Boone County Council
7/10/2012
Present: All Council Members present except Debbie Shubert.
The
council approved the minutes of the June meeting (for which I was not present).
Council
president Steve Jacob opened a Public Hearing to consider a proposed increase
to the Cumulative Capital Development (CCD) Fund levy rate. Brittany Wingerter of Umbaugh gave an
overview of what the fund rate change would mean in terms of revenue collections
for the county, as well as the impact on taxpayers at various home values and
in various relationships to the 1-2-3 tax caps.
Several council members asked questions about the possible impact of the
change. Jacob then opened the floor to
comments from the public, limited to five minutes:
-
Aaron Smith of Lebanon asked the council
to table the increase and then spoke primarily to encourage the council to
adopt a resolution supporting changes to the state’s gas tax fund use for
non-transportation funding before returning to his request to postpone the CCD
increase at least until after the legislature has acted on the transportation
funding plan.
-
Anthony Theophanus of rural Lebanon
asked for clarification about the impact on residents in non-incorporated areas
of the county.
-
Sheriff Ken Campbell spoke in support of
raising the rate, arguing that the cuts his department has made in recent years
have left him with no alternative but to cut employees and therefore services
if further budget cuts are required.
RE-APPROPRIATIONS:
Highway (Rick Carney): Approved.
Transferred $200 from telephone to meeting
Transferred $300,000 from bridge #70 to three other bridges.
Transferred roughly $341,000 from four completed bridges and bridge #70 to CR 400 S bridge construction.
Re-Assessment
(Lisa Garoffolo): Approved.
Transferred
$600 from supplies to printing to print door hangers for the upcoming beginning
of “rolling” re-assessment.
Prosecutor
(Todd Meyer):
Withdrawn.
ADDITIONAL
APPROPRIATIONS:
Sheriff
(Ken Campbell): Approved.Requested just over $1000 in transfers of money collected from inmates for items such as postage, medical supplies and commissary.
Requested transfer of roughly $350 to Part-Time for money collected for clerical work on sheriff’s sales.
Assessor
(Lisa Garoffolo): Approved.
Requested
$116,000+ from the re-assessment fund to cover the early start of the “rolling”
reassessment contract as approved by the legislature in its session earlier
this year. Some questions were raised as
to whether this would cover the entire contract’s cost for the remainder of the
year, and what would happen with the previous year’s designated re-assessment
funds which are no longer relevant with the new rolling format. Garoffolo will
meet with the Auditor and Treasurer to clarify and report back.
Commissioners
(Jeff Wolfe):
Requested
$2500 for publications. Several times in
the past year the county has submitted (and paid for) legally required
advertisements to be published in the Zionsville Times-Sentinel which the paper
then failed to publish. As a result the
county now publishes in the Indianapolis Star*, which is much more
expensive. The county was also required
to publish its new flood plan which alone cost more than $1000. Approved.
*State
law requires the publication of many county actions in two “local” print
periodicals. Several council members and
commissioners have raised this issue with state legislators requesting that
electronic publication of such notices be permitted as at least one of the two
publications, which would not only put government in line with the modern
digital era but also save taxpayers thousands of dollars each year. The council
also asked Wolfe to investigate having the county’s IT department being such
publications regardless of the law for taxpayers’ convenience. Wolfe agreed to do so, though such requests of
the IT department have been made several times in the past several years to no
avail.
NEW
BUSINESS:
None.
OLD
BUSINESS:
The
council discussed the proposed “negative additional” to remove funding from
Bridge #220, the Ford Road bridge over Eagle Creek. Some progress has apparently been made toward
widening the current proposed truss bridge, and altering the design of the
curve onto 96th street has been accomplished to the satisfaction of
both the commissioners and Zionsville. Mr. Thompson moved to de-fund the
project in its current form (using the steel truss bridge). Councilwoman Wilhoite asked Tim Haak of the
Zionsville Town Council to speak. He
commended Commissioner Applegate for his willingness to continue discussions
and to seek solutions. Commissioner Jeff
Wolfe, as the only commissioner present, was asked to speak as well. As he has not been involved in the discussions,
Wolfe stated he had little to add to the discussion. President Jacob also asked County Attorney
Bob Clutter to speak on the state of the truss bridge’s availability. INDOT has agreed to hold the bridge through August
1st, with the possibility of a 30-day extension if the county
requests one in writing.
Thompson
moved to remove funding from the bridge, and I seconded. After some further discussion, council voted
4-2 to approve the motion and de-fund the project (Thompson, Rodgers, Wilhoite
and Jacob for; Wheat and Smith against).
Jacob
led discussion of hearings of the 2013 budget.
The Council will plan to hold workshops led by the budget committee (Thompson,
Wilhoite, Rodgers) following its regular council meeting on Tuesday, August 14th,
and continue them on Wednesday the 15th. The public budget hearings will begin Monday,
August 20th, at noon.
PUBLIC
COMMENT:
Sam
Sutphin of Zionsville spoke again supporting the bridge project the council had
just de-funded. Mr. Sutphin also addressed the “alternative” truss bridge which
had been discussed. Cindy Lamberjack of
Pike Township (96th Street) spoke again criticizing the council’s
decision to de-fund the bridge project. Robert
Guernsey, former County Commissioner from Harrison Township, stated that he
left the Commissioners in 1996 and that the Bridge #220 project was a
controversial topic on the county’s priority list at that time.
Mr.
Guernsey also spoke regarding the shifting nature of property taxes, noting
that in recent years property tax caps and assessed valuations have tended to
transfer more and more of the property tax burden from residents – who use
services – to business and agriculture – which do not, at least at the rate
residents do. Guernsey expressed concern
that these changes, along with the state’s investigation of “productivity”
taxes, will create an unfriendly climate to business and an unfair burden on
agriculture. He encouraged the council to look in the future to funding from
income taxes as a more equitable way to distribute the taxation burden.
Peter
Kunz, Pike Township (Moore Road), again spoke in support of the steel truss
bridge the council had just de-funded. Randy
Price of Northern Boone County also spoke critically of the handling of the
bridge.
Meeting
adjourned at roughly10:30.
Next
regularly-scheduled council meeting will be Tuesday, August 14, at 8:30 a.m.,
with a special meeting to approve an additional appropriation request from the
commissioners on Friday the 20th at 11:00 a.m.
