out-of-County and they were running in the $80,000 range. At the time this was figured the County was on pace to spend just over $1 million. He said they are still on pace to spend between $900,000 and $1 million, even though there has been a decrease, which means in the spring the Sheriff’s Department will have to request a budget amendment. If the numbers stay where they are the Department might be able to recoup paid out monies from the first few months. He said in FY08 they allocated $800,000. He said they should look at $1.2 million for inmate housing expenses for FY09. He explained the increased cost is the reason for the proposed $400,000 increase. He said considering the Sheriff’s Department will spend $1 million in FY08, he does not think it is unreasonable to assume they will spend $1.2 million in FY09.
R. Sullivan clarified this increase is for only the rent, it does not include transport or gas. Pulkrabek said at the time they submitted this budget, transportation costs were $7,000-$8,000 a month which includes car, fuel, and wages. He said that amounts to $80,000-$100,000 a year for transportation. Stutsman said he included transportation earlier in the fuel. Pulkrabek said yes. R. Sullivan said if somebody asks this is simply what they pay other counties for space. Pulkrabek said this is just rent. Neuzil said that is about their savings for building new buildings.
Pulkrabek said the Sheriff’s Department is currently conducting negotiations with the towns for contract law enforcement. There are some towns that are considering increases in the number of hours. He said the Department has laid out that the hourly rate towns pay to the County will increase. When he meets with the towns he shares the direction of the Board. He said he has not heard anything different other than the Board’s wish to stop subsidizing town law enforcement.
Harney asked if Pulkrabek budgeted anything for communications. Pulkrabek asked if Harney was referring to personnel communication. Harney said personnel and operation costs for the communication center. Pulkrabek said the center is supposedly going to open mid-fiscal year. He said it was determined the Department should budget for nine months. They decided it would be best to budget salaries for the full year. He said those monies could be returned after staff leave. He said he will ask the Board for a personnel request. He said he will ask the Board to reallocate some of the money for two patrol deputies. He said the Sheriff’s Department needs two additional patrol deputies and he will not hire them until the dispatchers are gone. He said dispatch funds will be reallocated to allow the continued use of those funds to pay for two patrol deputies. Stutsman asked why they would tax for additional personnel if they aren’t going to be hired. She said she can see it being a transfer instead of taxing for additional people. Pulkrabek said that is what they are looking for. It is unknown because they don’t know if the project will move at the projected pace. He said currently the project is on schedule.
Dolezal said the first revenue increase is $35,210 for the city law enforcement contract patrol. He said they are still in negotiation but that is the best estimate and recommendation to the towns. R. Sullivan said they wanted to give towns time to consider this change but he would like to give the towns a County rate. He said the towns can then decide how many hours they want at that County rate. He said he is worried about the difference between the amounts each town will commit to pay. Dolezal said the County does have a set hourly rate. He said in 2005 when the Sheriff’s Department first came to the Board the rate was $22 per hour. Sullivan said that did not cover the cost. Dolezal agreed. He said the rate was increased to $27 per hour and as of July 1, 2009, the first day of FY09, the rate will increase to $31 per hour. He said the towns are informed of the new County hourly rate. He said there is a concern that the towns will reject the rate because they cannot afford the increase and cut hours. R. Sullivan said it is the town's choice.
Pulkrabek said in 2006 he informed the towns that the rate will increase to $27 per hour, and two years later it will increase to $31 per hour. He said there were questions about the affordability. Tiffin asked how they justify a 14% increase. Pulkrabek said currently Tiffin is being subsidized by the County and they can justify it by covering their own costs. The hourly rate is not negotiable but the numbers of hours are negotiable. R. Sullivan said that is where he wants the County to be. He said there are going to be some cities that will only end up contracting for 911 calls which is too bad. Pulkrabek said there is a possibility that three towns are going to increase hours and Lone Tree may decrease the number of hours. He said he heard the 42% or 44% of Lone Tree’s budget is for the Sheriff’s Office and law enforcement protection.
Dolezal said there is a $25,000 increase for reimbursements on contract law enforcement. That is an adjustment from where it had come in as revenue. He said they have contracted with Coralville and North Liberty for radio services. He said those negotiations take into account the adjustment of those cities leaving at the half way point. He said that money will no longer come in as revenue. Pulkrabek said Coralville knows that they will still be billed monthly if the Communication Center opens late. That decrease could go down if the center is late.
