08-24-1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

Commission Minutes-August 24, 1998 1860 BOARD RECONVENED AFTER BRIEF RECESS The Board took a short break at 3:50 PM and then reconvened at 4:00 PM with all Commissioners present as follows: John Meyer, Roberta Quick, Alon Wieland, Paul Koenig, and Donna Schneider. A number of County department heads were also present. AUDITOR'S BUDGET SUGGESTIONS At the Board's request, Michael Montplaisir, County Auditor, provided a worksheet showing several suggestions for reducing the 1999 mill levy request. He offered the following reductions in the proposed county budget: 1) transfer $120,000 from Road Department; 2) reduce Historical Society from $48,000 to $30,000; 3) reduce County Coordinator budget for buildings and grounds by an additional $21,000; 4)'reduce software from Information Services budget for Register of Deeds in the amount of $250,000 and suggest lease payment of $60,000; 5) remove $24,000 from Information Services budget for scanners in Auditor's Office; 6) remove all requests for new employees, except Regional Child Support TUPA position, and then prioritize them before any new positions are approved; 7) remove $130,000 from Auditor's budget for computerized elections system; 8) reduce employee's cost of living proposed increase to 1.5 per cent and increasing employee cost of health insurance premiums, due to $150,000 increase to the county; 9) remove PC software of $550 from Treasurer's budget. Mr. Montplaisir also provided Commissioners with an updated 1999 Levy Summary. Reserves were reduced to 5% for the general fund and human service funds. The proposed budget is still at 75.77 mills, he said. Hand-outs were also provided by the Auditor on the Veterans Service Fund and Job Development Fund. Suggestions were made to reduce Lake Agassiz Regional Council's request by $10,000; the Job Development Authority levy request by $78,213; and the Job Development Loan Pool request by $200,000. Noting that lowering the proposed cost of living increase to 1.5% may not be a good idea, Mr. Montplaisir said Commissioners need to make this decision, as well as determining how much of the health insurance increase should be paid by employees. He suggested asking for the assistance of county department heads to determine where budget reductions can be made, other than employee salaries and benefits. Bonnie Johnson, County Coordinator, said she understands the difficult task before the Commissioners because of the mill levy limit and recognizing how difficult it is to hire new employees before taking care of existing employees. However, if the cost of living increase does not keep up with the market, she cautioned the board about potential problems three years from now when the county conducts the next market study. Mrs. Schneider favored waiting until near the end of budget sessions before making the decision to lower the proposed cost of living adjustment. Mr. Wieland suggested that some history on county employee cost of living adjustments be provided over the last five-year time frame in order to do some comparisons. Mr. Meyer asked about the percentage of a step increase, and Mr. Montplaisir said the percentage is based upon each employee's grade classification. Mr. Koenig said the auditor has made some progress in reducing the mill levy request, however, he believes Commissioners still need to cut $1,119,000 from the budget just to reduce the levy request to 70 mills. Social Services budget reductions made earlier today amounted to approximately to one mill, according to Mr. Montplaisir.