Thank you. Okay Good evening, everybody and welcome to the fourth night of budget hearing. Um and today
is Thursday, September 10th 2026. The time is 503 and I will call this meeting to order. We have a quorum
of council members here presence or currently here. We are missing counselor Hawk. But of course, as
All right, next up is the item two, which is adoption of the agenda. Does anybody need to make changes?
See, I'm missing my caffeine today. So would anybody like to make any changes to tonight's agenda? Madam
President, I have one. Okay. Council, I do move to amend tonight's agenda to add item four B.
we're we'd be asking to reopen fund 1000 dash 0626 county general animal control immediately following
our budget review and before item number five second okay we got a motion and a second on that change
is there any questions or comments on this item no okay all right so seeing none I will
So all those in favor of approving tonight's agenda as amended, signify by saying aye. All those opposed,
same sign. All right. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Okay. Next up, it is the same thing that
we've been doing for the past three nights now going into night four. We've been doing very well and
I don't expect us to stop the train now. But again,
The again for those quickly the public hearing for twenty twenty seven budgets is Tuesday, October six
and the final adoption for the budgets is Tuesday, October 20th and as promised. All rise because Council
is here. So so we have a council
But again, those are these are just presentations that we will forward on for further consideration.
Again, one thing that I want to remind those you should already know, but again, doesn't help to make
a nice little reminder. Each person or each department has a time frame. So please stay within that
time frame and we will do that as same or the same.
with council questions and comments on that. We will stick to comments and questions related to the
budget, and we will proceed accordingly. There will be a timer or a ding when you hit your five minute
mark and your one minute mark, so staff will be able to help with that, and then TSD will have your
timers on the screens here. Next up, we will do what we normally do, and we'll look to the auditor's
office for an update.
So take it away, please. Good evening, Council. On the screen you should see the updated deficit calculation.
Not a lot has changed in this. We had changes in two funds. That's going to be Fund 1000 and then one
way down at the very bottom of the spreadsheet.
You'll notice that the amount reflected on the 4B is still different than the amount reflected on this
spreadsheet for a handful of funds. The state is still working on getting that technical glitch figured
out. But for now, everything in the 4B aside from just those six funds should appear accurate. And those
are highlighted in yellow at the bottom of this document. So you can easily see what numbers are not well.
other than that we don't have any other updates unless there are questions for our office anybody have
any questions for the auditor's office yes council member Iverson yeah real quick I think on this spreadsheet
that's included on the screen whoever's controlling that could you scroll down a little bit so we see
the 25 26 and 27 CNAV information on the right hand side and
Ms. Woodruff or Ms. Gregory, could you explain what these numbers are and why they're decreasing? So
the CNAP is a certified net assessed value. That's gonna take all of the assessed value of all the parcels
in the county and then it's going... You go for it, sorry. And then it's going to deduct any of the
deductions that are applied. And so with SB1, you'll notice that that certified net assessed value has
been decreasing over the last two years, whereas typically we would see that value trend upwards. So
if someone in the public wanted to assess the impact of Senate Enrolled Act 1 on Monroe County's finances,
this would be one measure that they could do that. Thank you very much. Any other questions or comments?
on this item. Thank you all very much for that. Next up, we will go to the amended portion. Oh,
I'm so sorry. Sorry, Councilor Hong. Just wanted to make a comment here about that interaction there.
If the net assessed value goes down, that forces, if we get a levy increase, that forces the rate up.
So for those people who did not get
assistance on their assessed value that means that you know they're going to have a higher rate it will
not receive the lesser assessed value there's more to this cookie once it crumbles to understand thank
you much council hawk and thank you to the
next up we will move to the amended portion of the agenda. Council I move to open for discussion and
review fund 1000-0626 County General Animal Control and I ask that we amend account line 35040 Animal
Shelter Interlocal from $480,808 to set it to $566,000
$547 second all right we got a motion in a second and I'll look to Michelle or miss Turner King for
this explanation so after last night's meeting I inquired with mr. Cockrell to see if he received the
upcoming years interlocal he received it this morning and so this is the value reflected in the interlocal
I will go to councillor Wilton then Iverson next I did it increase so much
know that I have that answer I can I can ask Mr. Cockrell but I mean I just received the number from
the interlocal so I don't know if he had conversations about the increased value or anything of that
nature if it's something that he negotiate or is it just I think there's a formula I think there's a
formula that they use and I don't know exactly the formula
I don't get real antsy, but. Just some vague formula that is part of an interlocal between us. I think
we have need to have a greater explanation before us, given that in this community how we treat animals,
manage out animals, get animals away, keep animals close.
Is such a huge value every counselor up here should be able to say roughly as we work this out. This
is why this is and We need to be able to say if it's going to keep getting worse because dog chow or
whatever. We've got to be able to say that a little bit more affirmatively. So maybe he or somebody
could send something to us that really breaks this down.
So I'm quickly reading through the interlocal and it says that the twenty twenty seven interlocal cost
calculations. The interlocal cost from Monroe County in the town of Ellisville is determined by multiplying
the number of animals taken in from the jurisdiction in twenty twenty five by the cost per animal figure.
So for Monroe County there was one thousand four hundred eighty seven
the cost of operations based per animal animals taken in and they multiply that by $381, which is the
cost of operations based per animal. Is that for a year? I'm sorry to interject. It would be for the
year. All of them don't stay a year, right? I'm sorry. The cost is for a year. The cost the $381 per
3,742, but let's see if I can find out what that number means. I think that number reflects the total
number of animals in the shelter for 2025, including those picked up by animal control, surrendered,
and are stray animals. And so I think what it looks like,
And I can confirm with Jeff, but I'm just trying to give you some explanation right now, is that they
divide the animal care and control expenditures, operational cost, and revenue by the number of animals
that they cared for within the year. So I don't think the animals are staying for the entire year, but
it's how many animals they serviced within that year. That doesn't service doesn't seem right.
I mean, it's kind of an odd formula. I'll go to, I think Iverson had his hand up next and then I'll
go Iverson and then Henry. Just a quick comment. I know we discussed the sheriff's budgets just last
night and we didn't have this. So I know that there's some concern over the formula, but I am pretty
happy with how fast this came back to us. So thank you for working on this today and getting this to
us the very next day. Councilmember Henry.
Thank you, I would show sentiments though. I think this conversation has opened up maybe what I'm looking
for now. So that formula, I mean that dollar amount is probably those expenditures are where the cost
is, right? So it would be interesting to know what that cost per animal was last year, the year before
that, because that's the devil in the details about the cost differential. So if it is an uptick in animal,
That's fine. But it seems to me that that 380 is the number that moved. I want to know what what caused
it to go from whatever last year's numbers to this year's number. It's in the expenditures. Do we have
a table or like an understanding of that? I mean, the only table that I'm looking at in the memo is
a breakdown of incoming animals by jurisdiction and source and it shows like city counties other than Monroe.
and then the cost per animal. So it only has 20, 25 numbers. It doesn't have any other numbers, so I
can't really give you a year to year comparison. To Councilor Deckard's point, that's where the cost
of the dog shower is. So that's the 60,000, right? So that's the number I'd want to see, what was the
cost per animal? That's the delta. That's the thing we need to know, I think. It's either that or more
animals. Possibly. Or both.
to know, I think, and to... Oh, what I hear from council is there's some hesitation on moving on, moving
forward with this, and I'd hate to put Ms. Turner King on the spot for this, but it sounds like Mr.
Cockrell should give us an explanation. And I can ask Jeff to provide an explanation to council. Okay,
so then...
one second, Councillor Fido. I just, so then maybe we need to table this until we get this information
and we can table this until next Wednesday's budget session. Councillor Fido. So might there be a way
to also find out what other entities are paying? Like is Ellisville paying or is this, are we paying
Ellisville? I mean, is there a breakdown somewhere of all those entities?
cost for Monroe County and then the town of Ellitsville though you know I'd like to see included with
this their budget that they turned in to get their budget approved did they have a new building recently
do they have additional employees
Did they all get a gigantic raise, you know, taking care of animals? I think they should be paid efficiently
and effectively, just like everybody else. But we need to see their budget before we vote on this, and
at least we'll have the information in front of us. But I will quote my good friend, Warren Henniger,
and you've
Some of you folks might remember him. He felt how important this animal control is, especially for farmers
and so forth because
You have wild animals running around that affects your livestock. It affects everything you do. It's
important for neighborhoods so that we don't have family disputes from one family over the other of
dogs running loose. I recall not that many years ago when everybody thought it was fine to open up the
door and let Fido go out and do whatever they wanted in everybody else's yard.
So animal control is important for safety, public safety. But I think that we we deserve to have an
explanation of their budget. So again, here in some hesitation from Council and I correct myself. Budget
five is next Tuesday. So Council.
I'll make a motion to table this item to our Tuesday, September 15th meeting, pending more information
comes from legal. OK, we got a motion in a couple of seconds. And any further questions or comments
on this item? All right.
Seeing none, all those in favor of tabling this request until next Tuesday, signify by saying aye. Aye.
All those opposed, same song. All right, motion carries. Thank you very much for that. Okay, next up,
we will go right into our budget presentation. First up, we'll start with the county fair department.
Council, I move to open for discussion and review fund 1000-0806, county general fairgrounds.
second. All right, we got a motion in the second and we are joined by the good people from the county
fair board. Welcome. Go ahead. I would just give an update of what we've used some of these funds for.
I don't know. Most of you know our carnivals kind of set up in a U shaped pattern with like a line right
to the middle of its best way to describe it. We've actually got
of it now blacktop the path. So strollers, wheelchairs. That and when it rains like it does when fair
weeks going on, they're not tracking through the mud. We've actually put drains in there so they can
put all their cables and stuff so they don't trip over that. And then we've done some tie outs for our
cattle, livestocks. Just building maintenance is what we use most of this for.
Thank you very much for that. Any questions or comments? I knew her hand was going to go up first. Councilor
Hawk. Well, I know a lot of people were very concerned about when we had so much flooding and some of
the vendors were really concerned about what was going on there. And so I know you've got, you know,
get your hands full, but that's a big part of what has to happen because we count on
revenue from those vendors, and we count on them being there because the public likes to visit with
them as well. So I look forward to hearing what the result of your plan is. Well, I can touch on that
a little bit. Actually, while the fair was going on, our take on, which does all of our arena events,
dirt work and stuff, they actually started working on the
we've we've we've cut open the ditch that was there. We found some pipes have been smashed. So that
is actually in the process now of being worked on. It's kind of an ongoing project is the weather allows
and time allows because he's donating a lot of his services to help us with that. So we have started
getting a lot of that mitigated. Do you anticipate it will be corrected before?
The next fair say season. Yes, yes, it'll be corrected. We're hoping to be done by winter, but we're
just since he's donating and we're not pushing it real hard since we don't have a whole lot of fair
going on right now in that building. Questions or comments for our fair. Alright, seeing none, that
was pretty self explanatory and easy. Maybe please have a roll call vote.
Yes. Councilor Iverson. Yes. Councilor Feidl. Yes. Councilor Hawke. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor
Henry. Yes. Councilor Decker. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up,
we will have the planning department. Council, I move to open for discussion and review Fund 1000-0079
County General Planning.
second. All right, we got a motion in a second. We are joined by director John. Welcome. Good evening,
counsel. Thanks for having me. Um, so I do have a printout of a corrected budget that I worked with
Kim show with. So I'm just going to pass this out for just
So from the packet, just a quick correction. We have offered a conditional offer of employment to an
office manager that's internal to the county and they have over three years of service. So I've put
just the edited numbers in red to the side. So essentially it's asking for a slight increase in salary
matching the 2027 Cola grid for that position. And then that also changed the longevity, the FICA and
the perf. And Kim did help with that and reviewed the total math on that. So we are in good shape. So
that's the slight change there. Is that it?
I just wanted to note this is just a flat budget just as we were directed so no changes other than just
the ones that I'm presenting to you now and we have reduced our
overall budget by $740 from last year, so we took some money out of the training and travel. We also
reduced some funds from the service maintenance and repair of the fleet vehicle, for instance, but really
we're pretty limited in our budget right now. We don't really have anything extra other than just the
staff costs, I would say, or the lion's share of the budget.
Thank you very much for that. Any questions or comments? Yes, Councilor Hawk. I don't think I asked
this question yesterday, though. I thought about it. When we were talking to the building department
and about the funds, the fees that come in are supposed to go into a separate fund, I thought the planning
department fees were to go into that fund as well. Or is it a separate fund?
There is a requirement under one of the state laws that passed this year that does require a separate
fund for permitting fees. So that will be the case for improvement location permits, which are issued
by our office and building permits by the building department. So some of this money then would have
normally gone into County General, correct?
you would have collected would have gone into County General and now it's going to go in the separate
holding account and then we're budgeting for it anyway in County General and then they're supposed to
get some kind of quarterly reimbursement if there's money in that permitting fee to pay back for expenses.
Is that how you understand it? It's hard to.
quite always understand where the state was going with their changes but my understanding is that they
wanted it to be in a separate fund so that there would be a way of maybe transparently showing that
we were not collecting more funds than the department needed to operate but again we could have done
that without creating a separate fund but only I would say of our total that we collect
just right now to date, I would say it's about a 40% split. So 40% of our office collects those permit
fees, and then the other 60% would not go into that fund. So that would be like for variances
or subdivisions, things like that would not collect under that fund. I'd like you to learn. Anybody
else have any other questions?
Oh, okay. I'm sorry. I'm just trying to understand this because I I was aware of the new fund. So is
there a is there no budget for that fund or will there be? Oh, hi. I answer this. So we are working
with the state and just like whenever the building department presented, there's a lot of
questions up in the air and it's been over a month now since we've asked the state some of those questions
and they are still working on getting us answers. So when they get us the answers and when we figure
out what the next steps are gonna be, we'll have both departments come back to council. We'll do some
net zero appropriations, D appropriations. Ultimately, it's not going to change where the money ends
up. It's just making a lot more hoops for us to.
see another that um more information is forthcoming at the auditors conference which is not until October
um okay any other questions yes council I understand council I move in this fund in line 10068 office
manager that we set that line from 51584 to 57
three oh four uh that will require a change in line one seven six zero one longevity from thirty two
hundred to thirty six hundred it will require a change in line eighteen one oh one FICA from forty five
seven sixty to forty seven six fifty one and finally in line eight one eight two zero one perf from
eighty four thousand ten dollars to eighty four thousand eight hundred twenty two dollars
for a new total in this personnel line of $755,357. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second.
Are you all good with that total? Okay, I just want to make sure. Okay. Any other further questions
or comments on this change? Yes, Councilor Hawke. I just think this really calls into question so that
we can clearly see when
When one employee moves from one department to another, let's say they've got 10 years experience in
that one department, and they're replacing somebody who only had one year's experience, suddenly the
new department has a big jump in their budget. And before all that happens, they have somehow the others,
one of the departments have to work out whether or not there's any overtime or comp time
still available to the people. So it's difficult for the department heads to try to work around all
of this and make sure they have it right in their budgets and to look at what they can really afford
to do. Not everybody can. So. But on the plus side, we get to keep accounting employee. So that's also
something to be proud of.
So yeah, yes, Councilor. So speaking of the overtime issue, I have the sensitivity to that in the previous
situation I was involved in years ago. And so there were no over times. I'll just ask it. There was
no overtime for this employee coming. This employee did have some comp time, but they actually elected
to use it before transfer. So that got taken care of. Yes, for this new transfer. Good news. Agreed.
All right, any other further questions or comments? Then with the bottom line there, the 746-537, does
that change? It should give us a new total. But this was to change the personnel category. But I guess,
yeah. Wait, that'll change too, right? On the screen. I'm sorry, I just can't see it.
that. Can you read that for me so I can write it down? New total will be in the personnel is 755 360.
Yes, in my motion I was off by $3 so Kim shell you always have the right total. Alright, so I'm glad
we got it. Thank you. Yes, Councilor Wells. Sort of related to the amendment.
budget include the new position? Yeah. So that will be an additional. You have to make yes, since we
don't know where it's going to be classified, we don't know how to budget for it, so. So this budget
is assuming no change at all, so same
that are in the approved salary ordinance for 2026 and no additional position. So again, bringing this
or for to remind us that we are voting on the amendment for the changes. All those in favor of approving
the amendment signify by saying aye. All those opposed, same sign. All right, motion carries.
Thank you very much. Now may we please have a roll call vote for the overall budget. Councilor Iverson?
Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawke? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. Henry? Yes. Councilor Decker?
Yes. Councilor Crosley? Yes. Motion passes 601. Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you. Thank you. All right. Next up is the extension services. Council, I move to open for discussion
and review fund 1000 dash 0011 County General Extension. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second.
And I see you're joined by our favorite people and Laura has already. Hey, I like it.
I'm sure three times over. Hey, I like it. Go ahead. Good evening. Kip Harmon from the extension office
and I don't know if everybody knows Laura from. She's one of our regional operations leaders from the
central area. Marion County area. Audi could not make it tonight.
I don't know exactly what all you all need to hear, but I'm going to let Laura kind of explain the transition
that we're going through. I do have some handouts that some people had requested. I know a couple of
council members have requested some extra information, so I've got some of that here, but I'll let Laura
start with kind of the transformation part about how things are changing with Purdue Extension. Well,
thank you, counselors. This is a lot fancier than Indianapolis City County Council.
just starts, you can hear me just when I start talking and the room is beautiful. So yeah, so Purdue
Extension, as you guys might know, has been around for over 100 years. Extension itself is what they
describe as a three-legged stool. We receive federal, state, and local dollars. In the past 20 years,
the federal and state dollars have not seen significant increases. Because of that,
we have moved to what is being called a regional model. This is a pretty common model for states across
the country who are also in this similar situation. What that does is it divides the state into regions.
And we have a map, if you wanna see what creates basically South Central or the 9th region, which is
the region that now includes Monroe County.
So how that will work is the educators in each of the counties that make up the region nine
will have now specific expertise. In the past, the educators were somewhat generalists, but within a
program area. So you've got the program areas of 4-H, ag and natural resources, health and human sciences,
and community development. So a health and human science educator might
And then I spent one day teaching third graders how to budget and
the program matter of balance. So they were doing lots of different things. Now those educators will
focus all of their time on something that they'll have the opportunity to be an expert on. So the contractual
service moves from a dollar amount per person to a service based model, which allows educators to come
in and out of Monroe County, not impacting the service, but allowing the expertise of
them coming to teach specifically something that meets the needs of Monroe County. So you'll see on
the budget, there's a increase of approximately $18,000. What we're proposing based on Monroe County's
commitment and passion for extension services is to purchase
one educator that would be solely in Monroe County. They would not be a part of the regional service
model. This individual would be based here and would remain here as other educators with their specific
expertise would come and go based on the needs of Monroe County. This individual would remain the generalist
in the sense where
they would support educators based on what they might need. A lot of those needs would be very specific
to Monroe. So for example, you have a master gardener program. The master gardeners are volunteers.
They spend a lot of time in the community beautifying nonprofits, public spaces. This individual would
have the opportunity to support those master gardeners in a way that maybe the regional expert on home
horticulture might not be able to get into the nitty gritty
the details. Some counties have additional staff from the county level. So example in Marion County,
I have four administrative staff people. So we don't need an extra generalist educator because I have
a program assistant that spends all of their time managing the details of the master gardener program,
for example. So for Monroe County, we're proposing
that additional person to make sure you have an extension educator that is dedicated to Monroe, as well
as those experts that come and go based on programming needs. So that's the difference. The other difference
that you might notice in the budget is because these educators will now move between regional county lines.
now taking on all of the mileage that would have been charged to specific counties. So you'll see a
reduction in that as well. I just learned how your budget and stuff works, but in addition to that,
educators receive laptops and IT support from Purdue paid for by counties. Moving forward, they will be
paid for by Purdue. So basically, the model shifts technology in the form of laptops. They've always
done IT services, even when the county was paying. And transportation and travel would be housed now
at Purdue. I think I've told you everything. But please, let me know what questions you have. Of course.
I will open it up to council to see if we have any questions.
Yes. As far as location of your office, do you plan a change in your location? Not at this time. Not
at this time. At this particular time, you want to tell the public where it is? Do you all know where
it is? Not all the public understands where your location is. We're at the 3400 South Walnut,
which is the, we share off space with the recycle waste management.
I know that, but not everybody knows where it is. Because we used to be there in the health building.
And that's where we came to recognize where it would be. And then when you moved, people think, well,
where did they go? That was a question. And the other question is, as I understand it, that because
of the shift and whatever, we no longer have
the educator person in residence that would normally be, and I thought it was a state requirement, to
have them be the person who sits on the plan commission. And so I guess that's not
not going to be the case and somebody's going to appoint this person. And I guess, you know, the person
is now appointed and serving, but who is responsible for the appointment? That's a big deal here in
Monroe County. You know, what's going on with that planning department? So who is responsible for that
appointment? And do people just apply for it or does your board makes a decision or how's that? How
do you go about doing that filling that slot?
I'm not, oh, do you know? Yeah, our local extension board is the one who appointed, I believe it was
Joe Van Deventer to that this past year. And of course, I guess we would probably be reappointing or
looking at a new person at some point here in the near future. And of course, we want to ensure that
that person lives in the county as well. And that would be one of the big considerations.
Yeah, I was just going to add to that. That would most likely be this additional staff person that would
be based in Monroe County. And you know, the statute says they also have to live in the county.
So that would, you know, impact the hiring procedure, I guess, of who can apply and risk and get the
position. Right, so buddy, you think it will be the decision seems I mean, Councilmember Henry knows
the rules, I'm certain better than I do. Never having served on on that board. But I think there has
to be so many Republicans, so many Democrats doesn't have to be split up. Yeah, I think so,
because Jerry, Jerry had to be when Jerry was on there, I think he was the Republican appointment. And
so you may not think that's real important. There's all there's one person here thinks that's pretty
important.
I'm going to do that. I sort of related not I briefly to say, yeah, that is a true statement. I think
sometimes the extension that the extension office has been a seat regardless of party in the same way
the other two are there. But it's a it's a valid question about how how your regional model may impact.
that unique requirement we have to have that person there. And they've been incredibly valuable to the
body. We had a, before Joe, we had Mr. Olman who had expertise in forestry and canopy. And I mean, he
was always the go-to person to understand canopy coverage in the county. So it was an important asset
to have at the table. So I hear that, but I wanna actually ask a little bit more about the regional
model. I do appreciate that we would have a dedicated
person here. I think it's very important to our community. I know, you know, those that have had family
in 4-H and things that that's an asset here. But the only other time I recall bumping into this as a
county government is in a regional model is how our health department is sort of regionalized under
certain funding. And I guess maybe, yeah, I appreciate you walking through how you'll have access to
expertise that can come into the county and someone here. The Citizens Academy line, is that
Would that local person be, I guess, operating our Citizens Academy in your budget? It wouldn't be like
a specialist from Marion County telling us how to do citizen things in Monroe County, right? It would
be here out of the local office, yes, sir. Do you have a portfolio of the other things the generalists
would be doing locally that stay here at this point, or are you still working through that?
I think we'd still be working through that. And it could be something that if the council was looking
for somebody in particular, a particular support like HHS, or if you were looking for more support for
A&R or something like that, you could probably direct us in that sense of telling us, we really would
like to look for somebody with this expertise to fill that spot. That's useful. And lastly, it's Monroe
County dollars funding, Monroe County things. The state and federal grants are, I presume, are the regional
specialists or
drawing their revenue or their income or are we contributing to a pool of resource that leaves our county?
Is that something you can answer? Sort of. The federal, the cost of employees to be, have a home based
or just overall cost of employees, the county
contractual services only covers a fraction of those costs. So the state and federal dollars cover the
majority of that and the local dollars add to it. So in other words, local dollars don't pay for people
by head count. And they really never have, because if you looked at the total amount, it's not a huge
amount from the local, but it is from state.
for taxpayers here we're getting a lot out of this program compared to what we're putting in I think
shape that thank you madam president all right we are winding down on time so I know councilmember Decker
had something and then councilmember Wilts had something as well yeah the comment I was gonna just generally
make I appreciate that you coming in today to explain this and kind of the system a little bit better
I talked with audio about
the changes that were coming as we were preparing. I'm the liaison for extension. One kind of the back
of the napkin thing is I look at any increase kind of going back. There are two kind of historical moments.
