Chairperson Thompson called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 8:10 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne presented a summary of the 4% cuts that the departments made. Thompson said it appears that the County Attorney cut one full salary, although he didn’t indicate for sure. She said the Treasurer’s Office has an open position they are planning to keep vacant. Thompson said the Public Health Department cut $20,000 out of ICARE. Horne said they also cut many other line items. Thompson said Public Health Department Director Ralph Wilmoth said they wouldn’t have to cut staff and it wouldn’t affect their direct aid to people. Lehman wondered how they will address possible future state budget cuts mid-year with the budget amendment process since there are no reserve funds. Lehman asked if there should be a plan B with more budget cuts in order to have more carryover. Harney said he doesn’t see where they can make more cuts without cutting personnel.

Thompson said the Recorder’s Office is one of the few departments that are bringing in substantial amounts of non-County revenue. She asked if it matters if the Recorder cuts her budget or increases her revenue, since to the taxpayer it is neutral. Lehman asked if their statement about their revenues spiking means they are going to start coming down or keep going up. Harney said he thinks that right now there is such a transfer of properties, everything is coming in right now with 0% interest and low interest rates. Thompson said they are 30% ahead of their budget already this year. Stutsman asked for Painter to come in to clarify some questions for her. Thompson said it’s fine with her if Painter wants to increase her revenue instead of cut her budget. Harney said it’s almost like some departments are being penalized for running a good budget because they have such a lean one. Thompson asked Painter what kind of service cuts she would have to make. Painter said the possibility exists to remove a person, which she feels as though she can’t really do. She said another option is to go back to a 37.5 work week, giving them about 2% for their office of what they would need for the 4% and still give them manageable cuts to operating expenses. Thompson asked her to clarify what revenues spiking means. Painter said revenues are still up, about 100% over last year for money staying in the County. Thompson asked if she is confident the incoming revenue is going to continue. Painter said she isn’t and feels at some point it would slow down. Painter said that if her office had one less person she would lose someone who is efficient and a strong part of the workforce. Painter said she perceives they would get behind in real estate work, there would be delays in processing paperwork and there would be increased pressures on the public businesses that deal with the office regularly.

Thompson said the Recorders Office had $620,000 last year in revenues and the estimation is that they would increase by $3,000. Thompson said that based on where they were halfway through this year there would be about $700,000 next year. She asked if Painter would feel comfortable putting the $13,000 in the revenue cycle. Painter said that based on the fact that they hit 80% of projected revenues at that point in the year she said she feels comfortable that the money would be there. Stutsman asked if this means their increased revenues would take care of their cuts. Thompson said yes. She said this means they don’t cut the expenses, but instead increase the revenues. Painter said this sounds good and asked if this means there wouldn’t be any line cuts. Thompson said it would be up to her to decide how confident she feels increasing the revenue. Painter said she won’t maintain any luxury items in the budge. Thompson asked if she is doing totals of revenue increases and expense cuts to equal $17,500 or 4%. Painter said yes. Lehman said that as far as cutting employee hours they might not be able to without renegotiations of contracts. Stutsman said she thinks the contract states that management is able to set the hours. Painter said it states they set the hours of the office. She said that they have increased their hours but have never said they are decreasing them again. She said the wording is very general in stating that the department or officer shall determine the hours of the office and the hours of work within that. Thompson said there might be some trouble with the definition of a full-time worker. She said they worked hard to get most of the departments defined as 40 hour weeks. Neuzil said he thinks many departments are going to have to decide for themselves if they are going to switch to 37.5 hours to keep an employee.

Lehman said he doesn’t think anything is being set aside for vehicles at the Ambulance Department. Horne said they have saved $70,000 saved and are getting $14,000, which is just enough to buy one ambulance. Stutsman said they had talked about not hiring the Assistant Director and saving the money. Harney said Ambulance Director Steve Spenler seems to think he can make it all work through his field supervisors, although he thinks Spenler needs a go-to person for when he isn’t there. Harney said this is going to mean more responsibility for the field supervisors and possible overtime that isn’t in their job description. Lehman said they would ask for compensation for their extra duties. He said 93% of that budget is personnel. Stutsman said she thinks many of the budgets are like this and there isn’t any place to cut except for positions. Harney asked Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan his opinion. Sullivan said Spenler would have a hard time without an Assistant Director. Sullivan is concerned with the overtime issue because the field supervisors are compensated overtime. He said he isn’t sure what Spenler is planning to delegate. Lehman said he talked about possible cutting back on the hours at Coralville. Stutsman said that might be more realistic. Stutsman said the Board told the department heads to make the decisions within their budget, but she is concerned about not filling that position due to overtime and burnout. Thompson said that if it ends up not working out he could later cut Coralville hours and hire the assistant. Sullivan said there is room to increase the rates in the Ambulance Department. Sullivan said that some rates are set but there is probably room to increase standby and athletic rates.