R. Sullivan asked Dolezal in line if the $25,000 for reimbursements should really be $3,400 because budgeted in 2009 they had zero. Dolezal said they didn’t budget any money for it and they brought in revenue of $21,663. R. Sullivan clarified they are now adding it in as a budgeted amount. Harney asked if the JAG Grant is still a possibility or is it gone now. Dolezal said they will not know until June of 2009 if the JAG Grant will be awarded. He said that position will not be filled, but the resources have been allocated. Every year they are told there is less available and it has traditionally gone down. He said the JAG Grant helps cover the drug task force. Pulkrabek said they did fill the drug enforcement position. He said the position was filled with the knowledge that any revenues received will go back to the Board. Dolezal said the Board gave the Sheriff’s Department the drug enforcement position and it was filled. He said as long as revenue is received it will go to the Board but there is no guarantee that revenues will come in.
Stutsman asked if they received any revenue. Dolezal said $41,000 was received in 2007. R. Sullivan said it is not guaranteed for this year. Pulkrabek said zero was budgeted for FY08 because it was not known if revenue would be received, so the Board received $41,000. Dolezal said they will apply for the grant money. Neuzil said the Board will continue to lobby for it. Dolezal said the Department has asked for the funding to be returned to FY02 or FY03 Federal funding levels. He said the funding has not been returned to those levels, it has been consistently cut. Neuzil said some parts of the State received some JAG money, particularly the Sioux City area. Dolezal said Johnson County received $41,000. He said JAG used to fully fund one position plus overtime. Pulkrabek said JAG decreased $30,000 to $40,000 total.
Dolezal said prisoner transport reimbursement is consistently adjusting due to the increase in transports. He said more reimbursement is gained on the increase of transports. He said $1,000 revenue is received for law enforcement, which is flexible. He said they tried to bring that item closer to the actual amount received for law enforcement. He said $10,000 is budgeted for mileage reimbursement. He said mileage reimbursement runs on a Federal rate. When gas was high the County was getting $.49 reimbursement. If gas stays down long enough the Federal rate is going to decrease. R. Sullivan said the rate was adjusted mid year. Dolezal said when the budget was being put together two months ago there was extra revenue. Pulkrabek said the old County mileage rate of $.32 used to be considered until the Sheriff’s Department adjusted it to the IRS deductible rate which caused a significant raise to the rate. Dolezal said even with losing the dispatchers, revenue was minimized. He said there was a $1,391 reduction. R. Sullivan asked what is the Sheriff’s Department net total of revenue versus expenditures. Neuzil said it looks like whatever revenue gained was lost by expenditures. Pulkrabek said expenditures are $479,550 as opposed to the $1,391 decrease in revenues. He said $400,000 of the expenditures is for inmate housing.
Meyers said, setting aside inmate housing, there is a $75,000 increase. Neuzil said at least half of the savings in the General Fund, for the most part, will go toward the increasing jail transport. If the Sheriff’s Department spends roughly $800,000 on dispatchers eventually money would be moved out of the General Fund to increase jail housing. He said there will be questions on what is being done with the dollars that are moved from the General Fund for dispatch. He said those dollars are going toward housing and the Sheriff’s Department has requested the Board to consider allowing some of those monies be used for patrol.
Pulkrabek said there is virtually no change in court revenue and expense. R. Sullivan asked what capital was in technology. Pulkrabek said they can do capital expenditures but there is an effect due to personnel. Stutsman asked if vehicle replacement was the only capital expenditure. Pulkrabek said vehicle replacement has remained the same since FY 2000. If the Board allows the Department to keep some of the funds from the dispatchers to hire two additional patrol deputies as a part of the decision package they would need to raise capital expenditures for an additional two cars. Stutsman asked if that was $150,000. Pulkrabek said $150,470 is the current level. Neuzil asked how much two cars will cost. Pulkrabek said $42,600 total. Dolezal said they would be buying the cars at State rate.
Pulkrabek said the Board has talked about going green and the use of Hybrids for the County’s vehicle fleet. He said he looked into the hybrid option and manufacturers and vendors that install the radios and deal with electronics are not recommending making the use of hybrids for police vehicles yet. He said vendors and manufacturers also recommended against using hybrids for civil cars because radios are put in those as well. He said the electrical systems in hybrid cars can handle 20-30 AMP usage. He said one radio uses up 20-25 AMPs meaning there is not enough power.
Pulkrabek said if the Board approves the two patrol deputies capital expenditures would have to be increased for two vehicles. He said twice a year all of the County officers are sent to Cedar Rapids for handgun and firearm re-qualification. He said the officers also have to be re-qualified for the specialty firearms. Pulkrabek said Cedar Rapid’s range is controversial and there are residents pushing to close it. Iowa City is in the process of buying property in Iowa County. He said $100,000 is the ballpark figure for the cost for Johnson County to partner with Iowa City for the purchasing of land, development and the building of a new training center. Including reserves, Johnson County would have the most officers using the new range. He proposed budgeting for a range over four years. He said the County would pay Iowa City $25,000 per year over a four year period.