I just want to remind council just a bit. A couple years back, we made a really concerted effort to
make sure that we were being supportive of extension and the roles that they had and in the need that
kind of came in here with a lot of public. In fact, the young man that
that we've been working with. Uh Kate Smith that hangs out at our meetings and kind of helps us out
with things at times. He was part of that effort to kind of help us move on that as a literal youth
leader that came out of the program. And then, um, more recently, I think it was last year. We really
cut the this budget as we were
that process to make it easier on them, but extension really was a big assistance in that and and. Kind
of grateful or not grateful, but they were kind in that process for all that they do in this community,
and this is an incredibly important part of the county that reaches folks that I think sometimes none
of us get to, but often think that we do. And when I kind of compare.
where their budget would have been had we not made the cuts that we did last year and kind of go back
about three years, two years or so, I see that this increase is not as magnificent as maybe it might
feel as we lean into it. And we gotta always kind of keep that kind of in mind as we move forward. And
also that what happens on the services with this department
is so unique and so special and in such a blend that I think sometimes it's hard to quantify what that
precisely is. And I just want to say, I really appreciate that red jacket. I think somebody made a comment
about that last night. So what an extension. They communicate well with each other. Thank you, friends.
Thank you, council member Wilson. Thank you for coming down here for this.
really helpful in understanding how the future of extension is going to operate. I'm an extension person.
I was in a different state. But it's close to my heart, and I'm excited for the changes, because I think
that'll be a cool way to use resources. We have, I believe, currently or previously we had, for instance, our
person, then we had two 4-H, I think the consumer home, obviously that one in my area, but so how will
those positions or those people with their current positions change? How is this impacting our local
people programming that they've been doing?
So we still have, and Kip, jump in. We still have the two 4-H professionals that will remain, and then
the other programs. Maybe we're thinking community development. That might be it. Okay, so the community
development HHS and A&R educators will be coming and going to different counties based on the needs
of that county. What we
now have and the educators were allowed to choose their preference on where their home base was. So
some educators have moved closer to home, some educators didn't get their first choice. So yeah, so
the educators now will move regionally with a home base. So we, I now live in Monroe County. We in Monroe County.
We would have two educators that will have their home base here in Monroe County, in addition to Adi.
And then we would have the additional generalist that would be the Monroe County, solely Monroe County
educator. You're just managing that pool of expertise more broadly. So. You don't get all of the A&R folks,
are distributed a little bit. And in addition to the people you named, we've also still do 4-H folks,
but you're saying those are different and they're dedicated to Monroe County? Yeah. So how the transition
is working, because so many people are passionate about 4-H, is each county will maintain a 4-H presence
in the county. Because now the 4-H educators within the county will still have, you know,
you a 4-H-er? No, I wasn't. So 4-H-ers, as they call them. There's a bunch of different, you know, you've
got civil, you've got leadership and ag and natural resources and STEM. So the educators within the
region will have a specialty so that each educator won't
have to know a bunch about robots, if that's not their passion, because their passion is livestock.
So they will be able to share their expertise, but they'll maintain the 4-H presence. They'll do the
4-H outreach. They'll do fair. They'll do all of that that is 4-H will remain in the county. Models
sort of stays for 4-H only. OK, thank you.
very much for that. And I will like to move on to a roll call vote, please. Wait, I'm interested.
Are we? I'll do one more because we are over time. So Council Huck wrap it up. So if I understand you
right, then that means that Clint back that we love will be staying here with our for each group. Correct?
Hopefully. Okay, because
Our 4-H has exploded with numbers, and they're doing so well. What I would like to suggest is that there
are times, and they work real well to be noticeable on Facebook and wherever, but there's a lot of programs
that you could do that you could
that you could put on some kind of a YouTube or something so that the people at home could really see
what's going on with the extension office because a lot of people really do not even know what the extension
office does. And I think you could do a better job promoting yourself to the people who are helping
to pay for it. And thank you. I agree. I agree completely.
Councilor Hawk. Yes. Councilor Wilts. Yes. Councilor Henry. Yes. Councilor Decker. Yes. Councilor Crosley.
Yes. And Councilor Iverson. Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. Good to see you in person. Thank you.
All right, next up is in the budget presentation from the Assessor's Office. Council, I move to open
for discussion and review. Fund 1000-0008, County General Assessor, and Fund 1131-0000, Sales Disclosure,
and Fund 1224-0000, Reassessment. Second. All right, we got a motion and a second. We are joined by
our Assessor, Ms. Judy Sharp.
and miss Lisa surface. Welcome. Good evening. Good evening, counsel. And you can just run through all
your budgets and we'll just wait for TSD to have your timer on. All right, go for it. Sure. Just three
budgets as always. General fund. Bottom line, we didn't do anything except what you told us to do. We
didn't add anything.
Okay, let me go back. We had to put another person in because you'll see when we get into the sales
disclosure, we moved them into the general fund we had to this year. So that's the only difference.
The general fund budget for sorry, this is probably not where you can hear me. General fund budget this year.
Last year, it was 994,373. This year, it's 1,095,849. And the major thing, of course, the 2% raise for
everybody in the office. And moving the sales disclosure deputy half, because it was half and half,
wasn't it, Lisa? It was fully this time. It was fully in sales. Sales has not been like it used to be.
So we're moving her back over. That's it.
the sales disclosure, but I was just talking about. The sales disclosure budget last year was 66,114.
This year it's eight. Never had an $8 budget, but that's what it will be. Hopefully it'll pick back
up. We're getting sales, but putting a person in the sales disclosure really does take it down.
And then the next one is the big one, reassessment. Basically, it went up a little bit also.
We had to, I think I talked to you earlier. Yeah, it had to be you guys where we're having to do more
appraisals and we have to fund those. So we did change some of that money. Actually, it went down.
We were, last year, if I'm reading this right, Lisa, it was 951-215. It'll be 916-640. So we never do
too much there. I think what Lisa and I did this year was move a few of the different lines more into
where we could get the more appraisals if we need it. That's it. If you have any questions,
be glad to answer. Thank you.
Yes, Councilmember Henry. Thank you, Madam President. Thank you for being in. You have, you know, the
hard job we were just talking about, you know, the CNAV and the assessed value of the county over the
next few fiscals and, you know, half the battle is making sure we have, you know, correct assessments
and every nickel we can get. I appreciate it.
I want to ask, I guess I maybe forgot from last year, but your board, are they compensated and where
does that come out of? It comes out of reassessment. It is in the reassessment, that's what I was looking.
I really am glad you brought up the board. I think I have time to compliment my board. Wow, do I have
a board and a half this year? We had some, unfortunately, some major changes this year. We lost a couple
of board members. One was because her health got too bad and the other one's just tired.
And he just decided, I don't think I want to do this. So I was so fortunate, you probably all know Dr.
Kurt Zorn. He is now the president of my board. If you don't think this is awesome to have an economist
sitting there, it has just been a hoot. And he runs the board. I mean, this man knows what he's doing.
And then Linda Williamson came in. Linda has such a background at the city and in redevelopment,
knows it all. And then, of course, the board member that has stayed with me,
Vicki Reeves. She's my level two. I have to have a level two on here right now. I do and Vicki has been
in the assessing world for 25 years and she worked for me and she retired and it was. I thought it was
a year and she told me I didn't let her leave for at least a month. I brought her back to come on the
board so. And we are meeting. We just had well today and yesterday two full days.
It's been a year and a half already, and more appeals than we've ever had. And we're getting through
them. And I can't explain any more than that. So it's only in August, September. Yeah, August, September.
Time flies. So we always try to get all of our stuff done for the auditor, get it all finished up by
the end of the year.
We always have, so hopefully we're on track to do the same thing. It's all good, really. I got another
new employee that you all authorized. Jason started, it's been two weeks, Lisa? It's two weeks and he
went to conference and got his level one already and he's going to go get his level two next Friday.
Now, we'll keep our fingers crossed. I think he's going to be great, but he passed level one.
I'm so excited for him. I think he's found a good home with us. I know he has. He's going to
be so challenged, and that's what we need. So right now, everything's pretty good in the office, I think.
Have you heard anything different? Yeah, I appreciate it. Now we're good there. I just wanted to zero
in on your board members, and I'll just say,
because I'm just going to use time and drive crossly crazy. In my master's program, if you didn't pass
econ with any other professor, you had to retake it with Zorn. So it was an incentive not to do well.
I have to tell you, I know we've got a little time. Kurt and I go back to when I started this. I just
came in as the county assessor, brand new, have January conference. I always sit on the front row. You
can see, you can hear better. I always sit on the front row. And this very tall gentleman,
was in the front, he came up and he was the new commissioner of the, back then it was the tax commissioner,
it wasn't the Peter Boa, same thing. He had been appointed by Governor By as the new commissioner. And
he's standing up there and I'm taking it all in, brand new person. And he said, is my assessor out there?
And I'm looking around and I didn't know who he was. And he said, well, I'm from Monroe County. I thought,
ooh, it's me. And I kind of did this and he said, you know,
I don't know anything about this. You're going to have to help me. And I'm thinking, oh my goodness.
But it's been, what, almost 40 years? The man stayed there for two terms, two of my terms, I think.
And then, of course, he went back. He never left. But brilliant gentleman. And so he went with me, with
Lisa and I, to conference last week. It was so much fun, guys. You wouldn't believe the people that
he had taught.
that was teaching in there. And one of the ladies, we took a classified force land thing. And we know
Brenda very well. We've worked with her for years. And she came up to Kurt and she said, Dr. Zorn, do
you remember me? And of course I could tell he had no idea who that person was. And he said, well,
I'm sorry, did I teach you? And she said, yes.
30 some odd years ago, I graduated from your class and she went right to the state DNR and she's been
there ever since. And she was so excited, but so many people came up that had had Kurt in school. So
it's really, it's, you know, things just kind of go around and it was fun. So it was a good conference.
Kurt had a good time, great classes. So it was busy. It's a busy time for us. That's Councilor Wilts.
Thank you.
The reassessment fund is one of the frozen levy five. And it looks like it's slated to be short for
27 with this budget, which we've bumped into with a couple of things. And I know we can rearrange, but
it's something that I just wanted to
that's something you're aware of or if you're. Every year and seems like every budget year it goes up
and down. I never know if it's going to be. You know, because it's one of the funds that you kind of
voice it on that frozen levy. I thought and Marty, of course, is my
We never, you know, it's also a dedicated fund that what we don't use this year rolls into next year.
You know that and that that helps us. We kind of stay ahead of the curve just because of that. I'm sorry,
Marty. Those have any questions. It is one of the funds that I said we have to keep an eye on because when we
didn't give the levy growth to any of these other funds and kept it all in county general. It appeared
anyway that some of those funds were going to have to take some of the levy from county general so that
we, because once again, if there's not enough money in each individual separate fund, they can't borrow
from, you know, without being paid back in the same year unless they've changed law on that.
so we don't want anybody not being able to pay the bills i think the auditor wanted to comment on that
if i may um i think we've um discussed at each meeting we've had recently um what we did was funnel
We left things just as they were last year, or I'm sorry, the last budget season for 2026 this year.
The way the levy was, we put everything additional into general, that we have no intention of things
remaining. That's completely up to you. So we just prepared you to be able to move things around as
you feel necessary. So that is why we did that. Typically anything that we can possibly spare from the
other funds goes into the general fund. So we have it set up that way to begin. However, this is
you know, it's your role, obviously, to spread that money out. Anybody else have any questions or comments
on this budget item? All right. Seeing none, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Hawk? Yes.
Councilor Wilts? Yes. Councilor Henry? Yes. Councilor Deckard? Yes. Councilor Crossley? Yes.
Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Motion passes unanimous. Thank you. I like your new process.
Thank you. Have a wonderful night. I had 25 minutes. I have never had 25 minutes and I didn't even take
it. It's okay. I tried to use it. That you did. Can I ask one question? Yes, go ahead. Don't come here.
What happened to the hands on the clock? Got the night off.
We're saving money. We're not chasing. We're not saving money. It's all about. I think that was a part
of the budget presentation. But thank you. That was a good laugh. We need it that way. All right. We
can always count on the assessor for making budget lively. All right. Next up is our aviation department.
Council I move to open for discussion or end review. Fund 1107-0000 aviation fund and fund 4801-0000
aviation construction. Second. All right. We got a motion and a second. We are joined by Mr Carlos Leverty.
Welcome. Good evening. How are we all doing tonight? Wonderful. We have a pretty straightforward 2027
proposed budget.
that we've included. One including myself. The only elective increase we're asking for is in part time
to return us to 2025 levels of 40,000.
But since then, we've hired an ASC certified mechanic on our part time roster to help us out with the
equipment that we have and to help with that and to help us with the long term savings of not having
to send our equipment out to retail locations in town. So we're trying to put $10,000 there to save
us more money in the long term with services.
The. In the two hundreds, the only increase I'm asking for in the two hundreds. Is. Line 24202 and it
didn't make it into the projected budget here, but it's 24202 gas oil and lubricants.
We programmed $19,000, but we've already expended $26,000 this year. So I'm asking for an amount of
$28,500 for next year. And that's largely our fuel costs for the airport equipment that we use to plow
snow and such. All right, is that it?
Okay, sorry. I'm going manual paper mode here today. Go for it, yeah. In the 300s, we have a 20% predicted
increase in our other insurance. This is line 33008. We were notified to expect a 20% increase, and
so that is reflected in that $81,240 amount there.
And we were also informed by CBU for utilities on line 36003. We were told to expect a 4% increase,
and that's reflected in the $76,648 amount there. That's what our change is for 1107. And in 4801 Aviation
Construction Fund,
We've set aside some dollars there. This is the revenue fund. We've set aside $1,250 for our Airbnb
supplies. $10,000 for contractual services.
$10,000 for contractual, 35,000 for promotion, advertising and these were lines here in the threes that
were removed from the 11 07 budget, so we're using airport revenue to directly fund. These lines 10,000
for contractual 30,000 35,000 for promotion, advertising 2500 for Airbnb services like repairs that
have to happen from time to time. And we've
which happens time to time and the remaining vehicle purchase. And. What the remaining lines with the
$1 they're just placeholders for us in there. Oh, sorry. That is all I have really weird. OK, sorry,
it's OK. I just that was OK.
have any questions or comments for Mr. Larry? Yes, Council member Henry. Thank you, Madam President.
Thank you for being in two questions. So what was the what was the gas amount again on 24202? It's 28
requesting 28,500. I've OK, thank you on that. Then the 36 years or three that the CBU utilities. Yes,
so related to this.
Are we able to talk about our progress about getting a larger pipe out there? Is that something you
want to get into tonight? But I only ask in the context of, is this going to need to be a little larger
once we get some pipe? We're not trying to. So we do have the will serve letter, which is wonderful.
And we're not trying to front that. We're not trying to bring a pipe onto airport property without a
solid lead.
And we're actively pursuing that with some other projects that I'm not prepared to talk about tonight.
But optimistically, what I can say is in the last two weeks, we have entered into serious negotiations
with two contractors involved with stuff going on at Westgate. And we think we found a home for two
of those on airport property. Not necessarily new builds, but they're taking advantage of space that
was empty and available.
And I don't know what happened, but about three weeks ago, the phone just started ringing off the hook
at our offices with Westgate folks looking for a place to set up shop, and they want to be on airport
property. So we're very optimistic about the outlook there. Great. Well, I guess they'll be paying that
utility at some point, not us. But that is a desire. Yes. We've got to use that as a wedge to talk about
it. But I think we're good. Thank you, Madam President. Anybody else have any questions or comments? No. Oh.
Councilor Wilts. In the aviation construction budget, I'm sure I have been provided the revenue for
information, but I have too much paper and I can't find it. Could someone tell me? That's a real thing.
The estimated revenue entered for the 4B is $140,902. Well within your means on that front unless I'm
mistaken. Oh, yes. Oh, yeah. Okay. All right.
that was all I wanted to check so it's very good question anybody else yes councilmember hawk right
would you explain to to us in the public where the money comes from for that construction fund yeah
I love answering this question this is all
revenue that is generated on airport property through leasing the land that we own, charging for services
such as landing fees for commercial operators. We charge a percentage, nine cents a gallon for every
gallon of fuel that is pumped on airport property and other various charges like providing aircraft
rescue firefighting services when the airline charters come.
And yeah, business is good right now, and we're seeing unprecedented levels of revenue generation. What
about the farmers? Where does that money go? That goes right into that construction fund. And I can't
tell you on hand right now, I forget.
What we're what we're getting per year out of that, but that is the farm lease. I think we farm approximately
300 acres of airport property and that is probably our number one revenue generator right there a lot
of popcorn being produced.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. We want some popcorn and a lot of they do a lot of popcorn and I keep forgetting
to take him up on the offer, but I'd love to maybe perhaps bring Council some airport popcorn sometime.
Airport. I love that. Yeah. Look at everybody. Thanks for sharing that because I'm not sure everyone
knows how hard you work to try
For me, that's probably my number two goal, besides making the airport the safest environment we possibly
can. But revenue generation, all airports, they don't all like to talk about it, but we have a mandate
from the FAA to strive for self-sufficiency and not rely on local tax dollars to operate. So we want
to make aviation pay for aviation. All right, well, best of luck.
That's why when you hear me talk about making that west side developable, you know, and cleaning up
the Cave Creek watershed, that's all about making the airport acreage that we have that's not available
for aviation use, like an extra runway or something that we don't need. But instead of just having that
sitting there follow and even unfarmable, let's get that shovel ready. Let's put some development in
there, generate some revenue for airport, and that'll go into
right back into our coffers so that we can rely on those dollars instead of the levy. Well, you're singing
my tune on this because that your location and I don't know that we've always thought of it like that,
but that location is such a hop, skip and jump from so much going on on that West side and the West
side gets often very overlooked. But between life sciences, Ivy Tech,
the amount of people moving, flowing, going, working, looking for work, and now we have transit access.
I just think that that is something to keep an eye on that has not traditionally been something that
eyeballs have been glaring at there. Seeing Council Member Iverson has something.
Before I make the motion on gas oil and lubricants, I wanted to ask a question that I try and ask every
single year. How many years out are we from commercial flights? I ask every. Yeah, you do. And it's
an exciting question. I'm going to say, do I have to give a number?
you can say whatever you want because I'd rather an honest answer than let's say yeah let's say let's
say let's say an honest number let's say 10 years and it's because you know the economics and the reality
of what a commercial flight is going to be in the future is rapidly changing with eVTOL and
You know, nobody wants to talk about Project Skyforge anymore, but that type of aviation is rapidly
developing and becoming available when it comes online. It's going to be available to smaller regional
airports like this, where it's going to connect us to, you know, a hub airport like IND. And so the
theory is you'll be able to go to the Monroe County Airport, check in there with your
with your airline, give them your bags or whatever, and you'll get on this electric vehicle of some
sort. Initially, it'll be piloted by a human being. In the future, it won't be. And then you'll get
dropped off right at your terminal where you're going to catch a hydrogen-powered 737, 757. That's the
future. But I can't tell you exactly how long it's going to be till it comes here.
The economics of getting on an Embraer 135 now, like you do at IND, but the economics of getting on
a commuter jet right now to go to Chicago or Washington, D.C., it's just not quite there yet. You would
need about you and 40,000 of your best friends to fly every single year out of Monroe County Airport
to make that happen. There's other airports that have a slightly better
and they do have air carrier service, but it's being subsidized into the millions of dollars every year
by a large institution. And in in conversations that we've had in the community, there doesn't really
seem to be an appetite for that large of a subsidy here. The only one and the only one that keeps asking
alright time for emotion. I love the question. Alright, well in fund 1107 aviation dash 0000.
And then we're going to line 24202 gas, oil and lubricants. We just wanna make sure the screens caught
up with what I'm saying. We're gonna set that line please to $20,500. Second. All right, we got a motion
and a second on the item. Any further questions or comments on this amendment? Seeing none.
All those in favor of this amendment should abide by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign.
All right, motion carries. Thank you much for that. And yes. So I received a text message from Amy Garst,
who is the financial person, and she said the farm takes in 103,931,000 per year.
$103,931 per year. Yeah. That's what I said. Yeah. I like it. It's Amy. Thank you, Amy. Yeah. And I
think before we move to Rojava, I think Councilor Walts had a question. Just one more question. It's
about Wi-Fi and connectivity because I know that y'all are out there.
I know that you're one of the offices that isn't connected hardwired to the rest of the county, which
is a lot to deal with, I'm sure. But A, is that posing any development issues for you? Or are you able
to work around that with other? OK, this is something that I don't really
understand very well. I've asked over the years, numerous times, and here we go, Amy. Amy asked me about
this every week because it's killing her because she can't do her job at airport property. She's got
to file her claims and everything else that has to be done. So she's always borrowing desks in various
departments with these folks here and they see her.
And then she has to come back to the airport to do her work. So I see her half the time in her office
at the airport and then half the time she's either at the highway offices or the showers building until
they kick her out because they leave at a certain time that she's not done working. So I've asked this,
we have commercial fiber at the airport, but I've been told it doesn't meet
the requirements that the county has or there are certain pieces of equipment that would have to be
installed at the airport to make it compatible. And I know I'm butchering this, but I'm sure TSD can
come behind me and clarify this for everybody. But I've just been told either the infrastructure isn't
there or it costs too much. But the Board of Aviation Commissioners has inquired
to get the infrastructure in place. And we haven't been given a clear answer. And I don't recall offhand
if it was a technical issue that is that that could not be overcome or if perhaps it just
it just got forgotten about. But we've asked numerous times, if it's $50,000, let us know because we
have the construction fund and the board would be more than happy to pay for that if it's something
we can afford. But there seems to be, I don't know what it is, if it's a technical issue or if it's
something else, but we don't have clarity on that. But I'm not trying to step on anyone's toes because
I wasn't prepared for this question tonight and I can't remember what
the issue, what the answer was. But I can tell you, yeah, it's killing Amy. And it bothers the board
of aviation commissioners. And it's something that we want to fix. Because we have fiber. We do have
fiber from different commercial providers on airport property. And so I just don't know what the issue
is. I'll ask around. Yeah. Yeah. Well, just to kind of follow up on that,
If we think about this era where tomorrow morning is 25 years post 9-11, airports these days, commercial
or not, by their nature are some of the most secure locations we could possibly have in comparison to
other things in the county. I don't know. I would hope. Yeah. So my gosh, if we put a man on the moon
in 1969, there's got to be a way on that airport. I don't understand it because there's several different
providers that do have fiber and I know for factors AT&T is bringing fiber into the tower because that
was an FAA initiative they in the last couple years they've been working on replacing all copper lines
with fiber and we were one of those projects this year so AT&T goes to the tower and I know that we
have Smithville bringing fiber in for our purposes um and TSD is aware of that but I just
And maybe they gave me a really good reason that I cannot just recall at the moment, but I think it
was something like the fiber that we do have just doesn't meet the requirements or we don't have the
infrastructure, the magic box that would plug in at the airport to put us on the county's network. But
that's a question for TSD, not me. We've inquired and we just don't get anywhere. But I love everybody.
I love you. Can I steal that one? We love everybody, but you asked the direct question, and it's a question
that we've asked, and I get asked by the board, and I get asked by Amy all the time, and it just doesn't
go anywhere. So I'm asking a different question. Yes, we love everybody. Does the highway garage have
this ability? Yes.
That was the five minutes. That's your five minutes. Oh, five minutes, excuse me. Yeah, so we know that
it's going down here. I don't know. This is a question for TSD. And if there's a financial matter, we've
inquired to what that cost would be. I see the auditor's office had their hand.
I do just want to chime in. I have seen the struggle that happens with this office. Amy is a frequent
flyer in our office. She'll come over to submit claims. There are positives and negatives to different
office environments, especially whenever you don't have control over the atmosphere, and that's fine.
But I just want to say,
She tries her best to be effective and efficient and does everything in her power. She does jump through
our offices and we recognize. And even something as simple as running a ledger can take her far longer
than any other department. That seems onerous. Onerous. That's a good word. Thank you. Yeah, it is.
Yeah. So I thank you for asking the question.
And if there's anything that you folks can do to help us get answers on that, even if it's an answer
that we don't want to hear, but clarity would be wonderful. All right. But we love everybody. We appreciate
the love, even when in pain. OK, may we please have a roll call vote? Councilor Decker? Yes. Councilor
Crosley? Yes.
Councilor Iverson? Yes. Councilor Feidl? Yes. Councilor Hawk? Yes. Councilor Wilts? Yes. And Councilor
Henry? Yes. Motion passes, unanimous. Thank you very much. What was that motion for again? It passed
the budget. Did we do the? Amendment. We did the amendment, okay. We got to take care of it. We got
to take care of it. Thank you very much. Have a great night. You too. Thank you, Amy.
All right next up is from the auditor's office. Council I move to open for discussion and review funds
1000-002 general fund auditor fund 1181-0000 plat book fund and finally fund 1216-0000 auditors ineligible
fund. All right we got a motion and a second. Ms. Gregory take it away.
Yes, thank you, Council. This is going to be quick and painless. So just starting with the general fund,
well, for all of our funds, we followed your direction, kept a flat budget, even in areas where we know
you'll probably see me all the time anyway, but where you'll see us come back for an additional more
than likely. So our general fund budget has a 1.8% increase, and that's just due to the COLA adjustments.
but there was some fluctuation where we had some turnover with personnel so some of the account lines
were a little higher somewhere a little lower but that's where we ended up so just a couple notes for
you to keep in mind we know that postage is increasing again we kept that line flat we'll come back
to you for an additional if necessary if we can't move some things around
we've been able to purchase. Additionally supplies we haven't had to purchase paper printer paper in
quite some time we had a back stock with rainbow printing where we got a great deal. Years ago we have
since run out so we know that there's going to be an expense there as well. So that is everything in
my general fund budget for you
the contractual line. Um major. It's not major, but the only shift there is, um, there, um, is $7000.
I believe it was that went from a, um. Employee personnel line over to the contractual line. Um all
that is is for our, um our tiff neutralization. We are not contracting with an employee anymore. We are
takes care of that budget. And then PLAT stayed exactly the same from last year. This fund has a lower
cash balance. We are not really utilizing PLAT right now, but I do want to keep that $500 budgeted in
office supplies, just as if we can use that perhaps before coming to you in the general fund or so forth.
I'm happy to entertain any questions. I usually give you a little bit of history on how the auditors
and eligible and plaque book are funded. You've heard it many times, but auditors and eligible is just
from those ineligible homestead and back tax and associated fees. So that goes into that fun and can
be used for any auditor services. Essentially,
are collection of fees for legal descriptions and has to be used just for maintaining those records.
Very much for that. Thank you all. Any questions on the auditor's budget for the auditor? You did good.
We obviously have no questions for you. Bueller?
I know Councilor Wilton are the liaisons for this and so we met with Ms. Gregory and Ms. Woodruff and
as always very pleased with how this always turns out so thank you for that. Okay seeing no other seeing
no questions or comments on this may we please have a roll oh did you sorry you got one more
Yes, I'm so sorry. I failed to mention with my auditors and eligible funds, we're going to need to watch
that cash balance closely. Obviously, we're not going to let it go into the negative. But if we do expend
our anticipated budget, which we're waiting on some invoices in our contractual line just for audit
support, gap compilation, et cetera, we could run into trouble in 2027. But again, we'll keep an eye
on that. We'll come to you and express any need for change.
right sounds good thank you very much for that the roll call vote counselor iverson yes counselor fido
yes counselor hawk yes counselor wilts yes counselor henry yes counselor dickard and counselor crossley
yes motion passes unanimous all right
very much, and that concludes the auditor's presentation for the evening. Speaking of the auditor, something
was brought to my attention yesterday by Ms. Gregory. And so I wanted to be able to give her the floor
to talk to us about this. Ms. Woodruff is going to start on this. We'll kind of tag team, but she's
pulling it up now, and we'll talk it through. OK, thank you all.
With the new gateway, with the new gateway changes, it makes moving some information across those programs
a little bit more cumbersome. As we found, if we have to unsubmit the form three, it undoes all of our
work that we've done in the form four and in the form one. And that is all the budget changes you make
at these sessions. So if we can get,
the levies close to where we think they will be, that would be really helpful because we're going to
have to unsubmit the Form 3 already. We are willing to unsubmit and resubmit as many times as the state
allows us, but the less we have to do that, the less work it will be for our office. Right in front
of you, I have the document displayed for the deep dive calculation, and these are showing all of those
levy funds. So if you guys had interest in discussing
where you want those levies to be for 2027. We can discuss that tonight. We cannot discuss it. It's
really up to what you guys would like to do at this moment. Thank you for that. Any questions? I think
I saw Councilor Wilts his hand up and then I'll go Iverson next. So if we discuss it tonight, you're
not going to go in and make changes based on that right away, are you?
We will not. I mean, for advertisement, we have the drop dead date of when we need to advertise. Statutorily,
we need to advertise by a certain date. As far as the adopted amounts, no. I mean, we'll have placeholders
in there. But you still, until the adoption, you can do anything you want. I guess my question is, you
don't want to keep going in and out because you have to redo all the work. But you're going to have
to go in at least one more time.
It better to have the conversation now why. So I just to clarify for the form three. we're just going
to go back in and and tweak the.
we don't need to have a discussion on that right now, but it does. As far as the changes, like we know
that we're going to go have to go back in and redo the changes that occur with the 4B as far as like
budgetary. But as far as the levy, the two sections are different. So the advertisement levy and the
adopted levy. Does that make sense? We were just talking about getting you better numbers on the adopted
version of the 4B, which is kind of the closer to actual.
just so you can kind of see where you might actually end up. Now, having said that, I do, depending
on how you want to go, it does seem like there might be some work necessary to maybe reduce some of
those budgets so we don't have huge swings in levy raises and some of those funds. However, I mean,
that's totally up to the seven of you.
And another aspect of this is as we also need to be as we're making adjustments in those funds those
minimum. Balances are really important that we need to be paying attention to I agree that that we do
need to reduce those funds but at the same time I think and that's if you whoever's controlling the
screen you scroll to the right just a little bit that's where that minimum fund balance information
is and so I I really appreciate that that's right next to all of the.
the deep dive, because that's gonna be an important aspect of what we're thinking about. Yeah,
and if I may, that's something Councilor Hawk is so great at pointing out for us and reminding us just
that, you know, from that end of the year and for the first six months, we need to be able to get through
and pay our bills. So that's why that's important. Right. Council Hall. I'm sorry. Oh, no, no, go ahead, go ahead.
It's essential we get that conversation with the commissioners, because we don't know what we're doing
until they say what we can do with the edit. You see what I'm saying? We're all sitting here, tied up,
waiting on two out of three commissioners to say, oh, well, we'll let you give everybody a raise,
or no, we don't. I mean, we're just sitting here. We're doing the best we can. And thank you.
to our council president because this has not been as onerous as we thought it could be, but we haven't
hit the heavy watershed. We may have a lot of heavy lifting to do. So how can we tell you except that
my theory is we've got to make each of those funds that's in the max levy funds come out whole for the
midpoint of next year.
That's what you've got to end up making sure you're carrying forward that much. So that means that's
how much you've got to help it. We know it's reassessment. We've got to help. We know it's health department.
We've got to help. And I know there's people counting on, oh, well, they won't spend all the money they
have. So we'll count on reversions. That's a scary thought. The aviation wasn't that short? Election
was short.
Whichever ones all of them are probably all of them because none of them are given that the increase
we kept all the increase and I understand why the auditor did this she pulled all the levy increases
into general and she pulled all of that miscellaneous revenue from
would have left no room for the 2% raise. So I mean, I just don't
I mean, but I think we need some guidance from the auditor's office. Okay, a couple things. Tuesday,
when we conversed with Ms. Kelly a bit regarding her funds and reversions,
that they're going to utilize most of their budget. I guess they are planning on purchasing that vehicle.
They're working with maintenance. And so this that
budget. It looks like roughly maybe I think it was around $130,000. She thought would revert rather
than. The sizable sum because they've spent very little so far in this 2026 budget. I said right there.
So what about that? What about that vehicle? So yes, I think more conversation needs to occur there.
We need to look and see if she
that we're going to have a lot of uncertainty in 2027 as well. A lot of uncertainty. Um at this point,
unfortunately. Now with regard to the election fund, I think it might be beneficial to talk more with
the clerk. Um we know inflation is going to increase expenses, but my understanding is it's just.
I don't understand the increase, I guess, the significant increase that we're seeing with that budget.
We were reimbursed for that city election last time. It was just under $500,000, I believe. So again,
we just need some explanation to understand the numbers. Thank you very much for that. And I mean, also
to Councilor Hawke's point too,
I know we potentially have those things moved over currently in edit, but this is like we're waiting
pending approval. So next week is the final round of budget hearings and or budget presentations. And
then on the 22nd is when again as a reminder like we did yesterday is when we will have that conversation
and the goal is to make sure that we leave that meeting on the 22nd with a clear understanding of.
what we can and what we cannot do. Because if we cannot, then we are in a kerfuffle and we are going
to have to work a lot of hard work hard. So I know maybe some folks might be watching, but we really
hope that we can do this together. And I hope that conversation on the 22nd can be very helpful and
beneficial so that we can do what we need to do.
anybody else? Yes, Councilor Henry, and then I'll go back to Hawk. Thank you for that. And thank you
for that walkthrough too. Yeah. Yeah, maybe I don't really have much more to add on that other than
I think with the election fund specifically that I have maybe Councilor Hawk is the only one that has
institutional memory about the last time we changed over clerks. It's been 10 years. Has anyone else
been here? Well, it's now you guys renew. So it's really you. So so
I was wondering. Is the election board sort of the caretaker of that budget until the new clerk get
seated and I didn't hear a lot from the board you know about what it needed to do a municipal next year
isn't the next first walking in and immediately has to get to work on that election.
I guess I don't know what I was thinking I'd see in that, you know, in terms of what that would carry
over on, you know, what's necessary versus, you know, it's like the acting clerk or it's like when I
think about federal government turnover, like somebody's in charge of the shop until the new folks get
there and I don't know what that looks like. But that budget may need a little more analysis on it,
especially when we didn't have the good numbers about the municipal costs like in front of us last night
or the other night.
I agree with everybody here. I am very hopeful that this is an easy year. Last year, we put the edit
to work as a sort of a bludgeon to try to get through to the budget to get us deficit neutral to zero.
If we have to scramble like that again, it's yeah, it's not gonna be short nights, but no, thank you,
Madam President. I appreciate it. Yeah.
You and Councilmember Iverson are the liaisons to the clerk's office. So maybe that's something that
you two can work together with to take a look at. The last one was 23. Or citywide elections was 23.
Yeah. Okay. So maybe we can look at that. Councilor Hogg. Okay. Regarding the election fund budget.
A few years ago,
in our wisdom after getting slapped with trying to come up with money for the presidential election
we determined that we would put back every year one fourth of the amount of the money that we thought
the presidential election would be and left it in that election fund because we will have to cover that
presidential election whether we have that in the fund or the county general fund and it was like a
forced way to do it
It was not sitting there as slush money. It was a forced way to do it. And yet we have act like we,
it's gonna be free. I mean, where are we gonna get the money? That's gonna be, it's gonna hit us right
in the head when we have to come up with that money, because it is not going to be inexpensive. So that's
the reason why that fund is supposed to be sitting there with more money to carry over. Anyway, that's
my two cents on that. My other,
thought that I wanted to share was I haven't heard back about the uh the state's what is health first
or whatever healthy first uh that the thought was well we're going to be getting that anytime well you
know it was also the thought that you know she's going to have all this money left over and that wasn't
true so I think we've just got to be very very careful about that whole health fund those two funds
now that's going to come together
I'm just a worry board. I'm sorry, guys. No, that's fine. It's okay. It's okay. Did I hear somebody
else maybe make your comment? Okay. So with that being said, thank you to the auditor's office for bringing
that to our attention and sorry to hear that
that's changing some numbers that are entering that information in. Ed, may I have another request?
Yes. Unless maybe it's someplace, and I'm just missing it. I understand that they didn't want to enter
all the different numbers about whether it's got re-arrays or whatever, and they had just put in a higher
number and just sort of left it like that. But I'm not seeing like that actual number of requests.
that would be to cover that raise. I mean, where is this? I'm not sure I'm following what you're saying.
They put it in the budgets. It's already baked into their each budget. It's all in the budgets, but
I thought there was some recognition that they put in the advertised amount at 40% higher. But that
other number that is less,
not sure that that actually covered all the 2% raise. I mean, I'm just trying to figure out what is
the real number of what the requests are, not just the number that we pretended. So there are a couple
of resources that I know about. And one, I checked my email today, and there's
a really cool sheet with the updates from each session, and those are the right numbers. It's a spreadsheet
from Kim, and she resends it. I saw that. Part of what I think is confusing is the packets have that
40 percent budget. I've been following along on the screen,
for the past meetings and tonight for the first time, I just followed in the packet thinking that's
probably better, but it is, there's a trade off because the packet includes that 40% inflation for the
current. And so you're not comparing apples to oranges in the same way. So it is very, it is hard to
reconcile. I wanna look at the packet because it's supposed to have
requested and published, right? So you'll have the actual plus the publication numbers. Go for it. Yeah,
while Michelle's looking that up, I can give you a quick rundown of the end of year numbers for the
past few years for that election fund if you're interested. Just because we have been kind of rebuilding it.
If you will, so 2022, we ended under a million dollars, $957,114,000. Then 2023, we ended pretty close,
$928,527. End of 2024, $1,436,661. And then we ended 2025 with over $2 million.
we've had a larger budget this year, so 2,064,850. So I think it feels like we've been slowly kind of
building it back up now. You know, I we've. Had a larger budget again this year, so we'll have to see
where we end up, but. You are correct. The budgets that we have been putting into the packet does include
the advertisement because we were not allowed to enter or remove the
there was a reason Carly wanted to make sure something balanced before we started moving that. So I
think the next week's budget will not have that in there, but the ones that we had sent out for like
the last week as well as this week have had that in there. But I did send a complete budget to you guys
that did not include
the advertising and it was in an email and when I find it, I will resend it back out. But it is also
there should have been a link to it. That's in the SharePoint that you guys should be able to get to.
and I'll let the auditor respond. Yeah. Yeah. To clarify, we needed one of the two categories, like
the published, for example, to remain the same so we could audit against it. However, then the requested
is where the changes are being made and where we identified Michelle could remove those advertisement
totals. Another way to do that would be just to exclude those advertisement fund numbers so you can
get the actuals to provide you with reports.
And that's what I did. I sent them a report without that in there. So, yeah. Oh, it had the report that
you're saying you sent out a few weeks ago. I don't think it had the raises in there yet. I've done
it twice. Yeah. I'm looking at the SharePoint one right now. Yeah.
I did one earlier before we did the cola, and then I did another one after the cola. That's right. It
was titled as such. Yes. That should be item 15 in your binder that you received. Oh, the binder.
Collaboration, look at this. Collaboration station. All right. Well, anything else that y'all would
like to add? Thank you all for bringing that to our attention.
And we got some work to do just within next week. But again, definitely on the 22nd, we definitely need
to bring our thinking caps in and work diligently with the commissioners as well with this. So yes,
Councilor Haas. And also I believe that tonight see something about the net assessed value was increased
we thought it was lower than there was another increase or something in the last few days. Did I not
see that? And if so, and I think this was part of your email, did I dream all this? That you adjusted
then how much the remember that Q funds are rate controlled funds. And so that rate is then tied to
the net assessed value. And so that would change how much
the major bridge. Uh. The cube funds would get in the cube bridge is in that Max Levy so. And I always
get confused exactly within how the major bridge is also. A right control fund and they but there's
not a part of the adjustments, but it is a part of the
So that's confusing to me. As far as I'm aware, the 2027 CNAP number is not going to change. So the
department seems satisfied with that. I did see that email come through Councilor Hawk. I think that
must be for, and I'll have to double check. I'll look for it and get back with you. But I believe that's
for the next billing cycle.
Okay. Well, thank you, everybody, and for departments for presenting those agenda items, presenting
your budget presentations. But that concludes for the evening and we are recessed until Tuesday, September
15th, 2026. Good night. Thank you. Thank you.