Chairperson Harney called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 3:30 p.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Mike Lehman, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Carol Thompson.

Budget Coordinator Jeff Horne said the Board should have a budget worksheet and a memo from him summarizing changes that have been made in the departments this year. He said that he didn’t include the trusts or the small accounts. Horne reported that after speaking with Springstead and Associates Representative Tony Roetlin and County Attorney J. Patrick White he found out they are not allowed to bond for the financial software. He said the equipment, under the General Obligation Bonds, does not fit under the category of equipment as defined by Bonding Attorney Bob Josten. He therefore began working on some of the things they had discussed doing before to get back under the cap. He said he tweaked some areas, especially in technology, where they could still have some savings. He said he reduced the General Fund transfer in Secondary Roads to the minimum. He said the final number is the savings. Horne said that under the Code, they have to give a minimum and a maximum from the Rural Fund and the General Fund. He said the General Fund transfer is always smaller and this year ranges between $480,000 and $638,000. He said it is now reduced to $480,000. He said that the Rural Transfer ranges between $2.1 and $2.8 million. Horne said that he offset that amount into the Rural Transfer. Harney said that since he put the $158,000 into the Rural Fund from the General Fund, it didn’t reduce the amount to Secondary Roads. Neuzil said that it doesn’t look like there was a giant impact made. Thompson asked what this adds up to. Horne said it adds up to about $1.1 million. He said that they are now under. He said that the worksheet worked out fine and it leaves about $180,000 in space.

Horne said he increased the Revenue Expense Adjustment conservatively up a little bit from last year. He spoke with Information Services Director Jean Schultz about the Technology Fund and she thought they could spread the Real Estate software purchase over 2 years, which would be $140,000 per year. He said the amount to the financial software is $100,000, which saves them $200,000 this year, giving them $400,000 total. Horne said FinCore is close to making a decision and that would give them most of the funds for that choice. Harney asked if spreading the Real Estate software out over 2 years is going to change the cost. Horne said that there might be a small finance charge, but at this point he doesn’t know what it would be. Thompson said that SEATS had done this and they had the advantage because they hadn’t paid the whole bill when they discovered that the equipment wasn’t working. They talked about holding some money back in the contract and not paying until it worked. Stutsman asked if that would be included in the contract language. Horne said he thinks so. Thompson said that if they get the software in July, then it probably wouldn’t be fully working until the next fiscal year anyway after all of the components are started. Horne said FinCore’s choice is about $470,000. Stutsman asked if Horne spoke with the vendor. Horne said no. He said that they had $300,000 saved already and they are going to add another $100,000 this year, which would give them $400,000. He said this will allow them to be in the terms of the contract to pay the final amount in FY 05. He said that there isn’t a final price on it yet though because it is still in negotiation. Neuzil asked if this would be something that would be spread out over 2 years. Horne said it would be spread out a little bit over the next year, but not in half. He said the $400,000 would give them the majority of the funds they need. Neuzil said this means next year then $140,000 has to come out of the FY 05 budget along with $70-100,000 for financial software. Horne said he doesn’t know if it would be that much but there would be something. Thompson said that this year they are budgeting $240,000, so they will be OK.

Horne increased the jail alternatives by $30,000 to take it to $400,000, the current level for this year. Horne said it is a decrease from the Sheriff’s request of $500,000. Neuzil said this means County Sheriff Bob Carpenter has an increase in the ’03 budget of $370,000 now.

Horne reduced the Ambulance overtime since they approved funding a position that will decrease the overtime.

Horne spoke with County Recorder Kim Painter and they talked about the high increase in revenues for this year. Horne said she feels comfortable adding an estimated $50,000 for this year which increases the ending balance. Thompson asked what Painter budgeted for next year. Horne said she added another $100,000 for next year.

Horne said they talked about Conservation and the $.23, adding the person and taking away the non-personnel, which still puts it above the $.22 level. Neuzil asked if Conservation would be increased by $61,273. Horne said yes. Thompson asked how much they are getting altogether. Horne said $921,661. Harney said that is a 7% increase and asked if this is because of going with the $.23. Horne said no, that they didn’t exactly go to the $.23, it is between $.22 and $.23. He said that it is hard to exactly do this with the personnel. Conservation Director Harry Graves asked if there are any technology increases in the budget. Horne said that all non-personnel is gone. Thompson said this gets them well above the $.22 limit, and Horne agreed. Harney said he wants Graves to be able to get some of the equipment, too because some of it is becoming safety issues. Horne said the Board could give him direction to do whatever they want to today. He said that he just drew this up as a plan. Thompson said that the personnel was left in because they don’t like departments to spend non-personnel money for personnel. Horne said that it is different for Conservation because the Board doesn’t do line item control over the Conservation Board. Stutsman said that they could have flexibility with that. Horne said yes, they could decide to not fill the position right away. Neuzil said the Conservation Board doesn’t need permission from the Board of Supervisors to hire a new employee. Thompson said if they waited to hire they could have money for equipment. Horne said it is an increase of $61,000, $16,000 of which is payroll adjustment. He said that the park worker is $40,786. Stutsman said that there isn’t a whole lot. Thompson said that it just about covers the revenues. Horne said that the COLA's count in the overall budget. Thompson said that in 2 years of pretty tight budgets Conservation received a 9% increase last year and this would be a 7% increase this year. Harney said they haven’t added personnel for 10-15 years. Stutsman asked if there are 3 votes to increase the Conservation budget. Neuzil asked what it would take to get to the $.23. Thompson said it would be about $931,205.

Graves said he indicated in his budget presentation that he desperately needs to replace a mower, a van and a pickup. He said that both of the vehicles have over 100,000 miles on them. He said any additional assistance that the Board could give would be greatly appreciated. Harney said if they move the levy from $.22 to $.23, how much is that giving him in dollars. Thompson said $832,345. Horne said to take the total tax base of $3,783,390,243 divided by 1,000 times .23, which equals $870,180. Horne said that would give Graves $.23, which is an increase in his levy. Thompson said that they should give him the $.22 plus the revenues, which is more. Horne said they get the revenues anyway, they just aren’t able to net the revenues. He said they are $50,000 over the $.23 levy. Stutsman asked how much they would like to increase this by and what sort of impact would it have on taxes. She asked if they want to just round it out to $1,000,000. Horne said that if they increase Conservation they should probably decrease something else. He said they are at the cap, so anything added here should come out of somewhere else. Stutsman said they would have to come up with $70,000. She said they could not fund the County Attorney's personnel. Thompson said they could fund the Senior Center out of the Rural Fund.

Stutsman said the need to focus on what they are going to do with Conservation. Horne said that whatever dollar amount they want to put back in they have to take from somewhere else. Stutsman said she thinks they need to have all of the department heads and elected officials come in so there is a level playing field. She said it is tough making these decisions with Graves sitting in the room. Stutsman said if they are tinkering with one budget, then they should have everyone in to make their arguments about why they need what they are requesting. Graves said he isn’t trying to manipulate anything, but is trying to pick up the pieces that have been broken for a long time. Stutsman said the Board recognizes this and said everyone is doing the best that they can. She said she isn't ready at this late date to make the decisions about where to come up with the rest of the money. Thompson asked if they already deleted the Recorder’s money from the Technology Fund. Horne said no, and it was $19,000. Graves said he has no money in his budget for the technology upgrade. Horne said this in FY 04 Conservation will receive an increase of $46,000 that they can use as they please. Thompson asked if they took the $1,000 out for the Board’s printer. Horne said no. Thompson said there is $20,000 then so far. Horne said they have to build the maintenance back into Painter’s budget though. He said that they have already eliminated all of the non-personnel increases. Thompson said that in effect they did take it out then.

Stutsman asked what they would like to put back into Graves’ budget. Neuzil asked if getting it up to $.23 is allowed. Thompson said they are at $.23. Horne said they are over it. Stutsman said it has to be at least at $.22 to get REAP funding, which they don't even know if it will be available. Horne said even if they net the revenues they will be above $.22. Thompson asked Graves to give them a straight answer on the revenues. Graves said where they got into the problem this year with the revenues was this year the report that the Auditor is required to do after the Fiscal Year to certify that $.22 was expended for Conservation, counted revenues in there that Graves thought were counted before. He said this made it appear as though the tax levy was less than $.22. Thompson said that they took the $.23 tax levy and subtracted out his last year’s revenues. She asked if he is saying then that the Board has to give him spending authority for the $.22 plus the revenues. Graves said that should be taken care of in the trust account. Horne directed their attention to page 6 where the tax levy is broken up on the far right hand column. He said Conservation shows .22749. He said that is what they levied. Neuzil asked if it would go up if they made it $.23. Horne said yes. Stutsman asked if it would also go to $870,000 if they made it $.23. Horne said they would need to increase his expenses another $10,000, which would put him at $.23. Graves asked if this is $931,000 then. Horne said yes. Stutsman said they would need to lower $10,000 out of somewhere else, unless there is enough flexibility to just go with it. Horne said it is pretty close and would like to see it pulled out of somewhere else, just to give them room. Graves said $10,000 does not address the needs he has spoken of.

Harney said a place they could look at for the $10,000 is in the increases to the Block Grants. He said they aren’t increasing anywhere else and he doesn’t know why they are increasing them. He suggested freezing the block grants like Iowa City did. Stutsman said her argument with that is, because the City has frozen them and because they have had a series of cuts from the State level, then they probably need all the help they can get. Harney said he realizes that, but it seems like the expectation is for the County to pick up this up and they aren’t putting any dollars of their own into it. Neuzil proposed cutting it down $10,000 equally, instead of freezing it. He said the Senior Center is already getting a $12,500 decrease. Lehman said that is out of the rural. He said that if they are going to move that back into the General, it is $10,000 plus $13,000 for the seniors. Thompson said that they should just tell them that they decided it wasn’t a good idea. She said 11% is $75,000 and that is their fair share. Stutsman said that is what they should just keep it at because that is what they told them to begin with. Neuzil asked Horne if this already factors in $12,500 out of the Rural. Horne said yes, that it is included in the Rural Fund. Harney suggested running through what they've got budgeted so far and dealing with Conservation at the end of the session.

Horne said the 2 full-time paramedics in Ambulance put the increase at .8 FTE with a decrease in the overtime.

Horne said the County Attorney has an increase of $45,515 for a Legal Assistant. He said he made a note about the 4% that they took out of personnel last year. He said the money for the Legal Assistant wouldn’t even fully cover the cut, so there is no guarantee that it would go back into the Legal Assistant. Thompson said that is OK.

Horne said they increased the County Auditor's budget $10,000 for part-time temporary map delineators. He said they have another $1,900 for a $.50 increase in the hourly rate of the part-time personnel.

Horne said that in Public Health no new items are noted in the department’s budget but there is funding in capital expenditures for a minivan to replace the old station wagon, which would be $15,000.

Horne said the Board of Supervisors has $2,000 for the budget intern and increased amounts for travel, lodging and mileage related to continuing education and intergovernmental relations.

Horne said in Human Resources, the department is restoring some of its items from the FY 03 cut, namely funding for the employee newsletter and continuing education. He said there is also $1,480 in wages for health and temporary help in reworking the employee handbook.

Horne said that Information Services eliminated a programming position, a reduction of $48,344. He said that total expenditures even with the adjustment of payroll increases are $27,494 down from the current year.

Horne said the Sheriff’s department is adding an additional $30,000 to jail alternatives for a total of $400,000. He said they are also adding $112,000 to the Technology Fund for the final installment to upgrade the computer system from an AS-400 platform to a Windows NT platform.

Horne the Medical Examiner budget is decreasing by $12,648 from Fiscal Year 2003. He said that much of the equipment needed to get the program up and running has already been acquired and they are anticipating less Physician time, which is more costly than the Field Investigator’s time.

Horne said the Recorder is subtracting a Clerical position and adding a Deputy Recorder for a net increase of $15,000 and all non-personnel increases have been removed.

Horne said that SEATS has no new personnel. They do have increases for vehicle maintenance and office rent which total $22,000.

Horne said there are no major changes in the Treasurer’s budget.

Horne said the Physical Plant has $223,000 in capital maintenance projects for 2004 and a $25,000 contingency allotment. There are no changes in personnel or other operations.

Horne said there are no major changes to Central Services. The health insurance is budgeted in Central Services and that is $229,240, which is going to be disbursed through an amendment to the departments some time next year. He said there are small adjustments for township trustees, gasoline, and property tax on the Fisher Building. He said that interest revenues did drop another $100,000.