Thompson said that Shramek has an employee in her department who is part-time, working 20 hours a week, and gets half-time vacation etc. She said that if that employee worked only 19 hours per week she wouldn’t be eligible for benefits. She said the County sets health insurance benefits at 20 hours per week. She asked about the employee being able to receive other benefits, like vacation. Stutsman said she has no problem with doing that but there needs to be consistency for everyone. Stutsman said she would be willing to give a temporary agreement to that with the current budget situation, but said when things change they should go back to the original policy of 20 hours for all of the benefits. Lehman asked what the savings would be in cutting an hour a week. Thompson said it was enough to get under their budget, in addition to cutting training and the employee newsletter.

Stutsman said she wants to discuss the Auditor/Accounting Department. Stutsman said Administrative Secretary Casie Parkins clarified that the part-time temporary workers they are going to remove are the minute takers. Stutsman said she thought they were temporary help hired during elections and busy times. Stutsman said this is going to have an impact because these are people who have been with the County for a long time and they know their jobs. She said minutes are going to be basically just motions passed and meetings called to order and adjourned with no in-depth minutes. Thompson said they would still have the tapes though. Harney asked how many part-time people the Auditors Office has. Recording Secretary Kurt Runestad said there are 5 in the office and 3 of them doing minutes. Stutsman asked Runestad how long he has worked for the Auditors Office. Runestad said 1 year and 1 month. Runestad added that Recording Secretary Amie Kelley has worked there about 2 1/2 years.

Thompson noted that SEATS is cutting Sunday service. Stutsman said Iowa City transit doesn’t provide Sunday service, so the County isn’t required to either. Thompson asked whom the Sunday service is for. Neuzil said it is in town and they don’t really have Sunday service in the rural. Thompson asked if SEATS provides any other services that the City doesn’t reimburse them for. She asked why this isn’t in the rural fund. Stutsman said that it’s for city people and the rural fund is just for rural. Lehman asked if it is a trade off. Neuzil said he thinks that is going to be part of their renegotiations. Harney asked how many hours it runs on Sundays. Stutsman said 8-2. Thompson said it’s basically for church, senior dining and shopping. Thompson said that if the City reimburses them for the amount covering City people, then rural transportation is left and it could go there. Stutsman said she doesn’t know why that isn’t in the rural part of the budget. She said there is such a small amount of people using the service that actually live in the unincorporated area that use SEATS. Lehman said he is guessing that the reimbursement from the City for Sunday service is not covering the cost. Harney said he doubts it. Stutsman said she doesn’t think the City is contributing to it because they aren’t required to provide it. Thompson asked the Board if they are comfortable with cutting that. Harney said he isn’t but doesn’t think there is much choice. Lehman asked if cutting means eliminating. Horne said it is cutting those line items for part-time casual and fuels. Stutsman said that maybe if they don’t provide the service then volunteers will step up and provide the service. Stutsman said that when there is flexibility in the budget the County is able to provide these services.

Thompson said the Sheriff needs $413,000 for prisoner transporting, which is where he took his cuts. Thompson said that now if he needs that money he will be back for a budget amendment. Neuzil said he can’t come back if there isn’t any money. Stutsman said County Sheriff Bob Carpenter needs to understand that the Board is serious about there not being any money. She said he can’t just think he’ll come in for a budget amendment. Thompson said that in his letter he thinks the Board wants him to cut his vehicles, too. She said they need to clarify that with him. Horne said he told him and would reiterate that to him. Stutsman said that at ISAC there were vendors with video conference equipment. She said it would cost $1,800 to set the system up. She said it would mean setting up something like an ICN and hopefully saving on transportation costs in bringing people in for arraignments. She said it would not only be with the jails, but also with the detention centers. She said she thinks they need to look at these jail alternatives. Harney said it is expensive to use Hope House and it was also expensive to set up the video system for court appearances. Stutsman asked if that has offset yet. Harney said not initially but over time it would.

Thompson said the Sheriff has to cut about $225,000. She said that his letter shows he isn’t clear as to what the Board is asking. She said he thought they turned down the maintenance contracts. Stutsman said the maintenance contracts couldn’t be cut. Sullivan said those should be ongoing expenses. Thompson added that he thinks the Board wants him to cut vehicles, too. Stutsman said that maybe they should. Neuzil asked if jail alternatives are essential County purposes. Horne said they aren’t. Thompson said that an alternative jail is one that they could pay out of a supplemental fund. Stutsman said she couldn’t believe they aren’t coming up with jail alternatives. Thompson said releasing people into the community is a jail alternative. Stutsman said she agrees that Carpenter would come in asking for an amendment in a couple of months. Thompson said they shouldn’t make it easy for him. Neuzil said that if it’s pay now or later then they need to make the cut now because there is no paying later. Thompson said this is a budget that runs close to full every year. She said it’s up in the 99 percentile for expenditures. Thompson said he could possibly cut in uniforms because he is budgeting about $11,000 and the past 2 years has only spent about $4-5,000. She said he could reduce training by $10,000, but it would only be a drop in the bucket. Neuzil noticed Carpenter didn’t reduce anything except for one line item. Stutsman asked if the food costs goes for prisoners only or both staff and prisoners. Thompson said that if they are required to eat there because it is part of their shift then the County needs to provide the meal. Thompson said she doesn’t see cuts unless they reduce staff or take it out of the transportation. Horne said Carpenter mentioned taking back the full-time positions from last year. Neuzil said the 4 deputies the Board gave them were for 135 inmates. Thompson said they are keeping it down around 70, which is what they are supposed to have. She said the extra people are the ones they are moving back and forth. Neuzil said he would have to increase transportation costs if they reduced their staff. Thompson said they gave him 5 positions last year. Harney added that there is $41,200 in longevity alone in that department.

Neuzil said that if they don’t do anything then they have to come up with another $250,000 in cuts. He said they have to have that reserve if he comes back for an amendment, and then if he is coming back why cut at all. Stutsman said if he comes back in for another amendment then they might have to cut further into jail capital project money. Harney noted that there is over $40,000 in that budget for inmate medical expenses. He asked if they are able to collect from Medicare. Thompson said the Medicare is gone once they are in jail. Neuzil said he doesn’t think it’s wise to have a budget that they know is going to need a budget amendment. Harney said they don’t know what the transport fee is going to be. Thompson said there are times when they leave someone in jail and wait to transport them with someone else so they don’t have to do 2 trips. Thompson suggested that maybe he could manage it a little more carefully. Stutsman said they could send the message that there isn’t going to be budget amendments. Neuzil said the State might close the jail. Harney said they are obligated to give the Sheriff the tools required to operate the jail. Thompson said that the value of having him come in for the amendment is that it demonstrates to the public that there is a need for a new jail. Neuzil said that if they don’t have the money in the bank he would rather make the cut now than later.

Thompson said they spent $250,000 on jail improvements last year. Horne said they have spent $200,000 this year for transport. Thompson said he is going to be asking for $350,000. Thompson said that nothing is left in the fund after Carpenter is finished with his transfers this year. Neuzil said that if they choose to wait and have a budget amendment, then there are only a few areas to find funding for next year, one being land acquisition. Thompson said the voting machines are the other place. Horne said that basically means technology. He said they might be able to do a little bit out of the general fund, but not much. Thompson said that if he cuts back this year then he would be saving some of the $350,000, which means it would still be there for him to spend next year. Stutsman suggested taking the money from the transport budget and telling him that that is where the cut is. She said he still has flexibility with his line items, but there isn’t going to be any money for a budget amendment mid-year. Horne said he would relay the message.

Neuzil asked if the Board is committed to not having a budget amendment. Stutsman said that maybe during the course of the year Carpenter will be able to reduce other line items. Lehman said that Carpenter needs to be the one coming up with alternatives and then seeing if the Board goes along with them, not vice versa. Neuzil said he is fine with that as long as the Board is committed to $170,000 for jail alternatives and no more. Harney said that if they truly want to try some jail alternatives then they should put money away for them. Thompson said that hours have been spent in committees and there hasn’t been an alternative found that might be less expensive than transportation. Neuzil said he is open to jail alternatives as long as it comes out of the money used for transportation cost. He said the County doesn’t have extra money for programs. Neuzil said it is Carpenter’s responsibility to run a safe jail. Harney said by Code they are required to give him the tools to do his job and if he can’t then there might be areas that he could manage his budget better in. Neuzil said that there should be cuts within his budget then. He said he wants the Sheriff to manage the Sheriff’s budget. He said that if this is the budget he is submitting, then this is the budget he needs to live with. Neuzil said he feels this way about every department. Neuzil asked Horne to let the Sheriff know that this is his budget and there isn’t going to be any alternatives other than finding cuts within his own budget if he wants to increase line items. Harney said he thinks it is time for the cities, Sheriff’s Department and the County to sit down and see where they could combine and cut things. Stutsman agreed, and said they need to start questioning duplication of things that the separate entities use and start looking at combining the efforts for the entire County as a community.

Neuzil asked where they are on finalizing everything. Horne said they are almost done. Neuzil asked if the General Basic went up $20,000. Horne said it did but not much. Stutsman suggested sending the strong message to departments that there will be no budget amendments. Thompson said that the County’s financial policy is that bills are current for a month after they are received. She said that most departments pay them in advance or the day they receive them, whereas they could pay them when they are due for cash flow purposes. She said that another suggestion they could make to departments is that when they have a position open, to hold it open until it covers the pay out for the person’s vacation. Stutsman asked if the cash flow is much of an issue. Horne said not right now but it could be. Stutsman said her only concern about paying bills when they are due is incurring finance charges because it takes the Auditors Office awhile to generate checks. Stutsman asked if they need to send a memo out to department heads concerning these policies. Harney said they would need to send a note to each department head stating to try to follow this the best that they can. Thompson said the Auditors Office could just hold the bills until they are supposed to be paid.

Neuzil asked how many employee openings there currently are. Horne said that Shramek said as of last week there were 9 and they are all from the General Fund. Stutsman said it is being left up to department heads whether they want to fill a position or not. Lehman said that when a department advertises to fill a position the money comes out of their budget and they would save money from not advertising if they aren’t going to fill positions.

Recessed at 9:43 a.m.; reconvened at 9:54 a.m.

Thompson reiterated what the Board decided earlier. The Board tentatively decided that if a worker’s hours are cut and go below 20 hours per week, they would make a variance for them to receive half-time benefits that the Board controls. Thompson said that anyone whose hours are shortened as a result of budget cuts, but was 20 or more, would still receive vacation and sick pay at the 20-hour rate. Neuzil asked if this applies to new employees in the future. She said this is only for those who are impacted right now.

Thompson said the Recorder is going to make her cut in revenues. She said Horne is going to contact SEATS to see if cutting their Sunday service would result in a cut in revenues. Lehman asked if cutting the hours of 40-hour per week employees would create a problem. Shramek said it wouldn’t in the Administrative Unit, which is the largest collective bargaining contact, where the definition of full-time is 37.5 hours per week. Shramek said most of the other bargaining contracts have the definition of full-time as 40 hours. Thompson said they could only cut back in the Admin Unit then. Shramek said there are lay-off provisions in all of the contracts. Shramek said that in the layoff provision, the temporary employees go first and then the part-time employees. Neuzil said department heads might need to look at seeing if staff would reduce their hours to 37.5 so as not to lose an employee in their office. Shramek said they should go to the bargaining representative first to explain the dilemma.

Thompson said a reporter was asking if it is true that the County’s FY 03 is going to be reduced below the FY 02 budget. Horne said yes. He said the easiest way to explain this is that the County has hit their cap. He said they have hit the $3.50 per $1,000. Thompson wondered how many other counties in Iowa have a similar situation. She asked Horne to find out through ISAC.

Neuzil asked about the status of the Court Services fund. Horne said the Memmer trial was very expensive but that White said he would stay within that budget.

Horne said that Deputy Auditor Brian Cover gave him some breakdowns on some of the various TIF’s for Coralville and the total amount to the taxing entities. He said the Coral Ridge TIF is $150,861,988. He said he isn’t sure what percentage of Coralville’s tax dollar the County gets. He said that at 17% it comes to $2 million. Thompson asked how much they lose if he adds up all of the TIF’s from all of the cities. Horne said the numbers aren’t perfect but it comes to about $5 million. He said the total is $319,068,753 for tax increment valuation. Thompson said that when you add it all up, $5 million is a lot of money in the budget. Stutsman said the County goes along with TIF’s because they are supposed to provide some sort of increase in the tax base to provide some relief for increased taxes and that just isn’t being seen.

Stutsman asked if payroll and wages are included in the tentative FY 03 budget. Horne said yes. He said he reached the 4% by taking their base budget from this year, plus the payroll adjustments, which include their built-in cost of living, like merit and steps, plus the COLA that the Board decided on earlier. He said he added those 2 numbers together and took 4% of that. Thompson asked if the re-estimated budget for 02 lets him know ahead of time who is going to need budget amendments for this year. Horne said he doesn’t think they are going to have many amendments this year. He said Health has a new account for grants, meaning that they would have revenues tied to them. Stutsman said that they need to clarify with the departments that if they were able to produce the revenue then they would consider an amendment.

Harney asked if the Facilities Department has enough money to cover expenses and upkeep. Horne said he reduced the line items by 25% like the Board said to do and Bulechek said he could work with that. Thompson asked if he has $100,000 left total for each building. Horne said he has more. Harney asked about the leaks at the Courthouse. Horne said that is an 04 project on the list. Neuzil asked if Bulechek has a list similar to that of the 5-Year Road Plan. Horne said they have a maintenance schedule.

The Board decided their next budget work session would be February 11,2002. Lehman reminded the Board that the budget public hearing has been rescheduled to March 4, 2002. Thompson asked Horne to let the departments know what is happening tentatively. Neuzil said there is also an elected officials meeting on Tuesday, February 19th, to communicate how tight things are and why. He said that maybe Horne could give a budget overview and background for everyone.

Adjourned at 10:29 a.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary