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Commission Minutes—July 26, 2022 5599 SPECIAL MEETING OF CASS COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS MEETING IN BUDGET SESSION JULY 26, 2022 1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER Chairman Rick Steen called the special meeting to order at 8:02 AM on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, with all members present as follows: Rick Steen, Duane Breitling, Jim Kapitan, Mary Scherling, and Chad M. Peterson. Also present was County Finance Director, Brandy Madrigga; County Administrator, Robert Wilson: Senior Accountant Sarah Heinle; and Accountant Gerald Jenson. 2. BUDGET OVERVIEW Brandy Madrigga, County Finance Director provided an overview of the 2023 preliminary budget. Once the preliminary budget is approved, it will be posted on the County website, and a hearing date for the final budget approval will be set and noticed in the newspaper. Additional notices will be sent to taxpayers and entities listing the public hearing dates and times for local jurisdictions. Ms. Madrigga said the County mill levy for 2023 is projected at 47.00 which is 0.75 lower than 2022 as a result of fulfilling general obligation bonds from the Courthouse addition project. She said total revenues for 2023 are expected to be $45.2 million, up 3.2% from 2022. She said the main source of revenues for the general fund is derived by property taxes. Ms. Madrigga said as part of the budgeting process, $50.6 million in revenues have been requested from the general fund for 2023, up 7.8% from 2022. She said 2023 requested expenditures exceed revenues by $5.3 million. She said the increase in expenditures is due to payroll, cost of living adjustment (COLA), and new positions. Ms. Madrigga gave an overview of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act Fund, American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Fund. and Building Fund. She said the CARES fund has a balance of $5.2 million and is expected to earn interest until the funds are fully spent. She said the ARPA fund has a balance of $31.3 million and is projected to end 2023 with a balance of $21.3 million after expending funds for a Jail Expansion project. Ms. Madrigga said the Building Fund is funded via a 4.5 mill levy and State Aid Funds transfer from the General Fund. She said the Building Fund projected balance for 2023 is $10.1 million and revenues of $3.7 million to allow for seven County building projects including a new Red River Regional Dispatch Center, potentially purchasing the Robert D Johnson building to the west of the Courthouse and renovating it to suit the needs of an election storage building, remodeling the Highway Administration building, constructing a law enforcement storage building, renovating the Tax Equalization office, and renovating the Annex building. 3. COUNTY ADMINISTRATION Robert Wilson, County Administrator discussed the 2023 Administration budget request. Mr. Wilson said the budget request is consistent with the request from 2022 with the largest increase due to an increase in electricity, gas, and fuel oil to maintain County buildings. He said the County is on a curtailment plan through Xcel Energy and in 2022 has seen an increase in the number of times County buildings have had to go into curtailment and may see a similar trend in 2023. Mr. Wilson said other increases are due to salaries, replacing an elevator in the Annex, and a tune up of the boiler at the Jail. Mr. Peterson asked why the salary line item had a large increase compared to 2022. Mr. Steen said each department head used to have their salary and benefits cost in a separate line item within their department. He said with the new budgeting system the department head's salary and all other employees are combined into one line item, which is skewing cost of salaries compared to last year. Mr. Steen asked what account 4015402, publishing employment for $65,000 is budgeted for. Mr. Wilson said these funds were budgeted in 2022 to complete a County wide ad campaign to show the benefits of working at Cass County and to help withing hiring staff. He said so far in 2022, the County has not engaged an ad campaign firm or done work. He said he budgeted the same amount in 2023 to complete the campaign as the labor market is still volatile. Mr. Steen said the County is