R. Sullivan asked if the range is bondable. Pulkrabek did not know. Claiborne said the interest and bond writing fees might not be worth it for $100,000. Harney said it could be incorporated with other bond items. Pulkrabek thought the Board could lump in this request for funding when they bond for Capital Expenditures. Claiborne said it could be run through Capital Expenditures. Pulkrabek said the partnership was his proposal and it was up to the Board to work out the budget details.
Pulkrabek said Coralville, Iowa City, Oakdale prison, North Liberty, and the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office has expressed an interest in being partners or using the proposed range. The land has not been acquired yet but Iowa City has had an appraisal done and continues to work on finding a location. He said a cost sharing formula needs to be created or discussed but again, with reserves Johnson County will have the most officers using a new range. He said his officers need a range to go to and if Cedar Rapids is no longer an option the closest location is an hour away meaning he wouldn't be able to take as many people at one time, requiring extra trips. One of the advantages of having access to a range that the County is a full partner is that they may be able to avoid paying overtime for officer qualification by spreading the training period out to two to three weeks instead of four days. He said currently everyone sent to the range is paid overtime. He said there could be some potential savings associated with the partnership.
Pulkrabek said he is working with Facilities Manager Dave Kempf on the possibility of remodeling the first floor of the Sheriff’s Office. He said there will not be anyone on the first floor of the Sheriff's Office during off-business hours after the dispatchers leave. He said to start they are going to rewire the intercom and add cameras so the control center operator upstairs can monitor who is coming in the lobby and answer the intercom. He said the remodel would take over the EMA space and potentially take away some of the lobby space to create a booking area and three additional holding cells. He said the benefits of this proposed change is that there would be people on the first floor to address when citizens come into the office. He said another benefit is that arrested persons could be held on the first floor prior to court to increase the amount of people the County can hold in the upstairs Jail which would increase efficiency. Pulkrabek said the estimated cost for remolding from Neumann Monson is $250,000-$265,000. He said again the Board may be able to tack the remodel onto Capital Expenditures. He said the remodel will help efficiency by allowing space to do more than one booking at a time.
Harney asked if it affects jail inspector’s requirements as far as how space is designated. Pulkrabek responded they are not far enough into the planning process to answer that question. He said the worry about remodeling is that the County would lose their grandfather clause. He said that is being looked at and advice will be sought. He said they do not anticipate losing the clause. Dolezal said the belief is that the remodel will be on the first floor and will not directly affect jail space. Originally the concern was that remodeling individual cells would cause more trouble than turning an existing dispatch area into a holding area. Harney agreed. He asked if the remodel would relieve the current need to have officers wait outside. Pulkrabek said hopefully the remodel will relieve officers wait some. Dolezal said these plans have three positions for booking. He said in theory officers could book three at a time instead of one, the current limitation, which would speed up the process.
Pulkrabek said if there is another night Michigan or Ohio State football game the remodel is not going to relieve the waiting on the street but for the day to day waiting this could help enormously. Harney said there wouldn’t necessarily be holding for people waiting to get booked. Pulkrabek agreed. Dolezal said it is going to be similar to Linn County. He said Linn County has a seating area to process inmates. The County would also have the holding areas to put inmates in. He said it would not work that way on football weekends. R. Sullivan said the general idea is that the County would be able to hold more people. Dolezal said yes and there would be better service to the outside agencies because the jail could accommodate more at a time.
Pulkrabek said it might be more appropriate to put the $265,000 in Kempf’s budget. Claiborne said it is already there. Neuzil said if the Board decides to fund all the projected projects the cost adds up to $800,000 which is what would be saved by moving dispatch services out of the General Fund. He said $400,000 for inmate housing, plus $265,000 for remodeling, plus the two employees, plus the car, adds up to what is currently being paid for dispatch services. Those expenses will drop off when the projects are done. Neuzil said the Board needs to consider what they will do with the $800,000 savings. Pulkrabek said he understood.
Pulkrabek said the Sheriff’s Department has town contracts to meet regarding patrol deputies. In Johnson County there are many hours during the day that only two deputies are available for the whole County including the towns. He said if there is a crash there is not another deputy available, leaving only one deputy to serve the entire County, which is not uncommon. Pulkrabek said adding two patrol deputies will not be enough for the County to have a minimum of three deputies 24/7. He said his 2007 plan for utilizing the savings from dispatch services suggested a goal for the County to have one deputy per 1,000 population served. He said the County serves a population of about 30,000 so the Sheriff’s Department should have about 30 patrol deputies. The Department currently has 24 deputies and one and a half of those 24 are strictly administrative. He said one of the deputies is the liaison to the towns. Pulkrabek said he will not hire new deputies until the dispatchers are out of the budget. He asked the Board to allocate the money that was going to dispatch services to let him add two additional patrol deputies.
Neuzil asked if Pulkrabek planned on adding two additional deputies every other year for six years. Pulkrabek said yes. Neuzil clarified that plan is to get the deputy count up to thirty. Pulkrabek said yes. Neuzil said this is currently the first phase of those requests so Pulkrabek will not ask again for two years. Pulkrabek said he will not ask again until 2010. Stutsman wondered if they wouldn’t be ahead to tell the towns they aren’t going to provide Sheriff services anymore. She said Tiffin and North Liberty are getting big enough to have their own person on patrol. She wondered if that was an option the Board should consider. Pulkrabek said the Board could tell the towns that. He said incorporated towns are required to do one of two things by Iowa Code. One is have a contract with the Sheriff for law enforcement coverage or have a town police department. Meyers asked if that was for a town of any size. Dolezal said an incorporated town. The Sheriff is also statutorily required to respond to an emergency. The Sheriff doesn’t necessarily have to patrol the town but if called, the Sheriff has to react.
R. Sullivan said there were two Iowa Supreme Court cases decided recently. One case was a small incorporated city in Story County that was not going to contract for services and wanted Story County to serve them. The Court decided the City technically had to have a contract that could be zero dollars and with the Sheriff’s only responding to 911 calls with no patrol. Pulkrabek said since the contract is between the Board and the towns he would ask the Board have a joint meeting to discuss this option. Neuzil said starting in July the County will be getting $31.00 an hour and asked if they were getting close to the goal. Pulkrabek said close, but with fuel and cost of the car, the rate probably does not cover everything. Neuzil said the city governments are going to argue these are general fund expenditures and their citizens pay taxes. He thinks this is a reasonable thing for them to say.
Pulkrabek said he has heard R. Sullivan describe it as a user’s fee. He said towns want additional time spent in their town above what they would normally get paying straight county taxes. Harney said Pulkrabek has talked about billing for the cost of the officer but there is nothing built in about the cost of the vehicle plus the radios. Pulkrabek said they are still trying to get that rate up to cover those items. He said there was negative reaction to the four year plan to increase the County rates from $22 to $27 to $31. This year Tiffin asked how they justify a 14% increase. Pulkrabek said Tiffin has been far behind for years. Neuzil said it is a monumental look at where the County was in 2005 compared to today. He said other things the County subsidizes are not anywhere close to those kinds of jumps.
Dolezal said it is hard when Johnson County is compared to other areas such as Linn County and Black Hawk County. Some counties don’t even charge towns. Pulkrabek said Linn County’s rate is still down in the low $20.00 per hour range. R. Sullivan said it makes sense to ask the towns to cover the cost. He said the Board is trying to do that with everything in county government. Neuzil asked if the Sheriff’s Office is still telling the communities that every other year the rate will increase. Dolezal said the direction from the Board is they have to step it up and pay more.
Dolezal said some issues discussed with M. Sullivan and Claiborne were tabled. He said the department is going to try to absorb copiers and other items that will be left once the EMA leaves. He said they are trying to absorb those items within the department. He said those items are not fuel related. Neuzil said the Board asked for increases only for fuel, postage, or emergency/uncontrolled expenses. He said housing fees are an example of an uncontrolled expense. Dolezal said the Sheriff’s Department is going to have to absorb costs after the EMA leaves but those have been discussed and he is confidant they can handle it.
Harney asked what level on the pay scale is the $130,000 for the two deputies. Pulkrabek said it is the beginning which is wages and benefits. R. Sullivan said starting pay for a beginning deputy is about $50,000 and $15,000 is benefits. Dolezal said $17.00-$18.00 is the starting wage for a deputy. Neuzil clarified $130,000 is the total cost for everything for the two deputies. Dolezal said it is, everything was calculated into that figure. Pulkrabek said it doesn’t include their Iowa Law Enforcement Academy training which is $4,000 for 13 weeks of training. Neuzil asked if the Department would be able to absorb that cost. Dolezal said yes. Neuzil asked if there was an opportunity for additional revenues by adding two patrol’s, other than the revenue received from the cities. Pulkrabek said the department is acquiring additional revenues on other spots which is a line item brought in last year. He said money was amended back into the Sheriff’s Department budget after they did a budget amendment.