Horne said Planning and Zoning is adding a Building Inspector at a cost of $37,938. He said there is some inflationary adjustments in the Building Inspector program and an additional $7,000, to make a total of $10,000 for the Comprehensive Plan Review.

Horne said most Block Grants had small 3% or no increases for most of the human service agencies. He said that exceptions to this were cuts of 25% in the Emergency Housing Project and $25,000 to the Senior Center. He said $4,000 each was added for the Englert Theater and the North Liberty Pool.

Horne said insurance for workman’s compensation, property and casualty rose $66,740 or 12% due to the increasing cost in the general insurance market.

Horne said under Rural Basic Block Grants, the Block Grants for libraries rose $32,404 and $6,000 new dollars were included in that for the Tiffin library this year. He said there is an addition of $12,650 for rural seniors’ fees for the Senior Center and there is $4,000 for the Tire Recycling Program.

Horne said Conservation added one park worker, $46,786 right now with no increases for personnel above the $.22 which they have been talking about.

Horne said Elections had an increase of $984, for an increase in the part-time wages for workers.

Horne said DHS’ small increase of 1% is caused by the elimination of the custodian position. He said increases are for Supported Community Living for Chatham Oaks and the payroll adjustment.

Horne said MH/DD is adding a Quality Assurance Financial Eligibility Specialist to take place of the 2 part-time positions and also as continuing development of the Quilogy system with Polk County.

Horne said that Secondary Roads doesn’t have any changes with personnel, but they did add the 2 bridge projects for the 5-year plan for approximately a $300,000 increase.

Horne said that Veteran’s Affairs has a net increase of $1,000 for assistance to veterans. He said the $4,033 saving in office rent was rebudgeted for client rent assistance.

Harney asked how much they are giving to Emergency Housing. Horne said about $7,000 now. Harney said they aren’t really Emergency Housing anymore and have severed all of their relationships with the religious community that used to give them dollars. Harney asked if they even want to continue supporting them. Horne said it is transitional housing. Thompson said the contract is ambiguous, it doesn’t say they are only paying for emergency housing. Stutsman said the contract is broad. Harney asked if their real interest is in the transitional housing. He said he thinks it was more in the emergency operations of taking people somewhere that needed a place to go. He said if that is no longer there, is that an area that the County still wants to be involved in. Neuzil said they get pretty beat up when they eliminate funding or even take steps to do so. Neuzil said if they cut it in half if would send the message that they are going to continue to reduce.

Stutsman said a couple that she would be willing to consider is the Recorder, taking the Deputy position out and just letting her rehire for the clerical and not considering a Deputy this year. She said it is optimum now because Painter has a transfer. Neuzil said that Horne did take $4,200 out of her non-personnel. Horne said he took $8,500 from Painter’s original request. Stutsman said the Physical Plant is another one. She asked if they need to put in such a large contingency allotment. She said her feeling is that if the money is there then it would be spent. She said to maybe reduce the capital maintenance and have some of that go to contingency. She also brought up the $6,000 for the Tiffin library. She said that since they are under consideration for the library contracts, there is no point in adding new libraries. She said that if the Board remembers, Tiffin did a huge annexation and she thinks their new annexation should help pay for their library. Lehman said this was a good point. Stutsman said they added to their tax base with their annexation and that $6,000 would be more realistic to come from that. Neuzil said that is a good argument, but Solon and others are getting increases, even though they too annexed. Stutsman said it is because they already have contracts. Thompson said they don’t give others money the first year they ask. Neuzil said he doesn’t think the $6,000 is worth the fight that it is going to bring. Stutsman said it’s worth it to her. Neuzil said it is going to send a poor message to Tiffin. Stutsman said that is OK. Neuzil said that the people of Tiffin should be treated the same way as the people of Solon, Oxford, Iowa City, Coralville and whatever other library there is. Thompson said that Tiffin should follow the rules and figure out how many rural residents are using their library. Neuzil asked how they would justify Oxford. Harney said he thinks they need to give them something. Thompson and Stutsman both agreed that they felt they could say no this year and get away with it. Stutsman asked if there are 3 who wish to take out the Tiffin library. Lehman, Stutsman and Thompson said yes.

Horne said he reduced the transfer to the Technology Fund by using the savings for the voting equipment, which is $200,000. He said this is in anticipation that when they do buy it they will bond for it. Thompson said this is something they definitely could bond for. Horne said it definitely is

Stutsman asked if anyone is willing to take $10,000 out of the Physical Plant. Thompson said she is because he is still below what he asked for last year but she said he would make it work. There were 3 votes from Thompson, Stutsman and Lehman. Stutsman said that if he saves money on his capital projects then he could apply that money to the contingency fund. Thompson said that in another year he would also have a better handle on what he needs.

Harney asked if they are making any money on the rental property. Horne said a little bit but they have to pay for the City inspections, though. Horne said they could tell the property manager to give the tenants a year’s notice if they don’t want to continue renting it. Stutsman said they might just be better off using it for storage. Horne said they could just not renew the lease.

Neuzil asked what the Board decided on the Senior Center, because in Horne’s proposal there is $75,000 out of General and $12,500 out of Rural. Stutsman said they told them $75,000 when they did their budget and she thinks they should just give them what they told them. Lehman said the County is paying the rural user fee. Thompson said the County is paying the rural share of their operating budget and then the Senior Center is charging a membership fee to cover what the other cities don’t pay. Lehman said they aren’t going to charge the rural residents though because that is included in what the County is paying. Horne said they are paying the spread of the membership fee for the rural residents. Lehman said there are 250 people that would have to pay a $50 membership fee. He said that the County is taking care of that for them and generating $12,650. He said that was his take on it. He said they shouldn’t have to collect a membership fee for 3 years from anyone in the rural unincorporated area. Harney said that is how he understood it, too. Thompson said the $75,000 is the fair share for the rural residents’ part of the operating cost. Neuzil said he doesn’t like the idea of the rural fund. He said the County should just say, here is $87,500 and that is another $12,500 cut for the Senior Center, which saw a 29% cut or $46,000 the year prior. Thompson asked what possible way they could have to justify paying membership fees for rural residents out of the General Fund. Neuzil said they wouldn’t. He said there would still be membership fees. Thompson said the rural residents would still have to pay then. Neuzil said yes they would. Thompson said then why not just give the County’s fair share of $75,000. Neuzil said because they saw a $46,000 increase last year and now the Board is cutting them by $25,000. He said that it is the biggest decrease in any part of the budget in the last 2 years. Thompson said it was Neuzil’s request to have a participation fee. Neuzil said he didn’t run for this Board of Supervisors to say that he plans to cut them 29% one year and 25% the next, when nobody else saw cuts like that. Thompson said that Pathways had a 100% cut. Neuzil said he didn’t talk to the people at Pathways when he ran.

Lehman asked Neuzil if he would be content with the $87,650. Neuzil said not really. Stutsman said that then the County is going to have to come up with another $12,000 to cut out of the General side of the budget. Thompson said to just leave it at $75,000 and talk about whether they want to leave the $12,000 in the Rural Fund. Horne asked them if they want to leave the $12,000 in the Rural Fund. Stutsman said the problem with taking the $12,000 out of the General is it sets a precedent and then the other towns would be in before the Board wanting things. Lehman said he thinks there are 3 votes to not fund the $12,650. Horne asked if there are 3 that want to take the money out of the Rural. Neuzil said it is hard to answer that based on his opinions. He said he thinks the message is wrong to have 2 significant decreases for the Senior Center. Stutsman said she has not seen any effort on behalf of the Senior Center to do any changes in their staffing. Harney asked if there are 3 votes to leave it at $75,000 out of the General Fund. Lehman said he wants $87,650. He said that is arbitrary and based on rural participation. Lehman said he is right and would support the $75,000. Horne said that is 3 votes. He asked if there are 3 that want to take the $12,000 out of the Rural. Neuzil said yes, if he has to. Thompson said that this would be to pay for the rural membership. Horne asked if there are 3 that want to leave it in. The Board consensus is to take it out.

Horne said the biggest thing affecting the County is still the revenue and interest rates and the increase in jail transport. Lehman said in a couple of years when hopefully the economy does turn around, it is going to be a challenge to think about pouring the money out or to nickel and dime things to keep taxes down. Neuzil said they are capped, so taxes are already going to be kept down. Neuzil said they borrowed basically $200,000 out of this year’s budget that they are going to have to bond for eventually. He said that if they are able to come up with some sort of General Obligation Bonding out of a few of their funds, it would actually reduce this a little bit more. Horne said the only 2 things they could really do that for would be for the insurance, the property and casualty and the health. He said that if they bond for something, they must spend it. Stutsman said she is OK with what they have.

Thompson asked if Stutsman wants to take the $10,000 out of the Physical Plant and put it in Conservation. Stutsman said yes. Horne asked if there is a 3rd Board Member who wants this done. Neuzil said he has a fundamentally hard time seeing decreases in a lot of areas that he feels are more fundamentally County Government. He said that for starters, to think that $25,000 is needed as a contingency to fix up County buildings is what he would consider an essential County purpose, to actually have a building that is functioning correctly. Horne said he thinks that Facilities Director David Kempf could work with $15,000. Stutsman said that she feels more comfortable than she has in a long time that they have a Physical Plant Manager who knows how to manage a budget as well as maintenance. She said she thinks Kempf can do this. Harney said that as long as there is enough built into the budget he doesn’t have a problem with this. Neuzil said that if they find the $10,000 out of the General, then they would be cutting the Tiffin Library and the Senior Center simply to lower taxes because it isn’t going anywhere else. Stutsman said it would set a precedent. Horne said it would be lowering taxes on the rural side. Stutsman said she feels very comfortable that this budget is going to meet the needs of the Johnson County residents. She said that she is not interested in doing any more tinkering.

Harney said he isn’t quite sure what Neuzil is saying. Neuzil explained that they just cut out $6,000 plus $12,650, which is $18,650 that they didn’t add to anything. He said they just reduced the Rural side of the budget by $18,650. Lehman said they could use the $18,650 and put it into roads. Harney said he wouldn’t mind putting it into roads either. Neuzil said he would rather put it back into the libraries and Senior Center if there wasn’t a demanding reason to lower taxes and there isn’t a request from Secondary Roads. Stutsman asked if there are 3 votes to give Tiffin the $6,000. There weren’t 3 votes. Neuzil said that they lowered the rural tax asking by $18,650 and took $10,000 from the Physical Plant and invested that into the Conservation Department.

Thompson asked Horne about the numbers on page 12. She said it reads if they increase by $100,000 and asked if that means it would go to .2% for rural ag land. Horne said that is what it would be Countywide. He said after he deducts the $18,000 there would be an impact on the rural side. Thompson said it is quite possible in looking at the revenue for this year that they would have more carryover than expected going into next year. Horne said to not assume that though.

Neuzil said he would like to see the impact of the General Obligation Bond and the tax asking after that. Horne said it would be down somewhat, but it would just shift the insurance to another part and it might save them $100,000-200,000. He said that if the Board wants him to do this he would. Neuzil said they could still bond for certain things and that way they draw from the TIF funding, which could generate an additional $100,000-200,000. Horne said that would just be in savings and they wouldn’t have to fill it in. Thompson asked why they couldn’t bond and get the money in July. She asked if they have to get it in one year and spend it in the next. Horne said they could wait until July to do it. He said if he has it budgeted in then they could just wait. Stutsman asked what they are thinking of bonding. Horne said the insurance. Stutsman said she thought they had decided not to do that. Horne said his point is that they couldn’t fill it in with spending, so they could do it and save but they couldn’t increase spending anymore. Neuzil asked if the tax asking would lower or if he would take that money and just put it back in the bank. Horne said it would lower. Neuzil said that maybe they shouldn’t reduce their transfers. Horne said they don’t want to do that. He said that they should just lower the tax asking.

Neuzil asked when they would see the numbers that impact the taxpayers after this. Horne said he would get them a worksheet.

Harney asked if any money they get from bonding would come off of the tax asking. Horne said they would just be lowering the tax asking. Neuzil asked when he would be able to present this again to the Board. Horne said as soon as he is able to work the numbers through, which would be in a couple of days. Stutsman asked if they are going to talk about the goals when they do the budget. Horne said they would do that on the 4th.

The Board agreed to approve the budget formally on the 13th during their regular meeting. Thompson said the public hearing is March 5th at 5:30. Neuzil said on the 28th at 1:30 is the budget practice.

Adjourned at 4:45 p.m.

Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor

By Casie Parkins, Recording Secretary