Notes from September 2009 Council Meeting

Note: These are my personal notes from the council meeting. They are NOT the official minutes, nor should they be construed as an official record of any kind.

Boone County Council9/15/2009
Present: All Council Members, Secretary Heather Barton, Attorneys Eileen Sims & Bob Clutter.

The meeting opened with a procedural motion to defer budget adoption to the Council’s October meeting, which was seconded and approved, followed by a motion to close the budget meeting, after which the regular September meeting opened.

RE-APPROPRIATIONS: (All Approved.)
Auditor(Melody Price):
Requested $500 from Clerical to Overtime to pay for additional hours on budget issues.

Circuit Court (No one present):
Requested $825 from Placement-Juv to Equipment.

EMA (Rachel Hanson):
Requested $100 from postage to telephone; $461.76 from Travel Expense to telephone.

Adult Probation User Fee (Kari Ragsdale):
Requested $5000 from drug testing to secretary. Had brought this before the council in July and was tabled in August while investigating appropriate salary ordinance change. Council voted on this reappropriation separately as it involved a salary ordinance change. Approved.

Highway (Tom Kouns):
Requested $1500 from rental equipment to other supplies.


ADDITIONAL APPROPRIATIONS:
Treasurer (Deanna Willhoite)
Requested $2,576.64 to covering mailings of additional tax statements per new state legislation. Budget estimate of $16,000 was too low. Council suggested attempting to re-appropriate the funds from an unspent balance of $9200 in program application line. Wilhoite agreed, and the council approved the reappropriation.

Community Corrections Project Income GPS (Kari Ragsdale):
Increased # of offenders on monitoring for home detention increased cost beyond budget. Paid for by user fees, so no additional cost to county budget. Approved.

Highway (tom Kouns):
Requested $10,000 for tires & tubes. Approved.

Local Road & Street (Tom Kouns):
$25,000 for road maintenance for fall projects. Approved
$50,000 for Engineering Services for stimulus fund projects. Will be fully refunded. Approved.

NEW BUSINESS:
Gretchen Smith of GUTS was asked to update Council on miscellaneous funds and their appropriate use. Still awaiting information, but will send a spreadsheet by week’s end for council review and can answer questions and appear at October meeting if necessary. Was asked about Misdemeanor fund balance and clarified that it is just coming into use, and will not have substantial balance.

Treasurer Deanna Willhoite withdrew her agenda item regarding a resolution on investment approvals. State audit clarified that the commissioners were responsible for approving an ordinance to verify investments. County is currently earning 1% on its investments, which is up from previous years.

Kathy Clawson, representing Soil & Water, asked for a new line item into commissioners budget for soil & water salaries & expenses. State audit now requires payroll deductions for board members’ payments, so a new line item would allow auditor’s office to pay as regular salary rather than per diem. New line would not need additional funding, just a reappropriation once the line is established.

OLD BUSINESS:
Gene Thompson asked about the H1N1 grant funds that had been advertised by the state as possibly coming to our health department, but currently not having a place to put them if they do come. Heather Barton advised that the county health department was still working on preparing a proposal to bring before the council, but was not yet ready.

PUBLIC COMMENT:
None.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 9:00. Council then opened its non-binding review of other taxing districts’ budgets.

Taxing Units whose budget increases were below the state growth quotient of 3.8% were scheduled first.

Harrison Township had no one present.

Lebanon Public Library presented a summary of funds (Operating, Lease Rental & Cap Projects) with levy totals and tax rates. 2010 AV is estimated at 10% less as per DLGF request. Operating and lease Rental rates will fall slightly, while Capital Projects will increase from .0025 to .01.

Perry Township had no one present. Budget decreased.

Sugar Creek had no one present. Budget decreased.

Thorntown Library Director Karen Niemeyer was present. Budget increased roughly 12%, due primarily to increases in retirement fund payments and increase in collections request.

Ulen had no one present. Budget decreased.

Washington Township. Trustee Jodi Durham was present. No budget increase.

Hussey-Mayfield Library (Zionsville) was present with a 3.07% increase. Has a healthy operating balance.

Thorntown was not present, though well below the growth quotient.

Units over the state growth quotient but below the county quotient of 6% were next.
Advance was present with a 4% increase. Some fund balances are low as town goes through a reconciliation.

Taxing units over the county growth quotient of 6% followed.
Center Township had a 12.17% increase, due primarily to fire fund debt service.

Jackson Township had no one present. Significant increase in their fire budget.

Jamestown clerk-treasurer Linda Isenhower was present.

Jefferson Township Trustee David Budd was present. 5% increase in total budget comes almost entirely from fire increase in anticipation of new truck for AVFD.

Marion Township Trustee was present. Marion has extremely low balance in fire fund, and is anticipating an emergency Fire Loan, which accounts for majority of 19.15% proposed increase. Township assistance is also up, as well as cemetery care as the township inherited an additional large cemetery. Fire levy is at max rate, and DLGF has denied requests for increase. Council will suggest to DLGF that fire levy be allowed an increase to avoid additional borrowing.

Lebanon Mayor Huck Lewis & Clerk-treasurer Debbie Ottinger were present. Lebanon proposes an 18.53% increase, primarily in highway and local road & street due to annexation.

Boone County Solid Waste Management District was present to explain 8.79% increase. Council review in this case is binding, though funding is entirely fee-driven. No property tax funds are used, and so its budget does not impact the property tax caps. Board voted to approve the budget.

Whitestown was present with a town council member and town clerk-treasurer. Budget proposal reflects 141.99% increase over 2009 budget, explained as due to massive annexation. Town has also increased benefits for employees, including life insurance program. Many questions were raised regarding the relationship between Whitestown and Worth Township Fire. Whitestown will be taking over all township fire operations effective January 1, 2010, so their budget increases from zero to roughly $1.2M, which includes a payment of roughly $325,000 from Worth Township to cover the entire township.

Worth Township will collect taxes to pay contract to Whitestown for fire service, as well as to cover Emergency Fire Loan payment of approximately $800,000. Council raised concerns about the future of servicing the fire debt and its impact on property tax caps in relation to other taxing units, specifically schools. Town & township officials explained their plan for rolling the debt into a larger bond issue to spread payments over several years and minimize taxpayer impact. Their hope is that this plan will keep rates below the caps. Worth Township has also introduced a Recreation Fund into their budget to receive funds from the county parks levy to assist in maintaining Lions Park outside Whitestown.

Zionville town Council President Matt Price and Town Manager Ed Mitro were present to discuss the changes to the town budget in light of the consolidation with Eagle and Union Townships. Questions were asked about the impact of Whitestown taking over fire protection responsibility in the annexed areas of Eagle Township, as well as the perceived benefits of consolidation for Eagle and Union Township residents outside the current town of Zionsville.

Council President Steve Jacob will draft comments and/or letters to accompany the council’s review of these budgets for submission to the DLGF.