Pulkrabek said allowing officers to work at Iowa Football games earns the County money. He said at games the County bills out a rate in excess of the cost of the deputy. He said another revenue source is a new credit union in the County that has asked to have a deputy present on Saturday mornings on overtime. He said the Sheriff’s Office told that credit union the position would be filled on a voluntary basis but could not guarantee it would be filled every Saturday because of the amount of overtime deputies already work. He said that position creates revenue for the County because North Liberty Police do not have enough officers. Stutsman asked if the credit union pays the County. Pulkrabek said yes. Dolezal said the rate the bank would pay is $55.00 per hour. Pulkrabek said a deputy has to be paid overtime for being at the bank but it still creates revenue. Occasionally requests are made to help with a house move, which the department bills out, that brings in revenue but nothing too large. Stutsman asked if they would be hiring additional staff to generate these revenues when the County would be better off telling the bank to hire a private security guard. Pulkrabek said they are not diverting from the minimums. This is if a deputy wants to work the morning of their day off. Stutsman said they are not being forced to go into overtime on the County’s dime. Pulkrabek said no, they won’t do that. Dolezal said this is volunteer situation.
Pulkrabek said they department did force overtime for the floods. Days off and vacations were cancelled, unless it was priority, and deputies worked 12 hours shifts. R. Sullivan said he gives them a lot of credit because he didn’t hear any complaints. Pulkrabek said it is part of the job for emergency services personnel. He said he agreed with R. Sullivan and cannot praise his staff enough because they stepped up during the floods, at times putting their lives at risk for the good of the community.
Neuzil said it helpful to know what counties comparable to the size of Johnson County have for rural representation. He said two deputies sounds low, but it would be good to be able to do a comparison. Anyone who is asking for new employees needs to justify the request particularly if the positions are not going to create additional revenue. R. Sullivan said Pulkrabek has justified the request by talking about the goal of one officer per 1,000 people. Pulkrabek said keep in mind, Iowa City is at 1.5 per 1,000 and they are trying to get to 1.7 or 1.8. He said ideally a governmental entity should be at 2.5 per 1,000. Neuzil said many times downtown there are two police cars on the same street. Pulkrabek said one could drive down Friendship Street or Court Street and not see one. He said when constituents contact the Sheriff's Office with complaints or requests for action and he responds that there are only two deputies on duty there is an uproar. He said constituents want increased coverage but get angry about increased taxes.
Pulkrabek said the department contracts with the Iowa Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau on a couple of different programs involving traffic enforcement and safety. He said deputies are paid overtime for that training and then they pay the County back. He said this raises revenue for the County and focuses deputies on speed, seat belts, OWI enforcement, and things of that nature. He said those types of items save the County money in the long run. He said anytime the Sheriff's Department can prevent a crash with injuries it saves taxpayers money. He said the contract with GTSB creates additional revenues for the County and deputies are not required to get that training, it is voluntary. He said deputies are paid overtime and then the County receives revenue back and equipment.
Stutsman asked if they pay Linn County to use the firing range. Pulkrabek said yes. Stutsman asked if revenues could be generated from the Iowa County range since money would be invested. Pulkrabek believed so. He said he doesn’t know if the revenues would be enough to offset the acquisition cost but more than likely the operational expenses. Iowa City, like the County, wants to find options to offset costs. R. Sullivan asked if operationally refers to the cost of the ammunition. Pulkrabek said no, mowing the grass and keeping things in working order. He said with the Iowa Medical & Classification Center on hand they can talk about the possibility of inmate labor making up some of the construction costs. IMCC inmates built the training building at the Cedar Rapids Police Department for the cost of goods. He said ten years later Cedar Rapids is no longer using the facility. He said it may not be the most fair thing but there is a concern that it may happen to Johnson County. Stutsman said a contract would be needed to avoid that from happening in the County. Pulkrabek said the Sheriff's Department is working on some type of 28E Agreement to protect the County's interests.
Pulkrabek said there will be dirt work and the Department will have a request into the National Guard for engineers to move dirt as one of the Guard's weekend projects. He said General Robert Sentman is a great local resource who was involved with building and designing fire ranges in Wisconsin. He said Sentman has agreed to help the Sheriff's Department facilitate this project. Meyers asked if $100,000 would give the County part ownership or is it just a user fee. Pulkrabek said part ownership. The $100,000 goes towards land acquisition, development, and building. It will be jointly owned with Iowa City. He said it is not yet known how it will be structured but the County and Iowa City will be the largest shareholders.
R. Sullivan said the range needs to be done in the next two years before Iowa County passes zoning. Pulkrabek said the money would have to be available before then. R. Sullivan assumed Iowa City would bond for it. Pulkrabek said he isn’t sure how it would work. Harney asked if Courthouse security will remain the same. Pulkrabek said Courthouse security will remain the same. He said he made a commitment to the Board that he would not pull the two deputies from the Courthouse. He understands there is a need for Courthouse security but he projects his needs to be greater on patrol. He said he would like to have those two deputies on patrol, but they will stay at the location. He said the Justice Center will increase operational expenses because court personnel will have to be added for screening. Pulkrabek said the knife incident at the Courthouse, which was recently mentioned in the newspaper, wasn't discovered until the deputy found the knife in the cane at the jail. Pulkrabek pointed out that the Johnson County deputy found that knife even though Iowa City filed the charges. Neuzil said the Board will evaluate the requests.
Claiborne said he added more of the departments they talked about and projected personnel expenses. He said roughly the Sheriff is $9 million, Auditor $1.1 million, Central Services $823,000. There is about $8 million in remaining departments leaving $4 million in Capital Expenditures, Capitals Projects, and payment on the building. He said there is a chance the County may not look as bad overall as expected. In previous years the County had tremendous amounts of money going to Capital Expenditures and Capital Projects. He said they may have a couple million above and the Board discussed adding that to reserves or paying off debt. Property valuations are down and there are not going to be as many expenditures as in previous years. He this is a one time thing unlike adding personnel which is ongoing.
Neuzil said that sounds like what the Assessors have said. This year the County is okay as long as operating expenses are held. He said they will be able to afford the employees but two years out may be a different story. Claiborne said the previous two years the County had cash flowed chunks of money on projects which will not be available this year but the County will be okay. He said they are going to have to level out as the Assessor’s recommended. R. Sullivan said he is not inclined to add any of the new positions because they may not be able to afford them next year. He said he does not want to be in a position where people have to be laid off because three new positions were added.
Claiborne said to remember they are married to a payment on a five year bank note. He said if there is projected money leftover they can double or triple pay this year cutting the note down from five to two or three years. He said that is money they have not yet seen but it’s there. He said if the budget is tight at the end the County still has a $1.2 million payment to make. Neuzil said as policy makers it is up to the Board to choose between adding personnel or cutting back in other areas. He said he thinks they should cut back in other areas if the majority of the Board determines that Ambulance or the Sheriff’s Department is more important than some of the other departments. Claiborne said they have block grants.
Stutsman said on the State level the County needs to be in step with the rest of the other governmental entities. It is going to be hard to explain the hiring of four new people when the State has a hiring freeze or cutbacks. Harney said he doesn’t think they are as bad off as they thought, but he would be more comfortable if they had some reserves. Claiborne said they could at least get ahead on the bank note. If FY11 and FY12 are tight they are ahead. Neuzil said Claiborne and County Treasurer Tom Kriz need to give the Board a recommendation on whether it is better to have reserves or to start paying off the outer years to have less to worry about two years from now.
Harney said Kriz is quick to suggest that the Board to pay off the note. Neuzil said Kriz has also said it would be beneficial to have some reserves because the County’s bonding rate is very good right now. R. Sullivan said obviously they need Kriz to come talk to the Board. Neuzil said he wants to hear the whole list of proposed employees and then have a conversation. Claiborne said Kriz has said both to him. He said Kriz is waiting to see where the County is at budget wise. He said he and Kriz have had both discussions about getting rid of the debt and having money in reserves. He said Kriz would like to have money in reserve because Moody's Investment Services said they should have more money.
R. Sullivan said Moody's Investment Services gave the City of Cedar Rapids a AAA so he isn’t concerned about what Moody’s has to say. Stutsman asked why they would want a Moody's Investment Services rating if they are not going to bond. Claiborne said for the Justice Center. R. Sullivan said they can get it in a few years. Harney said once they hear from the rest of the departments he will be more comfortable but now he has a hard time cutting areas where they should be providing some services. Neuzil said he hopes they are all not quite ready to do that yet but the list for employees is completely unrealistic.
Claiborne said the Board talked about funding a percentage of the Sheriff’s patrol budget from the Rural Fund. He said Pulkrabek needs more deputies and that could be a discussion again. He said Story County uses the Rural Fund for the Sheriff’s Deputies. R. Sullivan said about half the counties in Iowa do and half don’t. Some put all of it in there and some put half. Stutsman said she would like to approach this option by considering how much of a tax increase the Board would like to see from the Rural side of the budget, or if possible a tax decrease. She said they should approach it by considering what is more fiscally responsible for the taxpayers instead of how much money is available to spend. She said she is concerned about the burden the Board is placing on the taxpayers.
R. Sullivan said it could be argued that being responsible to the taxpayers is adding another deputy for safety or being responsible could mean decreasing taxpayer bills by $46. Harney said taxpayers have not yet seen the tax increase due to the Conservation Bond and other items. Neuzil said the County had two major initiatives on the ballot, the Joint Communications Center and the Conservation Bond, and he still thinks those are separate requests beyond the Boards focus. Neuzil said it is the Boards responsibility to consider what will be done with the additional dollars in the General Fund. He said it sounded like those dollars are expected to be spent. Harney said that expectation bothers him because the Board promised people that would not happen. Harney said the Board did not promise anything. R. Sullivan said other than saying Iowa City had made promises.
Claiborne said as some of the Board members discussed, the budget presentation needs to be redone. He said last year press did not attend the budget presentation. He said it may be beneficial to add a letter from the Board outlining what they are considering when the bills go out in August. He said people think the County is out of control when they hear about the Joint Emergency Communications Center. R. Sullivan said the Joint Emergency Communications Center is already on the tax bill. Claiborne said the Conservation Bond is going to be buried like the Joint Communication Center if the Board wrote a cover letter explaining what is in the taxpayer’s bills. Meyers said they talked about that in spring of 2007 but it never got done.
R. Sullivan said people have already taken the hit for the Joint Emergency Communication Center and even if the Board could lower it from $.77 to $.72 they are still going to need that money down the road. He thinks they should leave it where it is and keep it steady. Neuzil said roughly taxpayers are going to get $.37 because $.40 is going to be paying off the bond. Harney said the Policy Board is going to keep the rate the same as last year because they do not have a director, and do not know where they are financially until all the bids are received. Rather than transfer money to the Emergency Management Budget the Committee is going to try to keep it a line item and run it through the Policy Board for it to be monitored. He said Emergency Management Director Dave Wilson will sign the checks but it will all be approved through the Policy Board first.
R. Sullivan said it makes sense to have it as a separate line item. Neuzil asked if Claiborne assumes that $.37 is going to come out of General Supplemental and $.40 out of Debt Service when he puts the budget together. Claiborne said it is not known how it will work yet. He said the County expends the money through General Basic Block Grant 20. The Policy Board has to get their own bookkeeper and checking account. Once the check is written the County has nothing more to do with the agency. If the Center wanted to pay the County Auditor to be their bookkeeper they can. Claiborne said the Center has not yet done that. He said the County cuts the check to Wilson.
Claiborne said the County can set it up so that Wilson releases vouchers which are put through Block Grant 20 but it confuses things and puts more burden on the County than needed. He said the Policy Board needs to get their own checking account and treasurer. R. Sullivan said former Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne asked the Board for the RFPs a long time ago, plus personnel, Physical Plant, and legal. The problem the Board ran into was department heads and elected officials were all over the place. County Auditor Tom Slockett wants to do it but only if he gets new personnel and the Board did not want that. The County Attorney and Human Resources do not want to do it. Physical Plant said they would do it but said they should probably call Quality Care. There is not a clear County position. He said it sounds like Iowa City is going through something similar.
Stutsman said she is not interested in hiring County employees to assist with a separate entity. Ultimately the County is forced to deal with the personnel issues. Harney doesn’t see it as a big issue. He said Wilson has a line item and the Policy Board fills out the form and when it comes in it gets paid. This is monitored through the Policy Board. The County gets interest off of the money, which Kriz keeps invested, or the money could be transferred into other bank accounts. R. Sullivan said if the Policy Board demands more staff then he doesn’t want to do it. Harney said it shouldn't take anymore staff because it is routine pay outs. Stutsman agreed with R. Sullivan.
Neuzil said it should all fall under one because it will be hard if Iowa City is handling the legal issues and the County Human Resources Department is handling other issues. Harney said the Center has their own legal company, Simmons Perrine. Neuzil said it makes sense to have everything handled by one entity. He said Human Resources is handling employees. Harney said employees are a completely different issue. He said it will have to fall under one or the other. Neuzil brought up union representation. Meyers said it is supposed to be a stand alone entity. Stutsman said she thought it was going to be a stand alone entity. Harney said it was going to be but they found they couldn’t afford health insurance for employees unless they fall in under Johnson County or Iowa City. He thinks the Center is leaning towards Iowa City. The issue is that the County is bonding and Kriz has the money invested that is drawing interest. He asked why the County would throw that money into a bank account instead of leaving it. Claiborne said the County funding is technically supposed to be the pass through. Neuzil said the County is the ones taxing for it too. Stutsman said the County has become the fiscal manager. Claiborne said the County is supposed to collect the money and send it on. Harney said the Center will talk with the Auditor's Office. Neuzil said the Board needs to know how much of the $.77 comes out of Debt Service and how much comes out of General Supplemental. Claiborne said they are working on that.
Claiborne said in FY10 the County is going to have $1 million for the Conservation Bond and that has to be thought of as a bottom line. He said a one year pay off on $1 million is roughly $.16 and the Board isn’t going to want to hike taxes $.16 because that would be huge. He said for the first year they could do a three or four year bond to keep the tax increase around a nickel. In FY11 three bonds retire which will free up about $.18. He said maybe from that year on the Board can do a $1 million payback on the bond at $.16. R. Sullivan said Conservation should not have anything for FY11 because it will take a year to decide what the Bond will be spent on.
Claiborne said this year they are going to be expected to bond $5 short of $1 million. He is worried about FY09 because when they look at the overall levy impact they might have to stretch the million dollars over three or four years to keep an even line. Harney asked how they do that if Conservation need's the million. Claiborne said Conservation gets the million but the Boards payback is going to have to be stretched out to keep the payment down. Like a five year payback on a car creates a cheaper monthly payment. They may have to do that with this bond to keep the levy down. Meyers said when the Board's debt is paid off the space that opens up fills with that one. R. Sullivan said it could, but doesn’t have to. Meyers asked if the County dials down everything to accommodate the Conservation Bond and the Joint Communications Center. Claiborne said he had that conversation with Conservation Director Harry Graves. He said he told Graves there is a $10 million cap to be bank qualified. He said the Board expects the Conservation Board to work with them and to respect the $10 million limit. He said it is not right for the County to cut back projects to accommodate the Conservation Board. R. Sullivan asked if Claiborne is going to have that conversation tonight. Claiborne said he told Graves that as a director and Graves understands. He said tonight he is covering the bond meeting.
Neuzil said Conservation is supposed to be leveraging dollars before spending them on grants and other things. He still argues that the citizens chose their taxes to go up for this project. The question is; should the Board cut their budget to accommodate the resident vote for a tax increase. Like it or not, the Conservation bond passed with 60.1% of the vote. Meyers agreed with Neuzil and said Stutsman made a good point about rural residents voting against the Conservation Bond. There was a stark difference between voters in Iowa City and the rest of the County. Stutsman said the Conservation Bond was soundly defeated in the rural areas.
Stutsman said 60.1% may have voted for the Conservation Bond, but she is respectful of the 40% that did not vote for it. Neuzil said a majority of the residents in Johnson County wanted their taxes to go up to pay for the Bond. Stutsman said she wants the 40% who didn’t vote for it to have a voice too, even though majority rules. Neuzil said there were many reasons the rural area did not vote to pass the Bond. He said there was a lot of campaigning in the rural area. Stutsman said she thinks the rural area will see a significant increase in their taxes versus the urban area. Neuzil said the rural area will this year because there is a five year adjustment. Harney said bottom line the Bond passed and the Board has to deal with it. He said as the Board starts to pay things off he does not want to keep the tax levy up when it could adjust down.
R. Sullivan said he would like Claiborne to make sure the Conversation Board understands the $10 million cap on the levy. Claiborne said he is touching on it because he wants the Conservation Board to understand that the Board of Supervisors has to determine the amount of burden they want to put on the taxpayer to honor the $1 million requested this year. He explained that for the first year the Board of Supervisors will probably do a several year payback. However in FY11 three bonds retire freeing up about $.18. He said maybe from that point on the Board can determine one year paybacks. He knows the Board prefers short term debt.
R. Sullivan said it is important for the Conservation Board to understand that the Board of Supervisors considers the Conservation Bond when looking at impacts on people in the County. Whatever the Conservation Board chooses to do has a huge impact on the overall budget presentation the Board of Supervisors will give at the end of the year. If the Conservation Board wants to talk to the Board of Supervisors they can and should. Meyers asked which bonds will be retiring in the next three to four years. Claiborne said he would have to look. He said the Conservation Building is bonded for eight years, the renovation at the Administration Building is bonded for eight years and the rest are four years. Neuzil asked Claiborne to send the bond list to the Board. R. Sullivan said he thinks SEATS and Secondary Roads drops off quickly. Claiborne said there are only two that were eight years and which was done to keep the levy small. Claiborne said Graves wanted a five minute bonding session with the Conservation Board to they understand what they are doing.
R. Sullivan asked what was on the agenda for the next budget meeting on Monday December 22, 2008. Claiborne said the Auditor's Office is on the agenda. Slockett misunderstood because when he looked at the calendar he thought December 22, 2008 was his budget due date, but it is when he presents his budget to the Board. He said if the numbers are not in by December 22, 2008 Slockett will present using FY08 numbers. Claiborne said he told Deputy Auditor Chris Edwards if they repeat the budgets from last year they are going to need a personnel adjustment for elections. R. Sullivan asked how many departments still need to present. Claiborne said MHDS, Block Grants, Rural Fund, and Capital Projects. Stutsman asked if they had heard from Social Services Coordinator Amy Correia in Department 45. Neuzil said yes. Claiborne said Correia will be coming back for Block Grant 49. R. Sullivan said Correia was able to cut $183,000.
Adjourned at 3:15 p.m.
By Meaghan Mercer, Recording Secretary