NOTES – AUGUST 2016 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

NOTES – AUGUST 2016 BOONE COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING

All members present; Secretaries Tiffany Merritt and Chelsea Young.

Meeting was called to order just after 6:30 p.m. by President Steve Jacob.

The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance.

Council approved the minutes from its July meeting without amendment.

President Jacob recognized Councilor Brian Buchanan, who was chosen at a caucus last week to replace the retired Debby Shubert.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS:

Re-Assessment (no one present):

Requested $40 from Aerial to Loopnet to cover a slightly higher than expected contract expense.  Approved.

ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:

Clerk (Jessica Fouts):

Requested of three new lines to collect fees for a new felony diversion program being instituted by the Prosecutor’s Office. These lines (Coordinator, Drug Screening, Monitoring Fee) will be created within the extant Felony Diversion Fund, which has heretofore been unused, to receive funds from a state grant recently awarded. Approved.

Prosecutor (Todd Meyer):

Requested two new lines in Felony Diversion (Electronic Monitoring, Unappropriated (cell phones)) related to the grant above, as well as two new lines in the Prosecutor’s General Fund (Electronic Monitoring – Civil, Electronic Monitoring – Criminal). The Felony Diversion lines will be funded by grant money, while the General Fund lines will be funded by collected tax dollars, though with a 66% reimbursement from the state. Prosecutor Meyer fielded several questions about the program and its future, with broad support from the council.

Requested creation of Payroll, Retirement & OASI lines, as well as amendment to the salary ordinance to reflect this diversion program’s implementation. All approved 6-1.

A motion to amend the salary ordinance to reflect these changes was also approved, 6-1.

Commissioners (no one present):

Requested $14,800 to replenish a line which had been borrowed against in order to make an HVAC payment earlier in the year. Approved.

Sheriff (Mike Nielsen):

Requested creation of a new fund titled “BCSO Youth Programs” to facilitate receipt of donations for the department’s teen academy, as well as any future youth camps. (These programs would be separate from the DARE and related awareness programs.) Approved.

JDAI (Judge Jeff Edens):

Requested increases to three salary lines to reflect hiring a full-time director for the program, funded through a state grant. Judge Edens noted the program’s ongoing success and expansion. Approved.

Judge Edens also addressed some issues raised last month relating to increased funding for detention.

EMA (Rachel Hansen):

Requested transfer of $14,600 in grant reimbursement from the Indiana Department of Homeland Security. Approved.

Auditor/Settlement (Carla Newcomer):

Requested $45,000 for 4-H and $118,000 for Mental Health to correct an error in communication between the county and the state in the 2016 budget. The SBOA cut the amount budgeted to these two organizations to half of what the council had intended. This additional will correct that cut and restore the budgets to what the council believed it had approved.  Approved.

Requested creation of a new line to receive state COIT distributions into the Rainy Day fund, as approved last month.

NEW BUSINESS:

Paige Sansone of Umbaugh presented a draft of the updated county financial plan. Among the highlights was announcement that the state has recently decided to re-combine the General Fund (property tax) and the COIT Fund (income tax), back into a single “General Fund,” as they had been two years ago.

Councilor Wilhoite announced that a special workshop will be held Monday, September 12^th, @ 5:30 p.m. for presentation of the Wage & Benefit Survey. The council will consider the results of the study in its budget hearings later in the week.

Auditor Carla Newcomer presented information from the DLGF about possible impact of property tax caps on the various taxing units across the county. New state law requires the council acknowledge reviewing the information, though no other action was required.

OLD BUSINESS:

County Attorney Bob Clutter reminded the council that it would be in the county’s interest to regularly revisit the CCD levy rate for possible reestablishment each year or at the least every other year.

Mr. Clutter also noted that in his experience with bond rating agencies related to fund balances, policy statements on maintaining healthy fund balances and higher cash balances in the 15-20%+ range were looked upon very favorably. The Umbaugh report presented earlier in the evening was based upon a 15% cash balance goal.

Finally, Mr. Clutter updated the council on a 2014 bond issue and its related project lists. The proceeds of the bond amounted to roughly $7.5M, and the original project list plus a few added projects have been completed, with two exceptions: Bridge 202 (Lions Park Bridge) & a portion of the 300S/400S Connector Bridge in Whitestown. The $1.8M remaining balance from that bond issue is projected to cover the completion of those projects, though their projected finish dates are still several years out.

Molly Whitehead, Executive Director of the Boone County Economic Development Corporation, presented an overview of the EDC’s activities in the past year. (Ms. Whitehead may be out of the country during next month’s budget hearings, and wanted to ensure she could answer the council’s questions before budget decisions are made.) Whitehead noted that the EDC’s success in bringing business projects to the county is on pace to eclipse last year’s investment totals in the next few weeks, with several more projects under consideration and expected to be announced before year’s end. Whitehead also noted that the EDC has dramatically increased its expenditures in marketing, from 5% in 2014 to 13% in 2016, in part thanks to the funding provided through its contract with the county. 

PUBLIC COMMENT:

I noted that representatives from the council and commissioners – as well as Lebanon, Whitestown and Zionsville – have been in conversations regarding adoption of a Local Income Tax for Public Safety. Sheriff Nielsen has been involved in the discussions as well, and has made several presentations of his business plan proposal for the sheriff’s department in coming years. He will be presenting this proposal – which the county cannot fund under current revenues – at the council’s budget hearings on Thursday, September 15^th. The public is invited to attend to hear the presentation.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:45 p.m.

Next regularly scheduled meeting will be Tuesday, September 13^th, at 8:30 a.m. A special meeting for the presentation of the Wage & Benefit Study will be Monday, September 12^th, at 5:30 p.m.