Discussion: Public Safety Service Area for Fiscal Year 2004 Budget

Discussion: Court Services Service Area for Fiscal Year 2004

County Attorney J. Patrick White: Fiscal Year 2003 Budget

Discussion: Fiscal Year 2004 Budget

Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:10 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne introduced his intern for this semester, Katie Hughes, who is giving him a lot of help. He said today they are discussing Public Safety. He said that part of the Public Safety Service Area is going to be covered next week when the Sheriff meets with the Board.

Horne asked the Board if they had a chance to go through the budget he gave them. The Board said yes. Horne said he would discuss major changes and requests. He said the major thing is the Ambulance Director is asking for a .8 FTE, which means 2 new full-time paramedics. He said that quite a few part-time hours are being eliminated, thus reducing the part-time line. Horne said Ambulance Director Steve Spenler is getting more and more calls to the west and north areas of the County, which means an increase in demand. Horne said Spenler feels these positions are needed. He said Spenler is working on collocating permanently an ambulance with Coralville. Stutsman asked if the rent for SEATS that Spenler has listed is going to be zeroed out. Horne said if he doesn’t use it, yes. Stutsman said he is probably talking about the $100 that he pays. Horne said the idea with Coralville is not set yet. He said they are building a new station in the Oakdale 965 area and Spenler is hoping to locate it there. Stutsman said Spenler informed the Board that he was moving the first of February to Coralville. Horne said that when Spenler prepared this he probably was trying to be on the safe side, rather than sorry in the budgeting of the rent for the SEATS location. Neuzil asked if Spenler is lowering any of his budget to accommodate the employees. Horne said the part-time was lowered. Stutsman said that Spenler has increased revenues though. Horne said the revenue would offset this. He said the key thing is that Spenler is getting the call demand. Harney said one of the issues Spenler had in a meeting with them is that by adding those employees he is cutting the overtime out. Lehman asked if people are getting overtime now then because rather than being able to get off of their shift they are out on a call. Horne said yes, that Spenler is using overtime to cover the calls he is currently getting demands for.

Neuzil asked how Spenler is able to budget overtime for this or if he was always able to stay within budget for this. Horne said they have gone over before. Neuzil asked if they were just allowed amendments for that. Horne said he thinks that is partly what was done, but also that there were positions unfilled. Neuzil asked if Spenler is able to do that in his new budget. Horne said that Spenler is anticipating overtime that he isn’t showing here. Stutsman said that if it is something that is going to be beneficial to a department then she could justify it. Neuzil asked if all departments show overtime when their work isn’t done. He said that in the cases of the Treasurer or Recorder, they just stop what they are doing and pick it up the next day, rather than put in extra hours to get the work done. Horne said that this is different. Stutsman said that a 24-hour service you can’t say they are only going to serve the public from 8-5. Horne said there is also a life and death aspect to it. Neuzil said he understands that. He explained that he is thinking from the aspect that just because a department makes money doesn’t mean they get to keep it. Stutsman said this discussion brings up the role of County government. Stutsman said she thinks that Johnson County has made a pretty strong statement about the value of having a County-ran ambulance service that responds in an appropriate time. She said she thinks that the County and citizens want this. Neuzil said this could be an argument as to why city people pay county taxes. Stutsman said the per capita cost of this service is $8.73, which is something that she is willing to support as a taxpayer. Neuzil asked how much money this would save Ambulance. Horne said it would save them $32,000 at least. He added that Spenler mentioned he thought it would also save him some overtime, but that at that time he couldn’t quantify it. Horne said the items that are increased in FY 04 are basically the items that are increased in the cost of doing business in the Ambulance Service this year. Thompson said that this would be a 4% increase over their last year’s budget, not counting whatever wage raises they get. Neuzil said the County can’t afford that. Thompson said she is willing to leave it on the table though.

Horne said the revenues are going to go up 16%. Harney asked how many of those revenues are collectible. Horne said he has been collecting them pretty good this year because they have been coming in. Harney said he agrees with Neuzil that just because there are revenues doesn’t mean they should all be spent back into that department. Horne said they are going to get costs that are going to increase in health insurance. Neuzil asked why he asked for 2 full-timers instead of one. Horne said because it takes 2 to staff an ambulance. Stutsman said staffing the Ambulance is complicated because it has to be done according to the Union Contract according to calling people in. She said she thinks what Spenler is asking for is to have a better system of calling people in. Stutsman said up front this does seem like an additional cost, but long-term it is definitely going to help the service run more efficiently and respond to the more increased demands. Horne said he thinks that what they want to watch is the call volume. Horne said that Swisher and Shueyville have indicated that they would like to use the County Ambulance Service, also. He said that if the location is added they would be willing to go with the County.

Neuzil asked about the 4% non-personnel increase. Thompson said that was the overall increase. Lehman said that personnel would be 3.5%. Stutsman said she has a problem with the Board talking about the revenues not being the Ambulance’s. She said what incentive is there to raise the fees if the Board isn’t going to recognize that there is additional cost with providing additional service. Horne said that is why the Board needs to look at the level of service that they want to maintain and provide. Thompson said it is a non-essential service and they know that they are able to afford to provide some non-essential services. She said she thinks that they should provide this as efficiently as possible and try to get as much revenue from it as possible and operate it as cost effectively as they can. Lehman said he thinks the justification of this is the emergency aspect. He said that you can’t tell someone we will be there in a half-hour because we’ve got someone punching in at that time. He said they have to have the staff there. Harney, Lehman and Stutsman said they are willing to keep it on the table.

Neuzil asked about Spenler’s capital requests and what they did last year in comparison. Horne said that last year, because of the budget situation they gave Spenler just enough to purchase an ambulance, most of which he already had in savings previously. He said now they have no money saved for ambulances currently. He said an ambulance costs about $100,000. Neuzil said he is requesting more than that. Horne said he is requesting amounts for each ambulance to be on a replacement schedule. Thompson said he is on a 7-year replacement schedule, meaning that 2 out of every 7 years he won’t be buying a new one, one of the years being this one. Stutsman said this was a policy decision made by the Board at a time when things were better. Neuzil said he thinks they should give him $100,000 a year and no more. Thompson said he is catching up now though. Horne said he also has inflation factored in. Thompson said that if $162,000 is set aside, then next year an ambulance is going to be bought, bringing it down to $40,000. She said that if they give him another $162,000 next year, then over time a balance would be accrued. Neuzil said it just seems high. Horne said that as long as Spenler buys them on a schedule it should come out correctly.

Stutsman said that these are policies that the Board made because they feel strongly about running an Ambulance Service for the County. Horne said Johnson County and Dallas County are the only 2 counties running Ambulance Services. Thompson said she feels strongly that if they aren’t able to do it well then they should give it to someone else. Stutsman said she agrees completely. Harney said he isn’t ready to cut the vehicles out because this is one of the things he pushed for last year, having them set up on a schedule. Lehman said that what Spenler is doing is building in the cost of inflation. Neuzil said he doesn’t understand the 7 years because there are 2 extra years there that are generating $135,000. Thompson explained that it is a 7-year replacement schedule but only a 6-year formula. Neuzil said it sounds like the Board wants to fund something towards ambulances and it’s just a matter of how much they can afford. Harney said it should be based on the estimate of what the vehicle is over X number of years and an imaginary inflation rate. Stutsman said Spenler didn’t build in the fact that the Board might not give him the money for one year. Horne said he just isn’t going to buy one next year and the Board can choose not to fund him. He said that then the next year they would probably have the full cost of an ambulance on the table. Horne said they could give him half this year and half next so he could get a vehicle in ’05. Thompson said it was a delight to open the budget book and have Ambulance be on top. She said this is the perfect preparation. Horne said Spenler does a very good job and the same goes for Sullivan. He said that since his employment with the County they have always been the best at budget preparation. Thompson said Spenler’s performance indicators are excellent and his decision package is concise.

Thompson said that since they started doing this they told the department heads that one year they are going to have a sheet on how they did on last year’s bills. She said that this might be the year to do it. Horne said he is working towards it. He said his main goal this year is to have the department heads identify the indicators and then next year to start tracking. Stutsman said she isn’t up on indicators and asked about Spenler’s performance indicators. Thompson said that in his mind the quality improvement program is that they keep looking at it and talking to the staff about how to make it shorter. Horne said Spenler’s indicators minght not be correctly phrased, but to them response time is obviously the number one indicator of what they put the most emphasis on. Horne said the Board wants to have a good Ambulance Service that responds in an effective manner and the performance indicator should measure what the Board wants, as well as the department and then tie it together. He said that is part of strategic planning, providing a good Ambulance Service and providing a good response time. Horne said that they did a good job with their objectives and their priorities in listing them out, too.

Horne said they would talk about the northwest Ambulance facility more when they get into the CIP Plan. Neuzil asked him to make a note about the rent. Horne asked if the Board wishes to keep the ambulance money on the table and the 2 positions until they go back and find out otherwise. The Board agreed. Thompson asked why he is asking for 2. She asked if it would help to give him one and then to have him fund the other one the way they do now. She said they would save $16,000 instead of $32,000. Harney said he thinks that Spenler’s thought process on that is when they have a call-in they end up having to call in supervisory staff, which costs much more. He said that this would offset that particularly with that other additional service. Stutsman said she thinks it was more that the supervisory staff are taking this over and aren’t being compensated for overtime and is it really fair to the supervisors to constantly be expected. Horne said Spenler would like to get away from overtime because it is notoriously difficult to predict and he would like to have a more steady even flow of payroll. Stutsman said that when there wasn’t as big of a call demand, there could be justification of paying overtime instead of a full-time employee. She said the call demand has changed the dynamics of that. She said that when overtime starts to cost more than an employee then it is time to regroup.

Horne said that this is the 3rd year of the contract with the University and Dr. David White as Medical Examiner. He said he met with Medical Examiner Administrative Assistant Jeff Gauthier and Lead Field Investigator Mike Hench. Horne said Gauthier reduced the budget quite a bit this year. He said Field Investigator fees were taken out, but they are going to be offset by payroll, so that won’t go down $52,800. He said they didn’t have enough payroll history to know what that is going to be, which is why the $31,000 is left in there. He said they would probably end up doing that again and it would drop about $21,000, which is still a reduction in the cost of the service.

Harney asked if they are sending staff to St. Louis for training. He asked if these are students completing their work that are rotating out and then the new ones come in. Horne said they shouldn’t have to because they aren’t students. Horne said most of the equipment has already been purchased and they do leave some training in the budget in case someone leaves and someone new comes on. He said that in terms of the doctors that they sent down to St. Louis, they wouldn’t have to do that. Neuzil said that even though they are reducing it by $52,800 it is really like $21,000 when the employees are factored in. Thompson asked why there aren’t any personnel wages in this. Horne said they don’t have enough of a history yet to budget it. He said it would probably be next year before they have a really good grasp on that. Horne said Mr. Hench’s main job is an administrator, in which there has been some question as to how much he should get paid when he does paperwork, since it isn’t really a call and he isn’t really on call. Horne said they are working on straightening this out.

Neuzil asked if Horne anticipates this budget going down. Horne said he thinks it is going to plateau at this for awhile. Neuzil asked how this compares with 3 years ago. Horne said Dr. Bozek’s last budget was about $111,000. He said the service is different now, too. He said they did increase the revenues some, but are projecting them to go down a little bit next year. Neuzil asked if they could still increase the State average. Horne said there is room to bump them up, but the increased fees to the funeral homes are generally just passed on to the families. He said that the reimbursements from the other counties is probably lower than it really is. He said the ones that they get really stuck on is for anything out of State. He said that there is no legal settlement out of State. He said that if it happens in another Iowa County, they do legal settlement. He said Account Clerk II Kathy Kasson works with him and is very good with that. He said that there is a lot of problems with Illinois in particular for all areas of the operation.

Harney asked why on the last page the reimbursements from other counties shows -$14,000 for ’03 and for ’04 the reimbursements are -$12,000. Horne said he doesn’t know why, but thinks he might just be being conservative. Thompson asked Horne to find out why that was decreased so much.

Thompson asked if they really think they are going to be able to get along on $134,000. Horne said yes. Horne said he personally is concerned with the autopsy line not being high enough. He said they are trying to recruit a forensic pathologist and are pretty close to it. He said that if they get one, they are going to order more autopsies. Stutsman asked if there were any changes in the State Medical Examiner’s Office that they were going to pick up more of these costs. Horne said he thinks this part of it is a State issue. He said he thinks they would like something in the eastside of the State and this location makes sense because of the University Hospital. Thompson asked if the State is picking up the cost of some of them. Horne said the State does do some, but not a lot. Thompson said she heard on the radio that some deaths require an autopsy and good practice would require autopsies in drowning deaths, etc. Horne said he thinks it has been a policy of Dr. Gooden’s to do more. Stutsman said she doesn’t think there is going to necessarily be more Johnson County autopsies if a forensic pathologist is hired. Horne said he thinks there will be some though. Harney said there might not be a forensic pathologist here, but the County would pay the cost to ship to Des Moines and the time. Horne said he doesn’t think it would be a bad idea to bump the autopsies up to 90. Stutsman said she doesn’t want to bump it up until Gauthier comes in. Neuzil said he is still too low on the revenues. Neuzil said he doesn’t want to increase it because if he thinks he can handle that then they should hold it to him. Stutsman said that Gauthier might have more information than the Board of Supervisors has as far as what is going on at the State level. Horne said that Gauthier’s feeling was that Dr. White is more established at the job now.

Lehman asked if the Medical Examiner staff could show up faster because those at the Ambulance Department have to wait for them to arrive. Horne said he spoke with the Sheriff’s Department and there was only one time when someone didn’t show up in a timely manner. Lehman said it would save costs in other departments. Stutsman said it is also a matter of determining that Dr. White doesn’t have to go out on every call. Horne said the Medical Examiner fees that they pay to them have gone down to $22,000.

Neuzil said it seems like this is working. Horne said it was expensive to start it up, but now it doesn’t have those expenses and it is producing efficiently. Thompson said this budget probably is going to run about $165,000. Neuzil said they are probably going to be under budget. Horne said their billing is odd. He said the County doesn’t have a regular billing cycle from the University, in part because the autopsies don’t come in a regular format. He said Gauthier informed him that they get them whenever the secretary gets around to the pile they are in.

Horne said they reduced their equipment quite a bit, along with their lab and mortuary services. He said the vehicles being leased are still University vehicles, with the exception of the specialized vehicle for bodies. Thompson asked how this compares with what they spent during the last full year of Dr. Bozek, the former Medical Examiner. Horne said he isn’t sure. Thompson said she knows they had to amend the budget. Stutsman said that another hidden cost saving is that it saves court money to have such complete autopsies. Horne said they have met repeatedly with law enforcement and make efforts to continually meet with them. Harney asked if the lease of the vehicles is in line with last year. Thompson said the University has a complex formula for that. Horne said they are a bit higher in transportation than they have been. Horne asked if the Board wants him to leave this as is. Stutsman said there are 3 that do. Horne said he would work on getting the answers to their questions.

Horne said the Block Grants today are for Emergency Management and Hazardous Materials, or Haz-Mat. He said they are the only 2 Public Safety Block Grants. He said it is $78,815 for Emergency Management. He said Haz-Mat is about $16,000 a year and this year there is an increase to Haz-Mat. Thompson asked if they have to pay this much or if it is a recommendation. Horne replied that the Board could do a levy for Emergency Management. He said it is part of the Supplemental Levy currently. Stutsman asked if there is any discussion with this. Horne said only in whether or not they want to keep paying for it out of General Basic Block Grants as opposed to doing its own levy. Thompson asked how much it would cost to do one for the Treasurer and everyone. Horne said he doesn’t know. Stutsman asked if they need to think about doing this. She asked if they are at their max. Horne said it is a Supplemental expenditure regardless. Horne said Haz-Mat is basically the vehicle and now Emergency Management Director Tom Hansen is going to buy the vehicle, but they still make a contribution to the program. Horne said Emergency Management goes to Hansen’s budget and that is a separate fund outside of the County structure. Thompson said that pays for Hansen’s and Assistant Emergency Management Director Sue Faith’s salary. Neuzil asked if Hansen is going to give Horne the latest breakdown. Horne said it wouldn’t change because there is no new census.

Horne said Haz-Mat goes out whenever there is any kind of chemical spill. He said that Eldon Prybil found a meth lab on his property and Haz-Mat went out there, which is the sort thing that Haz-Mat does. Lehman said that Prybil felt bad about Haz-Mat coming out because of the extra cost to the County. Horne said that Haz-Mat is not a required department. Thompson said the Commission reviews the budget. Harney said the Commission does, but he isn’t satisfied with how it is monitored. He said they get the reports, but they never look at the books, and this is the way the State has it set up to do. Horne said he was assured that the equipment is not used by Iowa City Fire for anything but Haz-Mat. He said they cannot use the equipment for fire calls. Harney said it is just hard to track. Stutsman said the bottom line is they have their own Board and so it is not the Board of Supervisors’ issue. Horne said that there are also representatives from the City involved because this affects them, too. Stutsman asked how big the budget is for Haz-Mat. Horne said he doesn’t know their overall budget and he doesn’t really watch them that close because the County doesn’t have any budgetary authority over it. He said the Commission provides the oversight.

Recessed at 10:30 a.m.; reconvened at 10:40 a.m.

Horne said the history of the Juvenile Crime Prevention Grant is that it was a State initiative and the County has been taking over more responsibility of this. He said that in FY 01 the County received $126,000 from the State. This year and next year the County will receive about $38,000. He said that Iowa City actually pays a little bit into this, about $2,500. Thompson said Johnson County gets more than their fair share because of the County’s contribution. She said the State recognizes they do a good job. Stutsman asked why the City’s share is going down. Horne said he doesn’t know but they stopped doing the match. Thompson said the earlier budget was for Departments 54 and 34 and included money that was part of the grant that the City put in. She said the $2,500 is a direct grant from the City and last year was the first year they did this. She said it was because the County was stepping up to the plate. She said that United Action for Youth Director Jim Swaim went to the City and said the County is giving them money and could they do so, also.

Stutsman asked if Mayor’s Youth is involved with the program anymore. Thompson said they are still involved but they are just not getting any money because there isn’t any. Horne said Mayor’s Youth has shifted their mission a lot. He said they had a problem with Mayor’s Youth getting their bills to the County. He said their primary position has shifted to an MH/DD provider. Neuzil said they still do some with Hope House but their position has shifted because the funds have shifted. He said they have a new Director now also.

Neuzil said he knows the Juvenile Crime Prevention Grant is a great project, but the price keeps going up and the State money keeps going down. He asked if this is an essential part of the County’s budget. He said originally the County was to match what the State gives, but he never imagined that this would be an actual department in the County. Thompson said it does have a couple of goals, one being to reduce the amount of expenditure the County has on detention and shelter costs and it has done so. She said they haven’t historically had the growth in those areas that other counties have. Neuzil said when there is a tight budget, the first thing that goes is prevention because the County has to meet their immediate demands, which is a problem. He asked what percentage this is going up from last year. Horne said 6%. Neuzil said they are talking to departments about freezing or reducing in areas, then this one gets a 6% raise. Stutsman said that the State has said from day one that counties would eventually take this over if they felt it was worth it. She said it isn’t like it was something dumped in the County’s lap. She said that when the Board eventually agreed to sign on for this grant, the financial times were different. She said she also doesn’t want to minimize the positiveness of this program. Neuzil said it is just hard for him to say they get a 6% increase when other County departments don’t get one. Horne asked if the Board would like to freeze or reduce the amount at last year’s level. Thompson said they could do that and talk about it later. She said it is $13,000. Neuzil said he isn’t suggesting that this is a program to nix, but maybe they need to get control of this, particularly if they aren’t going to have $40,000 next year. Horne said that once the State grant is gone he doesn’t see what is different in this than the Block Grants. Horne asked what the Board’s intentions are for this now. The Board said to freeze it at the current tax asking for now.

Stutsman asked if Horne communicates where the Board is at with the department heads. Horne said he communicates with them when he feels that he has something concrete to tell them. He said he doesn’t feel that he should get them jumpy unless he has concrete direction from the Board. Horne said that this is a tentative decision for now and he will incorporate this to see how it looks.

Horne said the big issue with the Juvenile Court Services budget this year is the shelter costs. Horne said that Chief Juvenile Court Officer Brandon Beaudry is very thorough in his explanations. He said Four Oaks is below the Statewide average. Horne said the State rate of reimbursement is not going up enough, the gap is widening and the County now is picking up that gap. Thompson said that in the beginning the County only had to pay $1 a day, so there was no protest, but now 15 years later they are paying half. She said that it used to be that kids didn’t stay in the shelter more than 30 days and now they are staying the whole school year. Neuzil asked if it is a judge who makes the decision of who goes to the shelter. Thompson said yes, that usually kids are in shelter awaiting another placement capped by the State, like residential treatment. Neuzil asked if this is an unfunded mandate. Thompson and Horne said yes. Horne said the County is required under Code to provide for this. He said it is a Supplemental expenditure, however, it does affect the taxes. Thompson added that if a kid was not in shelter, out of control and committed a crime, then they would go to detention, which is a $200 per day County expense. She said there would be no reason for the County to say they want less kids in Shelter.

Horne asked if the number on their expense sheet for overage is $160,000 for the total. Horne said it has gone up since then by $20,000 to $180,000. Horne said that Beaudry reduced the DAP Program because his actual usage is closer to the reduced amount. Neuzil asked how much the shelter costs increased. Horne said they increased $127,000 from last year to this year. He said the total budget went up $83,000 though, because he offset it by reducing the Detention Alternative Program. Neuzil said this means that the original cost of $53,000 in ’03, is now $180,000 in ’04 because the State is not reimbursing. Thompson said they have had good luck with DAP because it is basically house arrest for kids who have a viable home. Neuzil said this is truly an example to use when the State legislators say they didn’t cut taxes. Thompson said the County has always had the bottom line responsibility for the care of children and the poor. She said she thinks the State would say they took it over for the County for a number of years and are not able to now, so they are giving it back. She said that they probably don’t see this as an unfunded mandate. Stutsman said this puts a burden on the property tax payer.

Neuzil asked if they gave Beaudry his $107,000. Horne said they haven’t given him anything yet because Beaudry hasn’t given him a request yet. Neuzil asked if Beaudry is going to try to find some other areas in the budget where he could lower the cost a bit, such as the Juvenile Court cost where he spent $41 and is now requesting $500. Horne said Beaudry could be asked to. Thompson said that a lot of these are unpredictable. She said the attorney fees is an area where sometimes the State pays for these in a fund, but if it runs out then all of the cost goes to counties. Horne asked if the Board wants him to talk to Beaudry about reducing some of the lines. Neuzil said that Beaudry didn’t even have photocopying the last 2 years and now he suddenly needs $500. Thompson noted that after November he was only at 43%, so he is right about on target. Lehman said he could shift some line items. Horne asked County Attorney J. Patrick White how much expert witnesses come up in juvenile cases. Horne said he has an expert witness and court reporting in his budget. White said they pay those out of the Court Services Budget. Horne said he would talk to him. Thompson said that because those line items that were unexpended last year subsidized the other ones, then in order to make his budget come out he would have to increase the other ones by more. Thompson said last year he showed $4,000 worth of revenue and asked where the revenue is for this account. Horne said that was actual and he doesn’t budget any. He said he received some Juvenile Justice reimbursement from the Court in ’02 and none in ’01. He said he doesn’t think Beaudry has any for this year.

Harney said Beaudry has $1,500 in the inmate medical expenses for ’03 and ‘04. Horne said this doesn’t surprise him because he has heard the Johnson County Jail might have to pick up some inmate medical expenses. Thompson said the contract that Johnson County has with Linn County for the kids in detention states that the County has to pay for medical costs. Thompson said most of the kids are healthy and don’t have to get medical care while in detention. Harney asked if these kids generally fall under their parents’ insurance. Thompson said yes, but a lot of these kids come from families who are low-income and have no health insurance.

Neuzil asked why they don’t hear much about shelters closing in other counties. He said it is a big item that the State used to cover. Thompson said a lot of the little counties might only have a few kids in shelter each year, so they are paying very little. She said there is less usage in the areas where there is not local shelter, so even the big counties might not have one. Horne said that this might have just become an issue because they didn’t see an increase in this budget for the last 2 years. He said they might hear more about it at ISAC.

County Attorney J. Patrick White said things are in a state of flux over medical costs right now. He said they have always taken the position that even though it is the County’s position to make medical care available to prisoners, it is not the County’s responsibility to pay it. He said that about a year ago a county in Iowa paid a big bill to the University Hospital, then the University Hospital felt that if one county paid they could bill all of the other counties. He said that Johnson County still has not paid them. He said that sometimes the Jail pays modest costs because it is easier to do and contributes to their ability to manage the Jail. White said there was a prisoner that broke a dental plate and felt the County should buy him a new plate because he was in Jail, but the County did not do so. He said he receives a couple of letters each month from prisoners saying to please tell the Jail to pay this. He said the County is still taking the position that they don’t have to pay. He said that sooner or later this will be litigated. White said that if the courts decide that counties have to pay, it will add an additional amount to jail operations costs. He said that with the University Hospital, prisoners think it is a terrific chance to get something repaired. Thompson noted that Title 19 has tightened up. She asked how many bills he has received. White said he has a couple on his desk where the Hospital is asking for about a total of $50,000. Horne said that is coming from the Sheriff’s budget. White said there are some situations where the Jail makes the decision that it is in the best interests of the Jail to get the issue addressed.

Thompson asked if White is thinking that there would be some case law where the court would order the medical bills to be paid and then it would start being paid for everyone. White said there is the possibility that at some point either Johnson County or another county would get sued and then this would be clarified. He said the law states in Chapter 356, which is the Jail Statute, is that "the county shall furnish". He said the question then is does that include payment or access to medical care or does it mean the County is an insurer of medical costs to everyone in jail. He said that the County’s position has been that just because someone is in jail it doesn’t entitle them to have their health costs paid for by the County. Thompson said that Title 19 isn’t valid while someone is in jail. White said that hospitals are required by Congress to provide indigent care, but they are also struggling with budgets. Stutsman said the University Hospital probably saw this as an untapped source of revenue. White said he has had words with the County Attorney in the county paying the bill and he claims they didn’t know they were paying it. Thompson said it used to be that if someone used their card erroneously after someone was ineligible it was a wash, but now they recover that.

White said in their general office operating budget, he has asked for the Board to restore the 4% that was cut last year across the board. He said the FY 04 budget column, which has a total department increase of 4.1%, or $71,000, are the numbers that were cut from last year’s budget, when everyone except for the Recorder had to shave off 4%. He said that he then proposed a decision package adding a Legal Assistant. He said his request this year is even stronger than prior years because he is out of office space and is going to have difficulty spending money for partitions and reconfiguring the space on the south side of the building and would have trouble working an attorney in. He said that a Legal Assistant doing trial information and probably some juvenile work would help the department. White explained that they have had attorney turnover at 3-5 year intervals. He said he just lost an attorney who accepted a job in the General Council’s Office of the Speaker of the House in Illinois. White said there is something lost in terms of training every time they lose someone. Some turnover in the office is healthy, White explained, but they have been averaging a position every other year. He said that because people of longer tenure are staying, it is pretty tough to maintain a hierarchy of attorney responsibility and pay. He said they do need more help because the attorney caseloads are well beyond what they should be.

White said a couple of odd things have happened this year, in which the Board is perhaps indirectly a part of one or 2 of them. He said the Board funded the Judicial Branch to help reinstitute the mental health referees. He said the net result of this was that they went from 2 mental commitment hearing days a week to 3. He said this moves these along faster, but brings along more work. He said he now has to send an attorney for a half days work of mental hearings one more day a week than before. It is odd to have the Board of Supervisors funding a Judicial Branch function that allows them more staff, White said, which creates more demand on the County Attorney’s Office, while at the same time cutting the County Attorney’s budget and not giving them more staff. White said in addition, the Judicial District has experimented this year with assigning District Judges to Juvenile Court, which is the place they say needs more judicial time. He said the Supreme Court has been encouraging District Judges to get involved in Johnson County. He said that traditionally, the District Associate Judges have handled Juvenile Court. He said the system has been that there are primarily 2 juvenile court days per week. He said that now the District Judges have settled on a permanent arrangement that assigns a District Judge one day a month to Johnson County to handle termination cases or Child in Need of Assistance cases. He said this creates a demand for more attorney time. White said this is now a permanent requirement. He said he is thus looking for anything to help provide staff assistance, in which a Legal Assistant would provide some assistance in both the criminal and juvenile area. Lehman asked if Assistant County Attorney Andy Chappell is the last addition White has received. White said yes, 3 years ago. Lehman asked if some of this argument for a Legal Assistant will go into the Jail Task Force or is it more for stress and workload. He asked if it could argue that it is going to have a little to do with speeding up the system. White said he thinks it would speed up OWI trial information. He said he picked OWI trial information because they are fairly standard formats and he could train a Legal Assistant to review the police reports and prepare those formats, thus freeing up attorney time to read it, sign it and present it to the Court. He said he now has an attorney handling about 800 of those over the course of a year. He said his goal is to get that up to 1,000, which is not impossible with a Legal Assistant to even push it to 1,200.

Neuzil asked where they would put the Legal Assistant. White said on the west side of the office, there is a shelf used to house volunteer attorneys and they have turned that into 2 work stations. He said he would turn that into office space for the Legal Assistant. He said that if they have volunteer attorneys they would incorporate them into the student intern area. White said at some point they would probably buy cubicles for the old juvenile probation office to create space. He said that eventually they would need more secretarial or clerical space and probably another attorney.

White said he has been meaning to tell Facilities Manager David Kempf that the retaining wall is deteriorating even more and they probably won’t be able to put that off much longer. Horne said there is the flexibility to do that if it is something that needs to be done. Neuzil asked if there are some sections that are worse than others. White said that there used to be 3 or 4 spots that were worse and now it is pretty bad all the way around. Horne said it would mean that they would probably have to shut off the driveway for awhile. Lehman said there might be an impact from having more rainfall this year.

Neuzil asked what projects they are going to be doing in the Courthouse this year. He asked if some of the stairs are going to be fixed. Thompson said they didn’t put the stairs is this years budget. She said it is still on the list. White said he is convinced that they could break the stair project into 2 or 3 increments. He said that instead of formal bids they could recruit a firm who would quote it to them at much less than it was bid. Thompson asked if this is because it’s not enough money to meet the bid requirement. White said yes, if one year they did just the first flight, from the County Attorney’s floor to the entrance. Thompson said that that is all they are talking about is the part that has already been turned once. White said the bid was for all of it. Horne said that Kempf estimated $12,000. He said Kempf has the roof repair, the lower level stairs, tuckpointing, boiler, card reader locks and 3rd floor ceiling repair all for next year.

White said Kempf is working on a leak in their office today. Lehman asked about the odor problem in the downstairs courtroom. White said it disappeared. Thompson said she could smell it the other day. White said nobody ever told them what the problem was and then they fixed it. He said he doesn’t have a good sense of smell, but thought the smell had been there about 3 months to where he could notice it. Harney said Kempf found the fans running backwards, which happened when they replaced the electricity transformer. He said the wires were hooked up wrong and the exhaust fans had been running backward ever since then, meaning there was no circulation out of the building. He said that Kempf thought that might have been what it was.

White said yesterday he received a call from the Fandell Company, from their alarm center in Florida. He said they were calling to notify him that they had a robbery alarm at 1:42 p.m. He said that they called him 48 minutes after the alarm. He said they told him it came from the 3rd floor bailiff’s desk. White said that when he asked why it took so long for them to call him, he was informed that their system is noted to wait 30 minutes before calling. White said that doesn’t make any sense. Thompson said they are supposed to call the Sheriff first. She said that would be a good question for Kempf because he is part of the Courthouse Security Committee and has really looked at it. He said there was someone in from Fandell the day before and it is possible that he set it off somehow. Thompson asked how they know it was a robbery. White said that is the category that they use. Neuzil asked where they are going with Courthouse security. White said that Kempf is going to propose changing the locks. Horne said that would be a 3-year investment that would be done in ’05. Neuzil asked about the Courthouse Security Committee. Thompson said that they meet almost every month. She said a report will be prepared of what is needed, which will end up in the Board of Supervisors Office. She said that Kempf has done a very nice job of responding. White said the alarms should go directly to the Sheriff’s Office or Iowa City Police Department. He said the alarm ringing a bell in Florida and then those people calling him later isn’t really working. Thompson said there should be a faster response time, which leads her to believe White isn’t the first person they called. White said that he was the first person the man at the alarm company had called. Thompson said they have identified that the Clerk is the person keeping track of this information. White said his sense is that the Committee Members think the best short term solution is to put some staff in there, like some Sheriff Deputies.

Horne said one area that seems to be a nuisance in the County Attorney’s budget is the Service Area issue. He said that this year they are over budget. He said it isn’t really an option for them to borrow back and forth across service areas. Horne said he doesn’t know what could be done in the future to avoid these situations. He said right now there is an opening in that, which might save them. He said that otherwise, in order to make payroll by the end of the year, the Board would have to amend it this year. White said they wouldn’t have to amend the budget, but they would have to amend the Service Area. He said the total expenditure wouldn’t go up. Horne said they still have to treat it as 2 separate budgets according to the way the State tells them they have to. White said the vacancy probably isn’t going to help as much as he had hoped because it needs to be filled as quickly as possible for everyone’s sanity, and also the attorney who left unfortunately had a little more than $2,000 worth accrued in unpaid vacation. He said there would be some savings, but not as much as he had hoped. White said the percentage they were looking at was early in December after the 3 pay period month. He said the same thing would happen in the next 6 months though, too. He said that a 3 pay period month always makes it look like they are high the next month. White said they could look at whose salary comes from what line item. He said that while he understands why this system is the way it is, it is a nuisance trying to break down all of the attorneys salaries by Criminal Prosecution, Child Support Recovery, Legal Services Administration and General Management. He said that most of it is estimates. White said that for an Officer’s salary, which is his, it is 25% Prosecution, 25% Legal Services and 50% General Management. He said an option would be to see if they could switch any of the Payroll to Legal Services Administration or General Management. Horne asked if Assistant County Attorney Janet Lyness is purely civil right now. White said he thinks that her position is paid purely as Civil. He said she supervisors the simple misdemeanor courts and she is handling a murder trial scheduled for March.

Neuzil asked about technology requests. Horne said that they asked for 2 laptops. White said one is for him and one for the Legal Assistant. He said that his goal last year was to have a computer on his desk and surgery might have prevented that. He said that is his goal for this year, too.

White said he has requested a very modest, $2,500 or 1.9% increase for Court Services. He said one is to Court Appointed Guardians, which has escalated. He said he has a couple of bills awaiting his approval now, one for $1,300 and one is for $800. He said that these are situations where the County’s only role is to pay the bill. He said that typically it is now happening with young people turning 18, who are developmentally disabled or mentally retarded, who are subject to their parents’ control and discretion. He said that as they turn 18 they legally become adults regardless of their capacity. White said that they are increasingly receiving applications by the parents, which are appropriate by law, to be appointed guardians and conservators. He said the way that Iowa Law is written, consistent with the Constitution, the proposed ward in that case, the mentally disabled person, is entitled to a lawyer. He said the concept is that the parents can not get to be one’s guardian without the person knowing about it and having a chance to object to it. He said that there are constitutional hoops they have to go through. White said the Statute states that the County pays the attorneys fees for that and those bills are creeping up both in number and in amounts. White said there is a case right now where the attorney rightly felt they should go to Woodward, where the young person is, to speak personally with them. He said it is an expensive trip to drive there and back. He said $60 an hour is the Court approved rate. He said that this budget is really hard to predict. White said that most years they run out of money and have a crisis. He said that every few years it is not problematic and they end up with some extra money. Thompson said their budget last year was for $11,000 and they only received $6,000. She said he didn’t change it for this year either. White said he read by letter that the State Medical Examiner is increasing her fees, which potentially has some impact on this budget. He said he thinks they are paying autopsy costs out of the Medical Examiner’s budget. He said that when she is deposed or has to testify in a case, those are paid out of this account. He said that next year he might have to propose an increase. Neuzil said the increase in Department 28 is fairly low. White said the proposed increase is 1.9%. He said that was a fund that was not cut by 4% because it was in the Supplemental Fund. Horne said that there is no cap to Supplemental, but it is limited by what items can be taxed for.

Horne asked if they want to go over the Centenary fund briefly. White said he proposes spending $1,500 out of the Centenary Fund. He said that if they spend $1,500 there isn’t any tax asking because they have about $5,000 leftover. He said they raised money beyond what they spent. White said he wants to do another storyboard, similar to the one inside the front door, that would either describe the large courtroom and some of the features of it, or something else about Johnson County. White said $1,500 was proposed for the current year. Horne said none of that has been spent.

White said there are also Law Enforcement proceeds and that budget is limited by how much is in there, which is about $1,000 accumulated from forfeitures. He said the last time they spent money from it they printed more domestic abuse brochures, including a Spanish version. Another time they printed their victim witness information brochure. White said that it has to be for law enforcement related purposes. Horne said the Sheriff buys bulletproof vests and things like that. White said the Sheriff gets a Sheriff federal forfeiture and Attorney’s Office doesn’t get a share of that. White thanked the Board of Supervisors for their time.

Horne said they touched some on the special revenue funds, like 68 and 69. He said that if the Board would like to discuss 68, Sheriff’s Forfeiture, they certainly could. He said the Sheriff buys more heavy equipment out of the LLEBG, Local Law Enforcement Block Grant. Thompson asked if every year they amend the budget for this. Horne said the Sheriff doesn’t get a grant like that every year. He said this is the first year that the Sheriff has received a grant of this size since Horne has been here. Horne said next year it would probably stay the same because he isn’t sure this grant would come in again. He said he would look for it to be more accurately what they budgeted it to be this year to be what it is next year. Thompson said this year might have been more than one year because this year they filled out the forms wrong and had to do them over. Horne said there are 2 grants, the SCAT Grant, which goes into his budget. He said that is the one the Board keeps telling the Sheriff to budget for, in which they refuse to since it wildly fluctuates. Thompson asked if it is a grant and not a reimbursement for holding prisoners that someone else collects for. Horne said they call it a grant, but he thinks she is right because it varies. He said that it is by the type of prisoners that they have. He said it is similar to the DMG Maximus that is done for Human Services. Thompson said she doesn’t think of that as a grant, although she sees how they would.

Horne asked if the Board wants to leave the County Attorney’s budget as is for now. Thompson said she could leave the Assistant on the table, but she doesn’t see how they could reinstate his 4%. She said that they took it away across the board and they would have to give it back to everybody. Harney agreed. Neuzil asked if this is what everyone is doing, just getting back to ’03 numbers. Horne said that is what a lot of the departments are doing in their requests. Stutsman said there is some growth. Horne said it isn’t going to be the cap, it is going to be the taxes. Thompson said that this is the only budget that put in their ’04 line enough, whereas everyone else’s was about 1%. Horne said that is because the County Attorney put those positions back in there. Thompson said that other people took their cuts. Horne said the other departments put it in the Decision Package line. He said that they took their cut and are asking it back in the form of a Decision Package. Thompson said he took his cut in salaries and now he isn’t going to have enough to pay his salaries. Horne said he isn’t going to have enough to pay his employees through the end of this year. Stutsman said that is an interesting strategy on his part. Harney said people could take a leave of absence. Lehman said that he has one open position. Thompson asked if they are going to give him the money back. She said that if they do and they ever have another across the board cut, everyone would do the same thing. Stutsman said that she would, too, because it is a good strategy. She asked if the Sheriff did basically the same thing. Horne said not with personnel. He said he cut it out of the jail. Horne said that White is literally going to be threatened with not making payroll by the end of May. Horne said the Board either has to tell him that he is going to have to lay off an attorney or furlough an attorney to make it through this year, if the Board doesn’t give him the money. Horne said that White cut the prosecutor’s salaries line. He said that White was probably thinking that merit was going to make up some of that and that White would be able to make up some of it during the year, which is not what is happening. Horne said that he could shift some of his attorneys over to civil for awhile. Thompson said he could also leave that position vacant for the rest of the year. Thompson said that he was at 44% at the end of November. Horne said that White is about 5% over budget. Neuzil said he has an attorney that just left and a new one has not been hired. Stutsman said that White just said today that he has to hire her right away. Neuzil asked how much 5% is of how he is going to be short in the personnel side. Horne said that he is probably short almost a full salary. Neuzil said it is probably going to take some time to hire a new attorney by the time they go through the process. Horne said the attorney that left also has a pay out of vacation. Stutsman said White said $2,000 is the pay out. Horne said there is some savings, but how much depends on how long it takes to fill the position. Thompson said that White is over on his budget by about $7,000 a month.

Stutsman said it seems that there are 2 questions on the table. She asked if they are going to reinstate his 4% for next year and if White plans on coming in for a budget amendment this year. Horne said that White is going to have to unless he leaves that position open. Thompson said that he needs to come up with $80,000 though. Horne said that he would get some merit, but it is not enough to offset it. Thompson asked if they are going to rescue him or not. Harney said not at this point. Neuzil said there isn’t any money to rescue. Harney said he didn’t hear White say he wanted to do that right now. Horne said he isn’t going to go ask him for an amendment. Thompson said he might have to move some money from one of the service areas to another. Horne said White feels that is a nuisance. Neuzil asked if White could technically do that. Stutsman said yes. She said he would basically borrow from one service area. Thompson said this is only if he has money to borrow. Horne said White can’t just take a criminal attorney and start paying that person out of civil funds, while keeping them as a criminal attorney. He said he could in theory, but it would be a misrepresentation of funds. Neuzil said he could arguably do so with his own salary. Harney asked if the Board could make an approval for the transfer funds from one to another. Harney said that if he makes a request, they should take it from whatever section. Horne said that White has 2 departments within one. Thompson said he could move money from one to the other. Horne said the Board would have to approve that because it is a budget change. Stutsman said that what they are doing is reinstating his 4%. Horne if they do what is already in there and don’t change the overall total of the department, then they are not. Horne said they would just be transferring service areas in that case. Thompson said that given how much he was over in November, she questions whether White would be able to do this. Lehman said that this is one of those updates where Horne needs to let White know that the Board doesn’t support any new money but would support a change in service areas. Neuzil said department heads need to live within their means. He said that in this case, White is going to probably find a way to shift money around enough, even with the Board’s approval. Thompson said that in the Attorney’s 04 budget it asks for the reinstatement of the 4%. Neuzil said that the Ambulance Department just asked for a 4% increase. Thompson said that White is asking for a 6.5% increase, with the 4% plus the Legal Assistant. Neuzil asked what Ambulance is asking for. Thompson said the personnel is the 4%. Horne said that what Spenler asked for in FY 04 is about 1%.

Stutsman said they are getting sidetracked about whether or not they are going to reinstate the 4%. She said that they need to focus on what departments need. She said that if they feel that they need another Legal Assistant, then the Board should fund a Legal Assistant. Thompson said she could fund the Legal Assistant, but she is not so sure about the 4%. Stutsman said that if they take it out of salaries or personnel, how do they have any choice. Horne said that once it is put into personnel, White can do whatever he wants with it. Stutsman said that if he took that 4% out of personnel, how could the Board not fund it again next year. Horne said they could give him back the amount of the Legal Assistant and then it is up to him whether or not he wants to fill it or apply it towards an attorney. Thompson said the instruction for the ’04 column say to put in for things like if the utilities are going to go up, and to also keep it around 1%. She said she thinks that everyone else did that. Horne said that this should be for things that are the cost of doing business as is now. He said that anytime a person is added it is a change in the program. He said he thinks this is mislabeled in the County Attorney’s budget and it should be a Decision Package.

Neuzil asked for Horne to explain Spenler’s non-personnel subtotal in Ambulance in FY 04. Horne asked if he means the $16,919. Neuzil said yes. Horne said the 1% is the total departmental increase. Neuzil asked what non-personnel increase of 9.3% means. Horne said there is a 9.3% increase in non-personnel but the total budget is a 1% increase. Neuzil asked what White’s non-personnel total is. Thompson said it is 9.7% because he put the 4% in. Neuzil asked what the difference is. Thompson said that White’s 04 budget column is increased by 4.1%, whereas most departments kept that at 1%. She said he also asked for 2.4% in his Decision Package, which is a total of 6.5%. She said that Ambulance did their 04 columns correctly and asked for 1%. She said that their Decision Package is 3.1%, making their total 4.1%. Horne said that if you take away the cut of personnel and just the non-personnel things, it adds up to about .05%. Neuzil said he is still confused. He said that when department heads made their 4% cuts, they took it out of their non-personnel. Horne said they had the choice and could take it out of personnel. He said the 4% cut was made because the Board didn’t have time to deliberate. Neuzil said White’s message was that he would find it in his budget. Thompson said that is for this year, but next year he is asking for it back. Harney said White is asking the Board to restore the 4% plus the Decision Package. Horne said a lot of departments did this, too, just in the form of a Decision Package. Thompson said she would like to leave the Decision Package of $42,000 for the Assistant on the table and decrease his 04 budget column. Lehman said that then he has to decide if he would like to fill that Assistant or not.

Neuzil asked Thompson to explain what she would do again. Thompson said she would leave the Decision Package 1 line on the table, which is a 2.4% increase for a Legal Assistant. She said on the 04 budget column she would decrease that by $65-67,000, whatever is equivalent to 4%. Horne said her suggestion is to keep the Decision Package in the non-personnel FY 04 column. Neuzil said that means a 2% increase. Thompson said she was just deducting the $67,000. She said that he has $61,000 in personnel and she would be satisfied if they just deleted that. Neuzil said she is suggesting to give him his FY 03 budget plus the new employee. Horne added to not include the things in the FY0 4 budget column in personnel. Neuzil said this is a 2.4% increase for the County Attorney. Horne said those numbers on the bottom aren’t necessarily accurate because they are distorted by the FY04 personnel part of the budget. Neuzil said it is $42,870 additional dollars. Thompson said it is closer to 2.5% total. She said that is also going to have his salary increase on there. Neuzil said that at this point White would see an increase of $42,870. Horne said plus about $10,000 for the non-personnel, which would be about $53,000. Thompson said if they would just leave it, they would leave the $9,992 input for non-personnel. She said she could handle that. Neuzil asked where the $9,000 comes from. Thompson said it is on the 3rd page. Horne said he is asking for law books etc and those all add up to just under $10,000. Neuzil said they would give him that then, along with the $42,870. He said what they aren’t suggesting at this point is the $61,700 and personnel expenses. Neuzil said all together, minus what potentially could be the salaries of his employees, he would see an increase of $42,870, plus $9,992. Horne said that is about a 3% increase total. Thompson said she could leave this on the table.

Neuzil said this is kind of put back into his court, whether he needs this money more for a new employee or for current employees. Horne said the problem is, if the position that is open is filled again, this would cause the same problem again next year. Thompson said to let White know that they are not inclined to reinstate it, to give him an amendment for this year, or reinstate the 4% salaries next year. Thompson said that White is one who says that he often feels lacking in communication with the Board. Horne said he would talk with him.

Neuzil asked if the Courthouse security issue would come up when they talk with Kempf. Horne said there are different aspects of that. He said that they could discuss this with the Sheriff, too. Thompson said they gave the Sheriff 4 new employees a couple of years ago because the Jail was so overcrowded, and now it is not so overcrowded. She said he has been able to keep some of those positions vacant. She asked if they should tell him to use one to be a Courthouse Guard. Horne said they couldn’t tell him. Thompson said they could cut one out and put the money elsewhere. Stutsman said they could put it in White’s budget and say hire a Deputy for Courthouse security. Horne said he recommends putting it into the Court Service budget and taxing it Supplemental because it is a Court Service. Horne said that they could sign a 28E Agreement with the City and see if they would provide an officer.

Thompson said that in the past they have tried to treat the United Way Agencies the same. She asked if those going are going to give a recommendation regarding that. Stutsman said that in the past years, the representatives have usually sat down with Johnson County Council of Governments Human Services Coordinator Linda Severson and come up with recommendations to bring to the Board. Horne said he has the recommendations that United Way asked for. Horne said the big picture is what does the Board of Supervisors want to do with these different services. Stutsman said that her personal feeling is that this is going to be a horrible year for agencies and that they are going to be looking to the County to subsidize that money. Thompson said she prefers to give preference to agencies that further some County goal. She said that does detract from services for the elderly though, because there is no County service for that. Stutsman said this is good preliminary discussion for them to get their thoughts together. Horne said he would redo the budget and email it to the Board today.

Adjourned at 12:35 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary