• Discussion: Fiscal Year 2003 Budget

  • General Basic Block Grants (20)

  • Rural Basic Block Grants (23)

• Discussion: Fiscal Year 2003 Budget

Chairperson Thompson called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 1:35 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne explained a handout he had given to the Board listing the General Basic Block grants. The Board suggested that Horne go through the General Basic Block Grant line items one by one.

Horne said local funding doesn’t play a big part in the Red Cross funding, so the Board cut the total line item of $6,890.

Horne said Joint Disaster services increased from $69,000 to $78,815 based on the 2000 census. The Haz-Mat annual contribution remained the same at $13,865.

Horne reduced the VNA Block Grant to $97,500 from $116,600 that they were given in FY 02. Neuzil said they froze the budget from last year. Thompson summarized the Board was giving VNA what they asked for without an increase, but the Health Department had recommended more. Horne said the Health Department’s recommendations were made before they knew about the County’s funding shortage. Neuzil said the County contributed $97,500 to the VNA last year, plus they received additional money from another source to bring it up to the $116,600. Horne said their projected budget for next year was 3 million dollars. The programs in VNA that the County funds are Health Promotions, Elder Care and some Community Services. Lehman commented that the since Departments were cutting 4%, Block Grants should be cut 4% as well. He said the Board needed to be aware of the impact of a 4% cut on each individual grant. Horne said VNA was Federally funded by Medicaid and others. Thompson commented that VNA had used County funds to cover people that weren’t covered by Medicaid, that they had fulfilled a Public Health function. Neuzil asked if the Health Department should have VNA provide their service as a fee for service. Horne said VNA’s Medicare and Medicaid funding has increase greatly as well as private insurance funding since `00. Thompson said it was shift in rules, not services. She said they didn’t want to put people in the position where if they aren’t covered by Medicaid, they would end up in a nursing home. She called VNA the County’s last line of defense. Horne said the County funds Elder Care and Health Promotions programs.

Horne said he was eliminating the $40,000 Block Grant to the Adult Day Care Program. He explained that that funding began with an understanding that the Adult Day Care Program wouldn’t need County funding for long. Horne said if the program raises their fee for service, they can recover the lost County funding, but still be cheaper then a nursing home.

The Board reduced the Free Medical Clinic block grant by 10% for a total of $92,297. Neuzil said they had a large carryover and 31% of their funding was coming from Johnson County, which is more than United Way gives them. Neuzil said they were concerned that Iowa City isn’t giving any money to the program and suggested that this money become part of the Public Health Department budget.

The Board decided to cut the Historical Society Block Grant to $45,980. Horne said he cut Historical Preservation from $2,500 to $500. The Board decided to cut the Agricultural Association Block Grant from $94,000 to $89,300.

Horne presented the Food Bank and the Crisis Center Block Grants together. He suggested cutting the Food Bank Block Grant from $29,679 to $26,711. He suggested cutting the Crisis Center Block Grant from $45,601 to $41,041. Thompson said this agency was set up to reduce the strain on General Assistance. Stutsman said in a recession there is a concern on whether or not to cut this type of funding. Neuzil said they are holding 30-35% of their budget in the bank. Thompson said historically this agency had not had much of a carryover. Horne said they were carrying over $200,000, and $300,000 in restricted funding. Horne said they were projecting their budget next year at $663,839. Neuzil suggested that HACAP handle the Food Bank like they do in every other County. Thompson said when the Food Bank started HACAP wasn’t in good standing and the Community asked the Crisis Center to do it. Neuzil said his thinking is based on the programs having large sums of money sitting in the bank, which begs the question of can the County afford to give them as much as in the past. The Board decided to leave the cut where it was for now.

Horne said HACAP was cut 10%, which decreases their budget from $25,000 to $22,500. Horne said all of the County’s funding goes into Head Start. Horne said HACAP receives $25,000 from the County, $8,300 from Iowa City and $2,700 from Coralville. Thompson said if they came back to say they would loose eligibility for the Head Start program, the County could increase the funding.

The Board cut the Emergency Housing Block Grant by 5% from $12,000 to $11,400.

The Board decided to freeze the Big Brother/Big Sisters and United Action for Youth budgets, with the understanding that if needed they can cut these budgets later.

The Board cut the Youth Homes Block Grant by 10% which was a decrease from $68,400 to $61,560.

The Board discussed the merits of the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program, which had changed its name and focus to Maximize Your Employment Potential. Stutsman commented that this program hadn’t responded to repeated requests from the Board of Supervisors for information. Neuzil suggested that many of the Block Grant programs be changed to fee for service so that there would be more accountability with the County money. The Board decided to remove the funding for the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program.

The Board decreased the SIBSHIP grant by 5% from $1,200 to $1,140.

The Board decided that the grant for the Domestic Violence Intervention Program would remain the same at $54,065.

Horne said Iowa City’s request for the Senior Center funding is $145,664. The Board decided to cut Senior Center funding to $100,000.

The Board discussed the new request of $50,000 from Elderly Services for the Senior Dining program. Thompson suggested that the Board give Elderly Services the interest earned from the trust funds, but no additional money. The Board agreed. Stutsman clarified that the interest would be for the Senior Dining program, but the Board would give them their block grant that they have been accustomed to at $12,600.

The Board froze the budgets of the Neighborhood Centers and MECCA/ISDA Reimbursement at $66,025 and $10,000.

Because JCCOG’s funding is based on a formula the Board decided to leave it as is at $21,088.

ICAD’s Block Grant was increased to $20,000.

Neuzil suggested removing the $500 funding from the Eastern Iowa Tourism Association, and approaching the Iowa City Visitors Bureau to see how the County could become a member. The Board agreed.

The Rural Enterprise Fund grant remained the same at $7,500 because it is strictly a pass through fund.

The Rape Victim Advocacy Program block grant was reduced 10% from $14,700 to $13,230.

The Board allowed the MECCA funding to remain the same at $309,000. Stutsman said MECCA saves the County money because people go to MECCA for treatment rather than a hospital. The Board decided that in the next year they would work on a way to put the MECCA funding in the General Supplemental fund.

The Board kept the East Central Iowa Council of Governments stable at $50.

Horne said the County is required to provide library funding at $.06 per $1,000 of taxable value. Neuzil said the County could just designate a library, which is how Linn County does it and asked what would happen if they did this. Thompson said if somebody checked out a book in North Liberty, North Liberty would charge Iowa City and Iowa City would then charge the County. The County would then pay Iowa City, who would then pay North Liberty. Horne said if it’s $.06 per $1,000, then it would be $221,000, which the County already exceeds in Iowa City alone. Neuzil asked why, Horne replied that the County’s contract is based on usage. Thompson clarified that the County pays $433,000, but they’re only required to pay $221,000. Stutsman asked what the tax decrease for the rural budget would be if they decreased the library funding by $200,000. Horne said the tax base would go down several dollars. Stutsman asked if it would be worth the political heat to decrease taxes only by several dollars. Lehman asked if it was fair to other libraries and residents to fund only one library. Thompson said people would still be able to go to any library and the libraries would work it out amongst themselves. Stutsman said if the Board was serious about this possibility they should take a year to study it and give notice to the libraries. Stutsman said this decision is a policy statement that the Board supported the libraries, but because of budget constraints, the Board might have to review that.

Thompson asked if the Board was willing to give a $20,000 increase to the Soil and Water Conservation Service. The Board decided that it should be left as is at $30,000. The Board decided to decrease the Landfill budget from $5,792 to $5,502.

Recessed at 3:03 p.m.; reconvened at 3:15 p.m.

Horne began with the new expense summary that includes the 4% cuts from the different departments, plus what the Board has instructed for the other levies. Stutsman asked if the departments had actually made the cuts yet. Horne replied that only one department has currently made the 4% cuts. Lehman asked if anyone said that they can’t possibly do it. Horne said no, but he has heard feedback on what departments will have to do. Thompson said that Human Resource Administrator Lora Shramek’s part time employee won’t be eligible for benefits after the cuts. Horne said the Recorder talked to him this morning about problems with her cuts, because she’s already running lean, so she would have to cut staff or cut down hours. The Recorder had a worked hard to get office hours open until 5:00. Stutsman suggested cutting hours might be needed in the Board’s office as well. Thompson agreed. Stutsman questioned whether or not the Board could cut union hours. Thompson said the Admin. Contract has a layoff plan. Neuzil said the County will have a hiring freeze this year. He said the County is about as lean as it’s going to get without laying off people.

Thompson asked if the General Fund and the General Supplemental funds were full. Horne said they were, the General Fund is at $3.5 and they were $300,000 over the levy limit after the 4% cuts. Thompson asked if they had transferred everything they could into the General Supplemental fund. Horne said yes. Horne said they still have to decrease $300,000 to get to their taxing limit. He said they could get that number by taking out $100,000 from the computer software fund and bonding for the new voting machines and using the $200,000 saved for the purpose. Stutsman asked how much the County would have to spend to service the debt and if they were accounting for that money. Horne said that would be in future years.

Horne explained that in space needs he revised the sheet with cuts to Facilities Manager Mark Bulechek’s maintenance projects. Thompson clarified that he had started at $1.5 million and deducted back to $824,000, so there is still $635,750 for property acquisition. Horne took out the maintenance projects for Bulechek and the $250,000 he wanted for future projects. Horne reduced Bulechek’s budget by 25%. Thompson summarized that Bulechek will get $100,000 per building, which is what he said he would need if his base is dropped down. Horne said there are only 3 line items for next year, one for land acquisition, land acquisition for the mall drive payment and the appraisal services. Horne said the first page would be a transfer, including ambulance, and DHS as designated reserves. Thompson pointed out that the Mall Drive payment will go down by $7,500 because the County will be paying less in interest. Stutsman suggested the Board not save the $12,000 for DHS this year. The Board agreed. Thompson asked if the $633,000 for land acquisition goes in with the money that’s already been saved. Horne said yes and the total savings are $833,000. Horne said that the Courthouse steps were moved into maintenance funding, but it was still in this year’s projects. Stutsman asked about the retaining wall. Horne said it was in this year’s budget.

Horne said the rules for leasing are just like the rules for bonding. Thompson asked if it didn’t have come out of the General Fund. Horne replied the Board could use the debt service levy, a promissory note type of thing. Neuzil said it would still be a tax increase, just a future one. Neuzil commented on Iowa City’s debt service, which for this year is at $5 million. Horne said Iowa City was having the same issue with rollbacks that the County is. Neuzil said with some of the numbers Horne had given them, the tax bills would decrease from last year. Thompson said she didn’t think they would be able to maintain the 4% cuts on all of the departmental budgets. Harney said the Board may have to look at other places to cut the budget. Neuzil said if it’s at that point, does the Board cut personnel or do they go through the Block Grants again?

Horne next went over the tax bill comparisons. Horne said a house in Iowa City assessed at $100,000 will pay $304.00 in County taxes. Neuzil said rural ag land assessed at $100,000 would have a tax bill of $882.26. Neuzil said if the County is able to subtract the 4% off the departments, then the Board is considering only single digit tax increases. Stutsman said the increases were reflecting the increased valuations and rollback. Horne said the State decided to restrict local government’s growth and let them only get so big in proportion to their tax base. Thompson asked how they calculate the rollback. Horne said it is a Statewide average based on the valuation increase in the State.

Horne said the County still needs to cut $300,000 from the budget. He said the County has the revenue/expense adjustment, which they are budgeting as a revenue of $1,100,000 but it doesn’t account for the tight budget situation this year. He said the Board can’t count on that, because they’ve already taken it out once in the cuts, so the Board must cut $800,000 more to account for that. Stutsman suggested they not deal with the revenue/expense adjustment this year. Horne said if they took out the revenue/expense adjustment they would have to cut $1,400,000. Thompson explained the revenue/expense adjustment. She said the County usually spends 98% of the total budget, therefore, generally the County doesn’t tax for a couple of percentages of the General fund. Now, the Board is telling departments to spend only 96% of their budget, Thompson said, so departments are going to spend all of their budgets. She said the Board can’t afford to take out the 2% twice. Horne said they cut the revenue/expense adjustment in half, because if they had problems next year they could withhold some of the 4th quarter appropriations to meet the ending balances. Harney asked what would happen if next year is worse. Horne said next year the adjustment would be down naturally because it takes a 3 year average into account.

Neuzil said the 4% departmental cut isn’t going to be enough. Horne said the County needs to cut another 4%. Thompson said they could use some of the Reservoir Roads Trust Fund. Stutsman said that fund is building because the Board doesn’t spend the interest. She said it started out at $1.5 million and now it’s $2.7 million. Thompson suggested spending down to the original $1.5 million. Neuzil said he wasn’t interested in using that money for anything except for roads. Harney agreed. Stutsman agreed with Thompson’s suggestion. Stutsman said the Reservoir Roads Trust Fund hurts the County in the ending year balance, because the legislature and unions want to know why they have that excess money. Neuzil suggested it be used for a project. Horne said the Board could put it into roads, but it wouldn’t lesson the transfer. Harney said it needs to be used in the Reservoir area. Stutsman suggested the Board use the money for land acquisition. Horne replied it could be done, but asked if she meant to only use it when it was needed rather than for this budget year.

Thompson asked how much they still need to cut. Horne replied $800,000 or $700,000 if they decide not to offer the employee PC purchase program again. Stutsman said she didn’t have a problem cutting the employee PC purchase program. Lehman suggested going back through block grants. Stutsman replied that even if the Board dropped all block grants, it still wouldn’t help that much. Thompson asked about the Technology grants or GIS. Horne said technology can’t be cut anymore. Harney asked about cutting employees that work for other governments, but the County pays. He suggested the 5 people in Human Services that work for the State. Thompson said the Human Service employees provide functions that the County wants, like Foster Care. She said there are doing intake, which the State won’t do for the County. Harney said the State didn’t think anything of cutting money from the Courthouse. Lehman said they need to tell the State to take care of their employees, because they are doing the State’s work. Thompson said they aren’t doing the State’s work, they’re doing the County’s. Neuzil said Johnson County is the only County in the State that has employees paid for by the County that does State work. Stutsman asked about the LAE, if the County gets reimbursed for those salaries. Thompson said the County gets full reimbursement for some, but not for employees that don’t do work that the State wants done. Harney asked about the Janitor in Human Services. Thompson said the County gets 45% of his salary reimbursed from the LAE. Harney asked if the County would get reimbursed if they had their cleaning personnel do it. Thompson said yes. Stutsman protested taking all the money out of block grants. Neuzil said he thought the Board should if they had to tell the departments 8% instead of 4%. Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan said the custodial services for the Physical Plant Administration building are $25,000 per year. Thompson said the total salaries at DHS are only $400,000. She and Stutsman agreed that they didn’t support cutting staff in DHS.

Harney said the Sheriff was having trouble finding 4% in his budget, it would have to come out of transport fees or laying off the staff that was given to him last year. Neuzil said the Treasurer and Recorder are having a hard time also. He asked what can government provide when there is no money. Harney suggested the Board might need to open the collective bargaining contracts to renegotiate raises. Stutsman said they could cut hours in the Administration Building and Courthouse, possibly to the point of saying one afternoon a week the building is closed. Neuzil said the only reason to cut down hours would be to cut employees. Stutsman said they would be considered full time at 36 instead of 40 hours, which might mean a cut in salary, but they would still have a job. Sullivan said dropping hours might need the contracts opened up again also, because they might have language defining a workweek at 40 hours. Thompson said that the Board only had $700,000 left to cut.

Neuzil explained to Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek that with the budget cuts, the Board still needed to come up with another $700,000 of cuts. Stutsman asked if the Board needed to declare a moratorium on travel or training. Thompson said after the departments make their 4% budget cuts, that money will be gone already anyway. Thompson asked Shramek if travel and training were cut in her budget before the employee newsletter. Shramek said yes. Horne told Shramek the Board wanted to know the rules regarding employees leaving, reduction or changes in hours, etc.; are there rules with the bargaining units regarding what hours the Administration building is open? Shramek said some of the collective bargaining contracts state the standard workweek is 37.5 or 40 hours per week. Lehman clarified that meant the County must pay them for that amount of time or lay people off. Shramek said all the contracts have layoff provisions meaning that if the County needs to reduce staff there is a procedure in place with all employees following seniority. Thompson questioned what would happen if the Board decided to layoff the 3 people at DHS, those people would have seniority so they could bump people in the case management unit. Shramek agreed. Thompson said the units want the least senior person to be let go.

Thompson said she was in favor of taking the extra $500,000 in interest from the Roads fund to replace the land acquisition fund. Stutsman asked what Harney had wanted the money used for. Harney replied that there are needs for roads around the Reservoir, which it what it was entrusted to the County for. Thompson said the principal was entrusted to the County for roads, the Board would only be using the interest. Harney said the million dollars is worth less now then it was before. Neuzil said the Sterba fund’s interest was being used for Senior Dining, because that is what it was for. Stutsman said she saw it as a rainy day fund and this is a rainy day. She said she was willing to look at that money. Harney commented that the State didn’t use their rainy day fund. Stutsman replied the State was more interested in making government look bad than anything else. Lehman asked if the interest had been used before. Horne replied that the interest was used for all the County’s gravel every year and the remaining interest accumulates. She said people in the County wanted the money to build Green Castle bridge, but the County would never be able to afford the 9 million it was estimated at in the beginning. Neuzil said he didn’t want to spend the rainy day fund because once it’s spent it’s gone, and next year will be a tough budget year too. Lehman asked if the County would rather be in the position to buy land. Stutsman said the Board could wait until land became available, then borrow against the Reservoir Roads Trust, but not put any money into the land acquisition at all. Horne said County Treasurer Tom Kriz told him that the Roads Trust was in a large CD that is going to come due in this Fall, but when it comes up for renewal the interest isn’t going to be nearly as good. Stutsman said she views the trust as an asset, which should be working for the County, especially when finances are tight. Lehman said the fund is actually loosing ground. Neuzil said that County government is changing and the Board will have to cut to live within its means.

Shramek asked the Board, since employees are the largest expense, if they have explored any short-term solutions, for example, voluntary reductions in hours, voluntary reduction in force or early retirement. Neuzil asked how the Board could budget for that. Shramek said the Board would have to draw up programs. Thompson said the Board might want to have plans like that in place for next year. Neuzil asked Shramek if the Board could go to the unions to ask them to open up the contracts to not give the raises they had expected in exchange for not making layoffs. Shramek said they could do that. Horne said that would take some time. Stutsman said the Board didn’t have the money to put into land acquisition, because like Neuzil said they must live within their means. She reiterated that she was concerned about continuing to cut services. She said she wasn’t interested in laying off people and that land was the most unobtrusive way to cut. Neuzil said he thought about being visionary about this building being prepared to grow in the sense of what the County government building is. Thompson commented that if the Board of Supervisors layoff people, then they wouldn’t need more room for parking, because they would have plenty. Neuzil agreed, but said he was looking at 20 years from now. Stutsman asked if the Board could bond for land purchases. Thompson explained that the County could bond for $800,000 per project. Harney asked how they would then put something on that property. Neuzil said the County would then be in the position where the money is gone, but they have to pay the bond.

Horne and Thompson discussed how much the Board still needs to cut. Horne said if they reduced the $635,000 from land acquisition that would still leave $65,000. Thompson said they only needed $500,000 because he had given a total of $800,000, but the Board had already taken out $300,000. Horne said he hadn’t reduced the grant numbers yet, which would lower it. Horne said 1.2 million in interest is in the Reservoir Roads Trust fund. Thompson suggested taking the $635,000 for land acquisition out of the budget and using the Reservoir funds for possible future purchases. Horne reminded the Board that there’s $500,000 in the jail construction fund as well that could be reallocated. Neuzil asked if there were any more expenditures for the jail. Harney said he saw the Sheriff cutting either deputies or the transportation funds, which were both required, which would start a vicious circle. Neuzil said it would be easy for him to take the money out of alternative transportation, which he knows is State required. Stutsman asked why the Board expected every other department to cut 4% from their budgets, but the Board doesn’t expect the Sheriff to do the same. Harney said he could make a cut, but the Board would still have to address it. Neuzil asked about the $500,000 sitting in the bank for the jail. Thompson replied that the Sheriff is going to come in later in the year to request more transportation money. She said the Sheriff told the Board he needed another $378,000, but the Board only gave him $250,000. Stutsman suggested not giving pay increases to management. Horne said that wouldn’t save much money, only $60,000.

Neuzil clarified that the jail money that the Sheriff wouldn’t need, would be some money the Board could look at. He suggested putting that money towards land acquisitions, then taking the $635,000 out. Horne said there was $60,000 in DHS that could be reallocated. Horne said the $350,000 would help purchase property for a new jail. Neuzil said it would be justifiable to put it in the land acquisition fund then. Thompson said they would be reducing the land acquisition by $350,000. Neuzil said if they reduced the land acquisition, the carry-over would be higher. Thompson asked if anyone was interested in taking the rest of the money out of the Reservoir fund’s interest. Neuzil said no. Thompson said they could take $500,000 out of land acquisition and reallocate $350,000 from the jail fund, so the balance would go down. Horne said if the Board reallocated the money into space needs, that money would be gone and the Board would have to tax for transport.

Horne said he didn’t have a sense of where the Board wanted to go. Stutsman clarified that right now the Board is taxing for $635,750 dollars for land acquisition. Horne said there was $197,000 carried over from last year. Thompson said to take the $500,000 out of the $635,750, which becomes $135,750. Now the balance is $197,000, they’ll add $135,750 plus $350,000 from the jail fund. Horne said they could also add the interest, which is about $60,000. $743,375 would then be in the land acquisition fund, instead of the $833,000. Stutsman said she could live with that. Thompson said there was also $1.2 million in the Reservoir Roads fund that the Board could borrow against. Stutsman said the Board has other options, including bonding. Neuzil clarified that leaves $150,000 for the Sheriff’s amendment this year. Harney asked if the jail fund was gone then. Lehman said if it wasn’t used, the Board could transfer it back next year. Horne said the DHS building fund was another $60,000 that is just sitting there. Neuzil said the Board would only be taxing for $135,000 for land this year. Stutsman said that is what the County could afford. Thompson asked what this cut would do to tax valuations. Horne said it will put the County beneath the levy cap.

Neuzil asked how much they needed yet. Horne said they needed 1.6 million dollars to go beneath the levy. The departments provided $800,000 in cuts, computers were $100,000, $500,000 for land acquisition. The Board still needs $200,000. Stutsman said the block grants haven’t been figured in yet. Horne agreed that with the block grants and Schultz’s revision on Technology grants, they might be close. Thompson said the $200,000 for the election equipment hadn’t been cut yet. Neuzil said this is assuming everyone can cut 4%. Stutsman said they are going to have to cut 4%.

Thompson asked Horne what the departments had been telling him about the cuts. Horne said departments can’t cut 4% without laying off people. The Auditor is cutting all part-time temporary hours. Sullivan commented the Ambulance would be cutting the Coralville shift. Stutsman said if taxpayers don’t want to pay as many taxes, they’re not going to get as many services. She said the message the Board is getting is people want less services. Sullivan said there are options for departments to generate revenue, which in the long run will reduce tax askings. Thompson said if the Board is happy with the tax askings, they wouldn’t have to make the cuts. Horne said the Board would because the revenue/expense adjustments can’t be counted twice. Thompson said they could take out the revenue/expense adjustment, give the departments back the 4% and still be at this level. Neuzil said he didn’t think so, because those numbers were built into the current task askings. Thompson said some tax askings were going down to where people were getting reductions. Neuzil agreed.

Horne reminded the Board that the next budget meeting is February 1, 2002 at 8:00 a.m.

Adjourned at 5:03 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary