WEBVTT 00:00:00.258 --> 00:00:07.599 - Welcome, everyone. This is the Long Term Finance Committee meeting. Today is March the 31st, a Tuesday 00:00:07.599 --> 00:00:14.798 - at 1.30 p.m. here in the NatU Hill Room. And I want to acknowledge for the record that Councilmember 00:00:14.798 --> 00:00:22.068 - Crossley has stepped down from the Long Term Finance Planning Committee. And as the president pro tem 00:00:22.068 --> 00:00:26.558 - for the Monroe County Council, I will be filling that vacancy. 00:00:27.426 --> 00:00:34.838 - Given that, I would like to call today's meeting of the Long-Term Finance Planning Committee to order 00:00:34.838 --> 00:00:42.105 - this Tuesday, March 31st. I want to note for the record that we have Councilmember Liz Feidl in the 00:00:42.105 --> 00:00:49.663 - room and Councilmember Marty Hawk is yet to join us. So we'll keep an eye out for her virtually or here 00:00:49.663 --> 00:00:54.750 - in the NatU Hill Room. Does anybody wish to amend today's agenda? No. 00:00:55.202 --> 00:01:02.187 - All right. In that case, since there's no changes to today's agenda, all those in favor of adopting 00:01:02.187 --> 00:01:09.382 - today's agenda signify by saying aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. The motion carries unanimous. 00:01:09.382 --> 00:01:16.576 - Next, we'll move on to the election of the chair. And since this is the first meeting of the long-term 00:01:16.576 --> 00:01:24.190 - finance for 2026, we need to elect a chair and a vice chair. Councilmember Feidl, do we have any nominations 00:01:24.190 --> 00:01:24.958 - for chair? 00:01:25.986 --> 00:01:39.128 - you. I accept that nomination and, uh. Let's see. I think we need to now have a motion to well, let's 00:01:39.128 --> 00:01:49.950 - do in turn here. A motion to accept this chair and so moved. All right. We've got a 00:01:50.690 --> 00:01:57.387 - Any other comments? Looking here to make sure that Council Member Hawke is not present. All right, and 00:01:57.387 --> 00:02:04.213 - we need to do a roll call on this. You're all present, I believe. All right, all those in favor of Peter 00:02:04.213 --> 00:02:10.845 - Iverson as Chair of the Long-Term Finance Committee, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? The ayes 00:02:10.845 --> 00:02:17.867 - have it unanimously. Next, I would like to nominate Council Member Liz Feidl as Vice Chair of the Long-Term 00:02:17.867 --> 00:02:19.102 - Finance Committee. 00:02:19.202 --> 00:02:25.983 - do you accept the nomination? Yes. Excellent. In that case, I move to accept Liz Fiddle as vice chair 00:02:25.983 --> 00:02:32.963 - of the Long-Term Finance Committee. Is there a second? Second. All right. Hearing a motion and a second, 00:02:32.963 --> 00:02:39.877 - are there any other comments? Again, making sure that we don't have another council member on the line. 00:02:39.877 --> 00:02:46.791 - All right, we don't. So all those in favor of Council Member Liz Fiddle as vice chair for the Long-Term 00:02:46.791 --> 00:02:49.118 - Finance Committee, please say aye. 00:02:49.506 --> 00:02:57.559 - Aye. All those opposed? The ayes have it unanimously. All right. Last thing before we get to our esteemed 00:02:57.559 --> 00:03:05.841 - guests is the approval of the summary minutes. I move to approve the June 6th and August 1st, 2025 long-term 00:03:05.841 --> 00:03:13.514 - finance summary meetings minutes as presented. Second. Are there any questions from the committee on 00:03:13.514 --> 00:03:14.654 - these minutes? 00:03:15.938 --> 00:03:23.007 - All right, all those in favor of approving the summary minutes as presented signify by saying aye. Aye. 00:03:23.007 --> 00:03:29.939 - All those opposed, same sign. The motion carries unanimously. All right, now we're going to move into 00:03:29.939 --> 00:03:36.736 - the meat of our conversation. The first item on our agenda is a presentation from the Monroe County 00:03:36.736 --> 00:03:40.542 - Trustees Association. We have President, is that right? 00:03:40.962 --> 00:03:47.375 - chair. I think so. All right. Of the Bloomington Township Trustee Efrat Rosser, we have Leon Gordon 00:03:47.375 --> 00:03:53.275 - from the Perry Township Trustees Office and Rita Barrow from the Van Buren Trustees Office. 00:03:53.275 --> 00:03:59.752 - So thank you, Township Trustees, for your presence here. The floor is yours. Tell us what we need to 00:03:59.752 --> 00:04:06.422 - know. Thank you so much, Chair, Chairman, and to all the committee members and council members for your 00:04:06.422 --> 00:04:10.270 - time and for being really proactive on these conversations. 00:04:10.402 --> 00:04:16.414 - We know this will all sneak up on us and we want the public to be well informed and engaged and. 00:04:16.514 --> 00:04:23.615 - you're leading the way. So I also want to acknowledge we have some colleagues joining us via Teams. 00:04:23.615 --> 00:04:30.858 - I believe Michelle Bright, the Benton Township Trustee, Joan Hall from Salt Creek Township, and Scott 00:04:30.858 --> 00:04:38.527 - Smith from Polk Township. And I apologize if I missed anyone. And while we're not here necessarily speaking 00:04:38.527 --> 00:04:46.480 - as an official organization today, we're here as a majority of the members who've had a chance to come together 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:54.850 - around some of the information that we shared out with you in a packet. And if you don't mind, we'll 00:04:54.850 --> 00:05:03.219 - just take you through it because I think we're just concerned about our future as it relates to some 00:05:03.219 --> 00:05:11.589 - of the changes that the state mandated via SB1 and other legislation in the next couple of years and 00:05:11.589 --> 00:05:16.478 - looking for your partnership to work through these issues. 00:05:16.898 --> 00:05:25.071 - Countships, a real quick overview. We are the most localized grassroots layer of government in Indiana, 00:05:25.071 --> 00:05:26.878 - where each independent 00:05:26.946 --> 00:05:34.567 - government units that respond to our unique community needs and challenges. But the overarching themes 00:05:34.567 --> 00:05:42.262 - are that we are sort of that safety net, and in a lot of communities, the only one. Here we have a more 00:05:42.262 --> 00:05:49.661 - robust one, but we're often that final barrier between a resident in crisis and homelessness. So we 00:05:49.661 --> 00:05:56.542 - like to say that we prevent evictions and homelessness every day, every week. We keep people 00:05:56.770 --> 00:06:05.792 - safely housed with utilities and heat on. We provide food, we can provide assistance with certain medical 00:06:05.792 --> 00:06:14.303 - needs, and we help pay for the burials of folks who may not have had the means to do so themselves. 00:06:14.303 --> 00:06:22.814 - On the third slide, if you're following along, we did just want to put a chart together and I think 00:06:23.394 --> 00:06:34.612 - I want to thank Rita for pulling this together. With the scope of all of our. Combined assistance to 00:06:34.612 --> 00:06:46.274 - households and individuals in Monroe County so if you take the eleven townships and look at those totals 00:06:46.274 --> 00:06:50.494 - at the bottom combined just last year 00:06:50.626 --> 00:07:00.850 - is almost 2400 households and the value of that assistance is over 1.3 million and this doesn't capture 00:07:00.850 --> 00:07:02.718 - all the case work. 00:07:03.970 --> 00:07:11.996 - calls where people are inquiring about services, so information referral, as well as some other duties 00:07:11.996 --> 00:07:20.333 - that we statutorily have. So that's the quick overview. And then I'd love to turn it over to my colleague, 00:07:20.333 --> 00:07:28.124 - Leon Gordon, who put a lot of great work into digging into the financial picture and where we might 00:07:28.124 --> 00:07:30.462 - go from there. So Mr. Gordon? 00:07:30.594 --> 00:07:39.324 - Yes, thank you, and thank you all for having us today. As I mentioned, I wanted to take some time to 00:07:39.324 --> 00:07:48.141 - try to paint a picture of where our financial landscape lies, where our money comes from. And so I'll 00:07:48.141 --> 00:07:57.822 - start there and then kind of get into the scope of that landscape under the changes coming through legislation. 00:07:58.082 --> 00:08:07.350 - And so township funding comes from three core buckets. That's property taxes, you know, the levies. 00:08:07.350 --> 00:08:16.804 - Of course, the lit shares under the current system and smaller tax supplemental taxes like excise and 00:08:16.804 --> 00:08:26.814 - vehicle commercial taxes. And so, yes, our goal today is to hone in on what lit shares have been for us and 00:08:27.010 --> 00:08:35.274 - what we hope for them to continue to be. Moving on to the next slide, if you're following along, I chose 00:08:35.274 --> 00:08:43.774 - to hone in on Perry's Township's numbers, specifically zooming in to give a clear picture of our financials 00:08:43.774 --> 00:08:52.275 - with regard to how much we rely on it. As you could see, our property tax levy for 2025 is roughly 800,000, 00:08:52.275 --> 00:08:53.534 - and our current 00:08:53.730 --> 00:09:01.801 - Uh, lit baseline accounts for roughly, uh, 28, 28% of our, uh, operation, uh, operational revenue. Uh, 00:09:01.801 --> 00:09:03.838 - so roughly about a third. 00:09:04.098 --> 00:09:13.657 - of our operations relies on LIT to do the work that we do and the numbers that you see that are shared. 00:09:13.657 --> 00:09:23.584 - And so if we follow along to the next slide, zooming out to, we paint the same picture for our counterparts 00:09:23.584 --> 00:09:30.110 - and the landscape for contributions for property tax levy and then LIT 00:09:30.242 --> 00:09:38.432 - as well as the other smaller taxes as well. What I thought was critical here is, again, that picture 00:09:38.432 --> 00:09:46.541 - that that percentage of reliance holds true for pretty much all townships here. And so LIT has been 00:09:46.541 --> 00:09:54.731 - pretty critical to our baselines of operations. And if you could see that aggregate number there for 00:09:54.731 --> 00:09:59.678 - the total from this current distribution, it's 1.64 million. 00:10:00.034 --> 00:10:09.901 - And so we honing in on that number as a baseline as we think about the future, as that's where we currently 00:10:09.901 --> 00:10:19.493 - are. Moving on to the changes. And so what we understand, and the research that we've been digging into, 00:10:19.493 --> 00:10:29.086 - we're placed in the bucket, of course, with the non-municipal civil taxing units and that restriction of 00:10:30.434 --> 00:10:42.868 - of the total expenditure rate, which within our bucket townships have to share a maximum of 0.05% of 00:10:42.868 --> 00:10:55.672 - that lit expenditure rate. And so doing the math, what we projected, and again, I'm a little disclaimer 00:10:55.672 --> 00:10:58.750 - on the complete accuracy 00:10:58.978 --> 00:11:08.919 - of these numbers. That amount translates to a maximum available pool of roughly 2.14 million available 00:11:08.919 --> 00:11:16.158 - funds under the statute that is required by statute, the limit by statute. 00:11:16.290 --> 00:11:26.764 - And so put up against what our current numbers are, we provided you with a figure for what our needs 00:11:26.764 --> 00:11:37.238 - would be adjusted for inflation in 2028, which is roughly 1.77 million. All right. Follow that. Just 00:11:37.238 --> 00:11:39.934 - kind of to bring it home. 00:11:40.290 --> 00:11:50.133 - we're asking that take strong consideration to enact that total 0.05% percentage available to townships. 00:11:50.133 --> 00:11:59.600 - This is in the context of all the other constraints and other recent legislative changes, of course, 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:08.318 - with the changes to how valuations happen and the property taxes that we're gonna be able to 00:12:08.450 --> 00:12:13.950 - recoup and also the distribution 00:12:14.338 --> 00:12:31.517 - that we have a strong base line to seek to do the most good with with with each other. In terms of making 00:12:31.517 --> 00:12:44.158 - sure that every. Resident moral county has access to hardship relief. And I'm 00:12:45.538 --> 00:12:53.908 - speak just a little bit more on the landscape of change with regard to additional changes that we're 00:12:53.908 --> 00:13:02.278 - expecting as a reason to again advocate for that full funding. We understand that the implementation 00:13:02.278 --> 00:13:10.648 - of SB or Senate Enroll Act 270, the township merger is coming to fruition and by December 31st we'll 00:13:10.648 --> 00:13:15.454 - know ideally if there's going to be any force or mandated 00:13:15.810 --> 00:13:25.818 - merging and so in that within that scope. There's additional changes on the horizon for the merger with 00:13:25.818 --> 00:13:27.646 - Richland Township. 00:13:27.746 --> 00:13:37.049 - and Alexville that will significantly impact distribution formula and the math involved with that. 00:13:37.049 --> 00:13:46.916 - And again, as I mentioned, the per capita distributions. And so as we navigate that change, we're hoping 00:13:46.916 --> 00:13:57.534 - that we can anchor down on having your support to the maximum amount as possible with the idea of that changing. 00:13:57.730 --> 00:14:08.272 - it's evolving, and we hope to remain present to do the work that we do. And I will move now to turn 00:14:08.272 --> 00:14:18.919 - it over to Rita, who's our veteran here among us, to just again speak to the importance of townships 00:14:18.919 --> 00:14:24.190 - and why we would hope for your continued support. 00:14:32.770 --> 00:14:43.073 - I'm Rita Barrow, Van Buren Township Trustee. And what I'm about to say to you does not really have any 00:14:43.073 --> 00:14:53.776 - impact on one, anything they've said other than what we do. As trustees, we don't look at it as an elected 00:14:53.776 --> 00:15:02.078 - official. We look at it as a job for our constituents. Therefore, we go through as 00:15:02.914 --> 00:15:15.549 - I want you to understand. Everyone has said what we do each day. What I want you to understand is. We 00:15:15.549 --> 00:15:28.185 - have an office. We have an office with an open door. Individuals come in and some of their situations 00:15:28.185 --> 00:15:30.910 - in the positions and. 00:15:31.042 --> 00:15:40.662 - and talk with them one-on-one and we get them to understand that with us we can help certain things 00:15:40.662 --> 00:15:50.379 - and there are other things that we can help them with or direct them to. But things like individuals 00:15:50.379 --> 00:15:59.518 - that come in with a disease that they are looking for disability and still haven't received it 00:16:00.002 --> 00:16:09.943 - sometimes years later. So we are looking at them, we try to keep them as close as we can without overspending 00:16:09.943 --> 00:16:18.980 - on just one individual. We have families to come in with no income because they've lost their jobs, 00:16:18.980 --> 00:16:25.758 - they've been evicted. And so now they have no place to go, no food to eat, 00:16:26.114 --> 00:16:35.842 - their clothing, heaven knows where it comes from and what it looks like. Another thing, tornadoes. And 00:16:35.842 --> 00:16:45.570 - as you guys know, we have had these issues. So we, again, are out there. For individuals, we help with 00:16:45.570 --> 00:16:53.598 - Red Cross and us to try to get them into some place until they can get the insurance 00:16:53.698 --> 00:17:04.598 - and get started or find a place that they can rent for just a short time. We use our budgets to be able 00:17:04.598 --> 00:17:15.602 - to continue our jobs and to our residents. Like I said, we'd like to help with other departments, hoping 00:17:15.602 --> 00:17:20.318 - that those individuals will help us as well. 00:17:21.090 --> 00:17:29.331 - The LID funds we received allows us to place more of our budget into township assistance instead of 00:17:29.331 --> 00:17:38.066 - township general or any other fund, in turn, keeping our team members, our employees in a job, a facility 00:17:38.066 --> 00:17:46.802 - to work in, have a place for them, for individuals to come in that's needing help, in addition to keeping 00:17:46.802 --> 00:17:48.862 - our lights and utilities 00:17:49.314 --> 00:17:58.404 - whatever else we have to do, insurance. In closing, I just want you to realize that we as trustees place 00:17:58.404 --> 00:18:07.580 - our residents first before anything else, and I would be very grateful for the County Council to consider 00:18:07.580 --> 00:18:16.497 - and continue providing LIT to use for my and your constituents. Thank you for allowing us to speak and 00:18:16.497 --> 00:18:18.142 - your consideration 00:18:18.338 --> 00:18:27.491 - 1.05 in advance to continue to help townships. Thank you. Any questions? Well, before I go to my colleagues, 00:18:27.491 --> 00:18:36.561 - were there other township trustees online that had further comments? I believe we worked this out together, 00:18:36.561 --> 00:18:45.630 - but I certainly, if you want to pause and offer opportunity, I may have missed someone in my introductions. 00:18:48.322 --> 00:18:56.271 - Yeah, if you want to raise your hand on teams, if you are a township trustee and you'd like to add further 00:18:56.271 --> 00:19:03.923 - context to the data that was shared, that would be a good time to do so. All right, seeing none, let's 00:19:03.923 --> 00:19:11.352 - go to my council colleagues for questions and comments. I think I'm okay for now, but I'll continue 00:19:11.352 --> 00:19:14.398 - to listen and see if something comes up. 00:19:19.042 --> 00:19:28.308 - Mike down please. As you might know I do have questions and I apologize for not being here on time but 00:19:28.308 --> 00:19:37.664 - then you know my name is Marty and I'm like wherever I go I do too much one day can't do it. I'm seeing 00:19:37.664 --> 00:19:48.190 - that 0.05 and I'm trying to figure that out because I know that Liz and I are going to get further updates next week 00:19:48.290 --> 00:19:56.923 - when we go to the AIC meeting. It had been written before, so maybe things have definitely changed, 00:19:56.923 --> 00:20:06.160 - but it was supposed to be that the townships would be in the .02. So maybe this has all changed, something 00:20:06.160 --> 00:20:15.138 - new to me, but I've questioned it and so far I haven't seen the change. It's 1.2 for county operations, 00:20:15.138 --> 00:20:16.606 - it's .4 for fire 00:20:16.770 --> 00:20:30.139 - and EMS and 0.24 townships. Now, we can't do 100% of all that because we can't do any more than a certain 00:20:30.139 --> 00:20:38.590 - amount. We can't do any more than 1.7. So in order to hear you and 00:20:38.818 --> 00:20:45.977 - We also need to hear from the fire departments to see how that's going to work out and also to hear 00:20:45.977 --> 00:20:53.136 - from the library. But the big sticky point here is going to be from that Bloomington transportation 00:20:53.136 --> 00:21:00.438 - because they've already said they need all of the point two. And part of the legislation says that if 00:21:00.438 --> 00:21:07.454 - we should pass something that is higher than it is supposed to be, that they will take first from 00:21:07.682 --> 00:21:15.296 - the option one which is the 1.2 to operate county government. So this is for anybody to promise anything 00:21:15.296 --> 00:21:22.765 - right now would be a real mistake because we really don't have the numbers. Now I see our county legal 00:21:22.765 --> 00:21:30.016 - department getting up, I thought maybe he was, well I saw Jeff going that way, thought maybe he was 00:21:30.016 --> 00:21:37.630 - gonna correct me on that. And I'm willing to hear corrections because I don't know what is the point of, 00:21:37.858 --> 00:21:46.675 - What is the .05? Had you already explained that and I missed it? I'm sorry. I think as a simplistic 00:21:46.675 --> 00:21:56.021 - way of saying it, there are different pies within that 1.9 that you all have to figure out with different 00:21:56.021 --> 00:22:04.926 - caps, right? And we understand that we may be falling under one that includes the special districts, 00:22:05.570 --> 00:22:15.371 - but our current understanding is that within that townships alone would have 0.05. If that has changed 00:22:15.371 --> 00:22:24.887 - or you see something different, I think that's why we're here is to just talk this out. We also are 00:22:24.887 --> 00:22:34.878 - aware that you may be working with Reedy, right? Financial, is that fair to say that the county might be 00:22:35.138 --> 00:22:44.431 - that we could all go in together. Engaging a consultant. No. Okay Well, I guess there was discussion 00:22:44.431 --> 00:22:53.817 - amongst the group of if there is still analysis to be done that maybe we could all go in together. On 00:22:53.817 --> 00:23:03.294 - you know, work through a consultant to really. Put a stamp on all of this, but we were where there's a 00:23:03.554 --> 00:23:11.153 - in a part of whatever the point two is. But I hate to keep saying this, but we may not be able to do 00:23:11.153 --> 00:23:18.828 - the point two because the fire departments say we really have to have the point four and we're trying 00:23:18.828 --> 00:23:26.352 - to do ambulance service in there as well. Then the only place we could take it from would be county 00:23:26.352 --> 00:23:30.942 - operations, which is where we have to pay for the jail debt. 00:23:31.746 --> 00:23:39.764 - bond and I questioned that yesterday just to make sure we were still on track and yes, whatever we commit 00:23:39.764 --> 00:23:47.631 - to for the bond and repay whatever the assets set within that 1.2. I know that may not be what you want 00:23:47.631 --> 00:23:53.758 - to hear, but I think we all need to operate from this is where we sit right now. 00:23:54.338 --> 00:24:01.612 - And now there may be those who say, well, look, let's go ahead and pass the thing that the city wants 00:24:01.612 --> 00:24:08.815 - us to do, which is tax all the people who don't live in the city and send the majority of that money 00:24:08.815 --> 00:24:16.160 - to the city. You might know that I represent people who are in more rural areas, and they're not gonna 00:24:16.160 --> 00:24:18.014 - support that, nor will I. 00:24:18.210 --> 00:24:24.806 - But that doesn't mean it might not pass. There's a small amount of that money that might be coming back 00:24:24.806 --> 00:24:30.642 - to county government. So maybe they could figure out some way to move those dollars around. 00:24:30.642 --> 00:24:37.302 - I don't know, but I would not want to count on that happening because there's gonna be a major pushback. 00:24:37.302 --> 00:24:43.454 - That was what Senate Bill 1 was to begin with, was to quit taxing the people who live outside of 00:24:43.714 --> 00:24:51.309 - where they can vote, you know, if they can't vote for how it's going to be spent. So I wanted to share 00:24:51.309 --> 00:24:58.683 - that with you because I think we all need to be coming from the table of reality and then see where 00:24:58.683 --> 00:25:05.246 - we go. I think we fully understand the dilemma you're placed in in terms of there's more 00:25:05.538 --> 00:25:15.137 - the amount available to you to disperse, and you have some hard choices to make. So we can only be here 00:25:15.137 --> 00:25:24.368 - as township saying you should. This is this is what we need. And in fact, more because we're barely 00:25:24.368 --> 00:25:28.798 - keeping up some days with the demand out there. 00:25:29.250 --> 00:25:36.627 - understand this the rest is sort of up to up to you to get pen and paper out and do that hard work and 00:25:36.627 --> 00:25:44.003 - you'll have some difficult choices to make and there's a lot in motion like you said with the city and 00:25:44.003 --> 00:25:51.451 - their choices then you have the Richland-Ellisville merger that might take Richland out of the pie that 00:25:51.451 --> 00:25:58.398 - gets shared by township so I you know there's all these different things in play. And if I could 00:25:58.754 --> 00:26:04.891 - Just reiterate, today is not the day to make decisions. We are going to take the data that you've so 00:26:04.891 --> 00:26:11.028 - carefully put together and share it with our council colleagues, and this is gonna be built into the 00:26:11.028 --> 00:26:17.347 - decision-making calculus that we'll make closer to budget time. But when, you know, I just wanna remind 00:26:17.347 --> 00:26:23.666 - everybody that the timeline here is that you all had come to a county council meeting and said, we need 00:26:23.666 --> 00:26:25.246 - to have this conversation 00:26:25.634 --> 00:26:32.085 - Because this is happening whether you want it to or not. This is happening And so today is that day 00:26:32.085 --> 00:26:38.794 - where we can put a finer point on this and and here we've got something to react to we've got that zero 00:26:38.794 --> 00:26:45.761 - point five We've got that number one point seven seven million dollars. We've got lit reliance per township 00:26:45.761 --> 00:26:52.405 - We've got service households number of households using your services. There's a wealth of information 00:26:52.405 --> 00:26:53.566 - here, but I think 00:26:53.730 --> 00:26:59.896 - Probably to there's two other aspects here that creates more uncertainty for me is number one is this 00:26:59.896 --> 00:27:06.365 - issue of the climate. Are we going to be seeing more derechoes or we're going to be seeing more tornadoes. 00:27:06.365 --> 00:27:11.806 - We saw a tornado in February for Pete's sake. You know so that's that's something and in. 00:27:11.970 --> 00:27:18.683 - If population here continues to grow, which it is slowly, you're going to see more and more need. And 00:27:18.683 --> 00:27:25.329 - so particularly then if there's going to be a merger happening after December, as you so finally put 00:27:25.329 --> 00:27:32.042 - it, that's, you know, we just don't know. So. I think let me kick it over to Councilmember Fiddle. Do 00:27:32.042 --> 00:27:36.254 - you have any further questions at this point? I'm not. I think. 00:27:36.386 --> 00:27:44.111 - I think we have some tough decisions to make and I personally and I know my colleagues appreciate the 00:27:44.111 --> 00:27:51.760 - information to work with to pass along your concerns and your desires to serve the people and that's 00:27:51.760 --> 00:27:55.774 - really what I'm interested in is serving the people. 00:27:56.258 --> 00:28:04.010 - Also, I know that you were hit by another part of that legislation that said, well, you know, now you 00:28:04.010 --> 00:28:12.142 - know what I'm going to be talking about. If you've got any money setting aside in your capital improvement 00:28:12.142 --> 00:28:16.094 - plan, I think it's what they call it, that my go-to 00:28:16.322 --> 00:28:23.356 - filling potholes and so forth. And I understand the people, I'm not finding fault with people of the 00:28:23.356 --> 00:28:30.529 - state. They're handed a lot of problems, so they're trying to work through each one how to fix it. But 00:28:30.529 --> 00:28:37.841 - it's been many, many years. I think townships used to do more in the way of road maintenance. They don't 00:28:37.841 --> 00:28:39.582 - now, but if they expect, 00:28:39.906 --> 00:28:46.584 - So I know that you're working around trying to make sure your capital improvement plan's not leaving 00:28:46.584 --> 00:28:53.791 - money on the table. I get it, that's what we do with finance. We have to figure out a way around everything. 00:28:53.791 --> 00:29:00.601 - But I want you to know that we know that we're listening and we understand and you're the one that has 00:29:00.601 --> 00:29:07.412 - to look at that person who needs help with their rent or their utilities or get the trees off of their 00:29:07.412 --> 00:29:09.726 - roof that they can't afford to do. 00:29:10.114 --> 00:29:23.390 - So I think I'll go on vacation and forget the rest of it. So I think in terms of next steps, obviously, 00:29:23.650 --> 00:29:30.091 - Once we have more clarity on some of these things, you're always welcome to come back to the county 00:29:30.091 --> 00:29:36.661 - council. We are going to be having these long-term finance meetings quarterly. So as we know more and 00:29:36.661 --> 00:29:43.231 - more about some of the actions that the legislature took, we'll be deciphering more and more of that. 00:29:43.231 --> 00:29:48.062 - And so you'll, of course, be welcomed back to bring updates as they occur. 00:29:48.290 --> 00:29:54.757 - you're always welcome to please send any additional information you have that you think will be helpful 00:29:54.757 --> 00:30:01.162 - for us as we're formulating our next steps. All right, thank you very much. Thank you so much. I would 00:30:01.162 --> 00:30:07.629 - like to make a suggestion. Have you sat down and worked with the other units that might be pulling from 00:30:07.629 --> 00:30:14.096 - this, like the fire departments, like the library, like the Bloomington Transportation? I'm just saying 00:30:14.096 --> 00:30:18.014 - maybe you would. Yeah, not yet. I mean, I think we want to dig 00:30:18.370 --> 00:30:25.486 - understanding between the 11 townships first and that that can you as you can imagine is is challenging 00:30:25.486 --> 00:30:32.534 - to hold that many busy people together everybody's fighting over the same piece of cherry pie i'll say 00:30:32.534 --> 00:30:39.651 - that was definitely our additional our initial approach and thinking about this but and then we learned 00:30:39.651 --> 00:30:44.030 - about the additional caps for each individual entity within and 00:30:44.386 --> 00:30:53.275 - those limitations, so we thought we had to definitely kind of get to the table with each other and understand 00:30:53.275 --> 00:31:01.518 - our livelihoods were to sustain. We're here as partners, so let's continue to talk. Let's continue to 00:31:01.518 --> 00:31:09.923 - work together. Thank you. Please let us know if you need any other information at any point. All right. 00:31:09.923 --> 00:31:14.206 - We are going to move to next, the item on our agenda 00:31:14.402 --> 00:31:29.502 - is we are going to invite let's see. 00:31:29.666 --> 00:31:35.853 - our auditors to the table here. And you can come over here. You can stay where you're at, whatever works 00:31:35.853 --> 00:31:41.746 - for you all. You've got your name plates over there. Why don't you stay over there? So we wanted to 00:31:41.746 --> 00:31:47.756 - look at a couple of different data points. So Breanne Gregory is our auditor. Do you want to go ahead 00:31:47.756 --> 00:31:53.708 - and walk us through what you've prepared? And then we can start asking questions. Sure. I'd love to. 00:31:53.708 --> 00:31:59.070 - Good afternoon. Thanks for having us here today. So I just wanted to start off with review 00:31:59.490 --> 00:32:07.588 - We have a little bit of a different template this year. We've consolidated so you can see data from 00:32:07.588 --> 00:32:16.010 - the 23 to 24 period, 24 to 25, and then of course the most recent, 25 to 26 reversions. So the way this 00:32:16.010 --> 00:32:21.598 - is organized, it's organized by fund, the department, because again, 00:32:22.050 --> 00:32:29.592 - There are a lot of funds that have more than one departmental budget located there, as well as category, 00:32:29.592 --> 00:32:37.277 - then organizational tools as well. So this just goes through budget by budget, so department by department 00:32:37.277 --> 00:32:44.604 - and by fund, and just details what was unexpended at the end of the year. So as of 12-31-25, what the 00:32:44.604 --> 00:32:50.206 - department did not use, what was left remaining in the fund that we budgeted. 00:32:50.306 --> 00:32:59.260 - So we did consider encumbrances as well. However, for the most part, the county just budgets, so we 00:32:59.260 --> 00:33:08.661 - don't encumber a lot. We only encumber bonds, for example. So in going through this, we are doing better 00:33:08.661 --> 00:33:14.750 - than we have in previous years as far as budgeting more accurately. 00:33:15.106 --> 00:33:21.400 - We do still have some work to do, but I think some of that, for example, personnel that was the category 00:33:21.400 --> 00:33:27.454 - that had the greatest reversions overall. Particularly in the general fund, but I think some of the. 00:33:27.746 --> 00:33:34.251 - policy choices that we've made collectively, for example, the hiring freeze, have allowed for the slow 00:33:34.251 --> 00:33:40.756 - roll and, if you will, the savings of, you know, certain periods of time will save money then if we're 00:33:40.756 --> 00:33:47.261 - not paying out during those periods. So I think that's part of the reason, even though we're budgeting 00:33:47.261 --> 00:33:51.998 - a little bit more closely to need, we're seeing a greater reversion there. 00:33:53.186 --> 00:34:02.550 - So before you go any further, is it possible to share the spreadsheets and entitled twenty twenty three 00:34:02.550 --> 00:34:11.554 - twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five reversing report. Thank you. Like a chair, she has issues 00:34:11.554 --> 00:34:17.406 - upgraded because I'm on as well. Either way. You ready to share? 00:34:28.194 --> 00:34:40.415 - I don't think she has the permission if you wanna go. Oh, okay, yes, I can do it. TSD, please provide 00:34:40.415 --> 00:34:52.635 - Carly Woodruff with permission to share her screen for the future. Oh, looks like she was just giving 00:34:52.635 --> 00:34:55.870 - it, okay. Okay. Excellent. 00:34:56.130 --> 00:35:03.786 - You should see the, yes, the revergent report has populated on the screen there. Okay, so again, this 00:35:03.786 --> 00:35:11.367 - just goes through for selection funds, for example, all the levy funds are noted there, a handful of 00:35:11.367 --> 00:35:19.023 - other funds that might be interesting to review. We did include some of those unappropriated expenses 00:35:19.023 --> 00:35:26.078 - where like, you know, fund to fund transfers, for example, or there's certain instances where 00:35:26.370 --> 00:35:34.267 - we don't require an appropriation for a state called meeting, for example, could be technically expended 00:35:34.267 --> 00:35:41.789 - out of here, out of general fund, unappropriated. So anyhow, as I was saying, personnel is where we 00:35:41.789 --> 00:35:49.310 - saw the most consistent higher reversions. Although we are doing better as a whole, there are still 00:35:49.826 --> 00:35:56.609 - couple to few departments where we might be able to get that even closer if that is the will of the 00:35:56.609 --> 00:36:03.528 - council to budget as accurately as possible. But we're providing this as a tool and you're welcome to 00:36:03.528 --> 00:36:10.582 - ask questions or if we need to dig in deeper, if you have those more specific questions, we can provide 00:36:10.582 --> 00:36:17.433 - a report with the detail as well. Council members, do you have any questions specifically about this 00:36:17.433 --> 00:36:18.654 - reversion report? 00:36:19.106 --> 00:36:28.525 - or personnel lines within it. Member Hall. I have to have time to study. Of course, of course. Please. 00:36:28.525 --> 00:36:37.761 - Yeah, OK. So yes, and as you develop further questions or even members of the public, they can reach 00:36:37.761 --> 00:36:47.088 - out to my office for more specifics, OK? So we appreciate that. And then I believe we would be moving 00:36:47.088 --> 00:36:48.094 - on then to 00:36:48.226 --> 00:36:54.798 - before we move on, can we go back? Can we look at the bottom line on the reversion report? Actually, 00:36:54.798 --> 00:37:01.305 - I mean, you can see that, but this is only for a selection of funds. It's not like all of counties. 00:37:01.305 --> 00:37:07.811 - So I don't think that's a great tool right there. I would like you to look at a fund by fund basis. 00:37:07.811 --> 00:37:14.513 - Got it. Okay. So yeah, just to reiterate, this isn't all of county funds. This is a selection of funds 00:37:14.513 --> 00:37:17.246 - that would be most beneficial for review. 00:37:24.546 --> 00:37:34.105 - Is it okay to move on to the next? Okay, the next piece of information, I'd like to draw your attention 00:37:34.105 --> 00:37:37.598 - to the Minner County fiscal overview. 00:37:37.698 --> 00:37:44.436 - or I'm sorry, financial overview. This is a new report created by Ms. Woodruff over here, the financial 00:37:44.436 --> 00:37:50.916 - director in my office. This is just kind of a top-level overview of where we are as of quarter one. 00:37:50.916 --> 00:37:57.525 - It's actually as of 3-26, so we're not, we didn't quite get to the end of the quarter. I'm sorry, oh, 00:37:57.525 --> 00:38:04.004 - it was updated 3-30, excuse me. So this shows you historical information, so 24, 25, and then as we 00:38:04.004 --> 00:38:06.142 - are then in quarter one as well. 00:38:06.306 --> 00:38:15.183 - So you can comparatively see the beginning cash balances, revenue totals as of the different periods, 00:38:15.183 --> 00:38:24.409 - expenditure totals, ending cash balance in the ledger at those periods as well, and then just the changes 00:38:24.409 --> 00:38:33.199 - there as far as the cash analysis. So right now we're pretty close to where we expect to be overall. 00:38:33.199 --> 00:38:36.158 - Nothing glaring there in that top 00:38:36.290 --> 00:38:45.466 - and then we have the levy fund box. We. Anticipated revenue versus actual revenue for levy 00:38:45.466 --> 00:38:55.852 - funds specifically. And, um. Again, um. Pretty much what we anticipate there. There's no giant swings. 00:38:55.852 --> 00:38:57.566 - Nothing glaring. 00:38:59.938 --> 00:39:08.713 - And so that's why you see that. Obviously for twenty twenty six as we are only in quarter one. I mean, 00:39:08.713 --> 00:39:17.404 - that's the anticipated versus actual is. Only you know, looking at quarter one, so that's why you see 00:39:17.404 --> 00:39:25.924 - that number there that percent. As far as the expenditure analysis for levy funds. All that data is 00:39:25.924 --> 00:39:29.502 - there as well. We've actually because of. 00:39:29.602 --> 00:39:37.633 - we've been in the last couple of years, which. Um is great and kudos overall to all the departments 00:39:37.633 --> 00:39:45.182 - for being very conservative. It's gone down a little bit each year. I see you, right? Mm hmm. 00:39:45.182 --> 00:39:53.534 - And I mean, part of that comparative quarters. I mean, comparatively, yes. And obviously, you know, um, 00:39:54.434 --> 00:40:00.405 - different things factor in, different times of year, we expend more for various reasons. I mean, you 00:40:00.405 --> 00:40:06.554 - have to think about ARPA in the last couple of years as well and so forth. So, well, these are the levy 00:40:06.554 --> 00:40:12.467 - funds, so that wouldn't come into play, but just things like that that occur, where we're expending 00:40:12.467 --> 00:40:18.497 - more for a specific reason. I know that's a lot to digest, but does that kind of give you the overall 00:40:18.497 --> 00:40:23.582 - big picture you were looking for, Councillor Iverson? I think this is really helpful. 00:40:23.778 --> 00:40:31.503 - I think this breaks it down in a really easy to understand way where we've got that overview, revenue, 00:40:31.503 --> 00:40:39.377 - and expenditures. As we know, we all love color on our reports, so thank you for including color. You're 00:40:39.377 --> 00:40:47.102 - welcome. Just hearing what Councilmember Pytel just said, it's really quick to be able to look at this 00:40:47.102 --> 00:40:51.902 - and say, oh, we're doing better. Every year we're doing better. 00:40:52.034 --> 00:40:59.398 - we are under anticipating revenue and surprised and wonderful to see more. And then we are under budgeting 00:40:59.398 --> 00:41:06.762 - for expenses. And that's been really helpful because then we're able to keep those expenses under control. 00:41:06.762 --> 00:41:13.713 - Yeah, exactly. So I mean, I think just as we update this quarter to quarter, this will help us. It's 00:41:13.713 --> 00:41:21.214 - just another tool to help identify any glaring issues or giant waves that we want to identify reasoning for. 00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:32.487 - Council Member Hawke. Yes. This could be very helpful. What I'm looking for, maybe it's in here someplace 00:41:32.487 --> 00:41:42.283 - and I just don't see it. But as we know, we have the levy funds that are inside that max levy. And that's 00:41:42.283 --> 00:41:52.542 - really where I want to concentrate how much is spent down on each of those things. And that would not be under 00:41:52.674 --> 00:42:02.364 - that are all within that frozen levy portion. So do you have that? Is that someplace here? And I'm not 00:42:02.364 --> 00:42:12.054 - saying I don't think it is. That's not on this overview, but we can separate that out, perhaps for the 00:42:12.054 --> 00:42:16.382 - next report. You get that in other ways, too. 00:42:17.186 --> 00:42:24.738 - other reports that we do. However, we're happy to take your constructive criticism and adjust as you'd 00:42:24.738 --> 00:42:32.071 - like to see it. The reason why is because we know during budget session, we were moving some of the 00:42:32.071 --> 00:42:39.403 - levy over into general to help out general. And we also knew when we were doing that, we were going 00:42:39.403 --> 00:42:45.342 - to have to replace it. So that's what we have to keep a close eye on is as we're 00:42:45.538 --> 00:42:54.712 - working toward long-term, even long-term for next year's budget, is how much of that general fund levy 00:42:54.712 --> 00:43:03.619 - will we need to actually move over into these other levy funds? So that's something we have to keep 00:43:03.619 --> 00:43:13.150 - a close eye on. Absolutely, I agree. So as you were developing this report, did either one of you have any 00:43:13.282 --> 00:43:22.781 - items that you thought of as potential recommendations to make to council as we're considering the next 00:43:22.781 --> 00:43:32.280 - year's budget? Yes, that was actually going to be my next point as well. So we would invite the council 00:43:32.280 --> 00:43:40.318 - to maybe collectively discuss a budgeting philosophy that we could work toward, meaning 00:43:40.450 --> 00:43:47.235 - do we are we going to strive for a balanced budget every year or as we are working through these statutory 00:43:47.235 --> 00:43:53.767 - changes are we you know going to have a deficit budget if we're going to have a deficit budget how far 00:43:53.767 --> 00:44:00.172 - do you want to dig into reserves what is the capacity for that we need to identify the health of the 00:44:00.172 --> 00:44:07.084 - funds and we can assist with that obviously to determine where we could potentially dig in what is available 00:44:07.084 --> 00:44:08.606 - we also need to look at 00:44:09.698 --> 00:44:17.791 - other revenue streams. For example, we know that we need to review the rate for lit special purpose. 00:44:17.791 --> 00:44:25.803 - And we've identified that we'll need to have that rate. We need to raise the rate so it's effective 00:44:25.803 --> 00:44:33.976 - beginning January of twenty twenty seven, just to ensure that we can support the budgets of our court 00:44:33.976 --> 00:44:37.982 - partners that rely on that for juvenile services. 00:44:38.690 --> 00:44:45.930 - And then you know what related to that you would also need to determine You know the health of the other 00:44:45.930 --> 00:44:52.894 - lit rates, you know in the interim and so forth Excellent and clearly we are a subset of the broader 00:44:52.894 --> 00:44:59.996 - council. So I think these questions are going to be really helpful to discern with the entire council, 00:44:59.996 --> 00:45:06.270 - but clearly I mean, I don't know my colleagues have any questions or initial thoughts on a 00:45:06.498 --> 00:45:16.978 - or something as grandiose as that. I definitely would like to hear everyone's input on that before I 00:45:16.978 --> 00:45:26.524 - proceed with that, I think, philosophy. Yeah. I was reading what you were saying over here. 00:45:26.524 --> 00:45:35.966 - It helps me. I really like this. Emily, it helps me too. Well, I think as we move forward, 00:45:36.898 --> 00:45:43.550 - more truthful with ourselves, because we really want to see a rosy picture, and that's what we want 00:45:43.550 --> 00:45:50.401 - to look for. And then we find out, like the state did, sort of at the last minute, they had to go, oh, 00:45:50.401 --> 00:45:56.720 - well, I guess we're not in such good shape. And they start changing what the legislation says, 00:45:56.720 --> 00:46:03.638 - and everybody's having to deal with it last minute. I hope that we don't have to do that sort of thing. 00:46:03.638 --> 00:46:04.702 - I know that we, 00:46:05.346 --> 00:46:13.170 - passed the budget much in deficit and the only way we did it was we moved a lot of expenses over into 00:46:13.170 --> 00:46:20.994 - the economic development as well as that jail tax and we can't just take that back out because that's 00:46:20.994 --> 00:46:29.662 - it's ongoing expenses so it isn't like as if we can't we have to project actually having revenue there long term 00:46:29.762 --> 00:46:36.240 - to pay for that. One of it was over a million dollars. What was a million and a half or something for 00:46:36.240 --> 00:46:42.718 - the medical contract with the jail? And that was are you saying yes? It's like there was that one and 00:46:42.718 --> 00:46:49.451 - then the by two minutes I think was the other. So that that still has to be covered. If it wasn't covered 00:46:49.451 --> 00:46:55.802 - in that jail tax correctional tax, it would have had to been in County General. So we had to put it 00:46:55.802 --> 00:46:59.422 - someplace. So you count that million and a half plus the 00:46:59.714 --> 00:47:07.441 - million something or the other was over that in that economic development tax and that's how much we 00:47:07.441 --> 00:47:15.320 - were actually we budgeted to spend more than what we budgeted revenue. I mean not that we weren't that 00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:20.446 - there was revenue coming in in economic development in jail but we 00:47:20.770 --> 00:47:29.171 - took expenses that would normally be covered out of general and moved it over to these others. So we 00:47:29.171 --> 00:47:37.573 - have to we have to recognize we did that and they're not that's not going to go away. Right. Please. 00:47:37.573 --> 00:47:39.902 - I may. I don't know if it's 00:47:40.034 --> 00:47:46.283 - of interest now, but we are prepared to pull up that lit sandbox, just showing where we are currently 00:47:46.283 --> 00:47:52.471 - and just some options for moving forward. If you would rather do that down the road or as a complete 00:47:52.471 --> 00:47:58.843 - council, that's absolutely fine as well. Yeah, could we could we put a pause on that? I also love these 00:47:58.843 --> 00:48:04.970 - analogies. You're talking about a lit sandbox. The trustees talked about a walled garden. This is a 00:48:04.970 --> 00:48:08.830 - really lovely long term finance committee meeting. And I think 00:48:08.930 --> 00:48:16.136 - So in terms of a philosophy, I think it's going to be difficult. We're going to need to have a lot of 00:48:16.136 --> 00:48:23.271 - time to think about this and process it, because the economic landscape has changed so dramatically, 00:48:23.271 --> 00:48:30.335 - so quickly, that back in the ARPA days, we were talking about making big investments. And now we're 00:48:30.335 --> 00:48:37.470 - talking about how do we balance the budget? And so I think that's going to be the challenge there is 00:48:37.666 --> 00:48:43.419 - is, you know, where are the council members at now? And so I'm really happy that we're starting this 00:48:43.419 --> 00:48:49.115 - conversation now, because I think it's going to take a while to get to the point where, where folks 00:48:49.115 --> 00:48:54.982 - can kind of land on something. So we're not going to hear from them about, I mean, I think that's real 00:48:54.982 --> 00:49:00.222 - important for us to hear what the theory is right now, where we're sitting with these lids. 00:49:00.578 --> 00:49:08.388 - You're saying we've agreed not to do that? I was looking at the agenda and seeing that we've got a couple 00:49:08.388 --> 00:49:15.756 - more reports to go here. Okay, well hopefully we'll do that at the end. Or we could do it at a full 00:49:15.756 --> 00:49:23.419 - council meeting. I think it's important that the council hear this not just once, just twice. If people 00:49:23.419 --> 00:49:28.798 - are like, I have to read it, I have to hear it, I have to read it again. 00:49:28.898 --> 00:49:36.104 - for it to really digest the whole thing. And so I think it is asking too much to make a presentation 00:49:36.104 --> 00:49:43.666 - to the entire council just once without them hearing the background, because I know that they will listen 00:49:43.666 --> 00:49:51.442 - to this meeting, even if they're not sitting here, they have every opportunity to look at your presentation. 00:49:51.442 --> 00:49:56.222 - So I'm hoping that we do find time, and if people have to move on, 00:49:56.418 --> 00:50:03.309 - I did schedule three hours today, just in case. If I may, Councillor Hock, on that note, I mean, these 00:50:03.309 --> 00:50:10.268 - reports are already now, so they're available to the entire council in the public. I'm happy to discuss 00:50:10.268 --> 00:50:17.293 - during department updates, you know, even every meeting for a little while, and just to remind, at least 00:50:17.293 --> 00:50:24.385 - at a minimum, remind everyone that they're available and, you know, to please bring forward any questions 00:50:24.385 --> 00:50:25.790 - that you might have. 00:50:26.370 --> 00:50:33.300 - Do you have anything to add on that? Anything? No? Okay. I would welcome that. I think the full council 00:50:33.300 --> 00:50:40.163 - members are going to really enjoy having the opportunity to have their questions. And as Councilmember 00:50:40.163 --> 00:50:46.826 - Hawke said, I think this is going to need to be an ongoing repeated conversation. I agree. That's a 00:50:46.826 --> 00:50:53.822 - great insight. All right. Auditor, do you have any other reports that you'd like to share with us today? 00:50:54.946 --> 00:50:59.230 - Yes, I was able to connect with the treasurer. 00:50:59.298 --> 00:51:06.080 - I know she's noted on here for revenue. Revenue is actually an auditor function. However, she holds 00:51:06.080 --> 00:51:12.998 - the investments, including interest and so forth. So her reports are available on the county website. 00:51:12.998 --> 00:51:19.848 - I believe the council gets those as well. If not, we can make sure they do get into your hands. Just 00:51:19.848 --> 00:51:26.630 - in the brief conversation I had with her, I don't want to speak for her, but her goal she shared is 00:51:26.630 --> 00:51:28.190 - to have a 4% return on 00:51:28.482 --> 00:51:34.905 - all the cash we're holding in the funds. So that is her goal. That's what she's working toward. 00:51:34.905 --> 00:51:42.264 - You know, she hopes that it comes in above that, but that's that's her benchmark. Okay. Excellent. Excellent. 00:51:42.264 --> 00:51:47.550 - And I think on the screen now, what are we seeing? Who's sharing their screen? 00:51:47.906 --> 00:51:53.645 - Okay, this is a public document. This is actually from the Finance Board meeting. I think this was the 00:51:53.645 --> 00:51:59.384 - introductory meeting they had in January this year, but this is part of that report that the treasurer 00:51:59.384 --> 00:52:04.956 - provided. And I think it's dated as of 129, 2026. So again, these reports are available publicly on 00:52:04.956 --> 00:52:10.807 - the county website. I believe council office also receives them. So this is just the type of information 00:52:10.807 --> 00:52:15.710 - available. And of course, you can also reach out to the treasurer for this information. 00:52:20.130 --> 00:52:27.164 - So I can't see it very well from here. Does that show the return that you're talking about, or what 00:52:27.164 --> 00:52:34.268 - are we seeing? It shows the different accounts that the treasurer is holding investments in, and the 00:52:34.268 --> 00:52:41.724 - percent of the available funding in each. And it looks like total cash deposits on hand. So any specifics 00:52:41.724 --> 00:52:46.366 - about the treasurer's reports, I'd really like to come, you know, 00:52:46.498 --> 00:52:53.898 - specific questions from the treasurer just because I'm not, I don't wanna speak for another officer. 00:52:53.898 --> 00:53:01.446 - And that's where again? I know it's here on screen, but where is it at again? Where can people see it? 00:53:01.446 --> 00:53:09.212 - You can find it on the county website under, I think, the Board of Finance Committee. Thank you. Probably 00:53:09.212 --> 00:53:15.294 - also on the treasurer's webpage, I would imagine. I know that a large part of our, 00:53:16.642 --> 00:53:26.730 - revenue that can fluctuate so much is the amount of interest that we receive. And so I want to make 00:53:26.730 --> 00:53:36.920 - sure that we are regularly updated on this is what we anticipated and this is what we've received so 00:53:36.920 --> 00:53:46.302 - far to see if we're about to hit what we thought it was going to be. Because that was a lot. 00:53:46.722 --> 00:53:55.528 - million. No. What was that? How much was that interest that was added in there? Sort of like we didn't 00:53:55.528 --> 00:54:04.164 - have that number until later. You mean when we were budgeting for 2026? Was it six or seven million? 00:54:04.164 --> 00:54:12.286 - Is that what you're referencing, Counselor Hawk? I don't know why I was thinking four million. 00:54:12.386 --> 00:54:20.926 - What was that number? I'm still called 4B, whatever. The miscellaneous revenue, which shows the interest 00:54:20.926 --> 00:54:29.059 - for county general. Ms. Woodruff is pulling that up now. I have six and seven million in my head. I 00:54:29.059 --> 00:54:37.437 - think it was somewhere there. And Michelle's nodding here, so I think that's accurate. But give us one 00:54:37.437 --> 00:54:40.446 - moment to pull this up. It was huge. 00:54:41.090 --> 00:54:47.431 - yes it's a significant amount and like I said the um treasurer smith is confident um about the four 00:54:47.431 --> 00:54:54.089 - percent mark so which is still good um I don't think that's quite where we were last year but it's still 00:54:54.089 --> 00:55:00.557 - a good amount and the reason why I think it's important for us to watch that closely is because uh of 00:55:00.557 --> 00:55:02.142 - course the treasurer was 00:55:02.370 --> 00:55:10.697 - able to pull in a lot more interest money because we had a lot more cash setting there that we are not 00:55:10.697 --> 00:55:19.105 - going to have in future. So we can't count on that kind of revenue dollar amount in future as that cash 00:55:19.105 --> 00:55:27.998 - gets spent down. I mean, because we were pulling it from the ARPA money and all of the money. So she was very 00:55:28.194 --> 00:55:35.714 - She was adamant that 4% on what the cash balance of the funds so the funds on the ledger is what she 00:55:35.714 --> 00:55:41.150 - envisions and what she anticipates being able to produce for the county. 00:55:41.346 --> 00:55:48.761 - So we do provide those monthly revenue reports so that can show you any big swings and demonstrate that 00:55:48.761 --> 00:55:56.104 - we are meeting our benchmarks. Additionally, we're gonna continue to update this quarterly report that 00:55:56.104 --> 00:56:02.948 - you just saw a few moments ago on your screen. And anything else necessary, your team, my team, 00:56:02.948 --> 00:56:10.078 - we can assist. So just let us know, please. Not ignoring you, I'm just reading. Oh no, you're good. 00:56:11.362 --> 00:56:18.454 - Emily, do you have anything to add? Did you confirm that number? She's still looking for that number. 00:56:18.454 --> 00:56:25.546 - Apologies, we might have to get back to you on that. Going back to the quarterly reports that you had 00:56:25.546 --> 00:56:32.082 - shared earlier, in the green section, which is the anticipated revenue versus actual revenue, 00:56:32.082 --> 00:56:39.034 - we do see about, what is that, a 3.18% decrease in revenue from quarter one of last year to quarter 00:56:39.034 --> 00:56:40.286 - one of this year. 00:56:42.850 --> 00:56:55.172 - from 7.155 down to 6.928. It's going down. So can you give some more insight as to why that might be? 00:56:55.172 --> 00:57:04.958 - We looked into that a little bit earlier and Carly can assist with that. So this 00:57:05.122 --> 00:57:14.153 - fluctuation of roughly $276,000. While that seems like a large number for the county, it's really pretty 00:57:14.153 --> 00:57:23.099 - small. Whenever I looked into that a little bit deeper, it looks like, I'm sorry, it's 227,000. Between 00:57:23.099 --> 00:57:31.614 - two account lines that are grant-related, we see a decrease in those two lines of roughly 276,000. 00:57:32.130 --> 00:57:39.686 - Some of that is timing. Other is just we only get reimbursed based on a percentage or per diem. So it 00:57:39.686 --> 00:57:47.242 - just fluctuates with those expenses for those grant dollars. So if you look at the year total for the 00:57:47.242 --> 00:57:54.206 - same figures, there is a decrease, a sizable amount I would call it, right? Five million-ish. 00:57:57.794 --> 00:58:05.656 - What are you looking at now? If you look at the year total of the actual revenue, the green section, 00:58:05.656 --> 00:58:13.441 - so the year total for 2024 was 70 million plus. The year total for 2025 was 65 million plus. To me, 00:58:13.441 --> 00:58:21.536 - that's a decrease overall year to year, right? So it isn't just a quarter from what I see here. We were 00:58:21.536 --> 00:58:25.662 - most closely looking at this quarter to the previous 00:58:25.762 --> 00:58:33.333 - year's quarter. Well, I see the bigger picture, which is year over year, right? So it isn't just the 00:58:33.333 --> 00:58:41.204 - quarters for me for sure. Remember Hawk? Yes. And as a reminder, for quite some time, the revenue coming 00:58:41.204 --> 00:58:48.776 - in for the per dams at the youth shelter used to go into a separate fund where we were hoping to pay 00:58:48.776 --> 00:58:54.398 - something. I'm sorry. I don't remember why we were saving it, but we were. 00:58:54.594 --> 00:59:03.133 - for something and we spent it on that something. Was it to redo the used shelter, something for it. 00:59:03.133 --> 00:59:11.671 - But then after that, it is now going into county general. So I don't know whether they have as much 00:59:11.671 --> 00:59:20.210 - emphasis on keeping track of, but they would because this is a contract with the state for how much 00:59:20.210 --> 00:59:22.430 - the state is going to pay 00:59:22.594 --> 00:59:32.223 - for each night that someone is placed there by the state, but also any individual amounts that people 00:59:32.223 --> 00:59:41.852 - might donate to them. So is that what you were referring to as that number has gone down drastically, 00:59:41.852 --> 00:59:47.422 - that 200-some thousand you were talking about a while ago? 00:59:48.930 --> 00:59:55.883 - a lot of those dollars, there's fluctuation in when we receive it. So when you look at quarter by quarter, 00:59:55.883 --> 01:00:02.836 - you may see what looks like a decrease, but it's not actually a true decrease. Also, you have to remember, 01:00:02.836 --> 01:00:09.595 - a lot of these grant reimbursements are reimbursements. So if our expenses decrease, our reimbursements 01:00:09.595 --> 01:00:16.158 - are also gonna decrease. And we're actually seeing that on this chart, right, in the orange section. 01:00:16.258 --> 01:00:24.559 - our expenditures, Q1 to Q1, are down 8.45 percent, which vastly outpaces the decrease in revenue, which 01:00:24.559 --> 01:00:33.020 - is a negative 3.18 percent. So our expenditures are falling faster than our revenue is falling. Or again, 01:00:33.020 --> 01:00:41.560 - if you look at the year total for each year for the category, the actual expenditures, it's not decreased. 01:00:41.560 --> 01:00:45.950 - Am I saying that correctly? Yeah, say more about that. 01:00:46.946 --> 01:00:54.455 - Yes, I'm seeing the same thing. If you look at the year total for 2024 revenue and year total for 2025 01:00:54.455 --> 01:01:01.745 - revenue, we saw a decrease of about $5 million. Whereas our expenditures for year and 2020, 40 year 01:01:01.745 --> 01:01:09.181 - and 2025 actually saw an increase of about $500, $600,000. So that's upside down. We're spending more 01:01:09.181 --> 01:01:13.118 - than we're bringing in. But did that even include the 01:01:14.210 --> 01:01:21.666 - recent spending that we put in other funds because that's that yes no. If you're looking at just the 01:01:21.666 --> 01:01:29.491 - green and the orange those are just the levy fine just loving okay. Okay that's not the total big picture 01:01:29.491 --> 01:01:37.168 - right right you have to look in the notes column as well right I see. But it is not a complete snapshot 01:01:37.168 --> 01:01:40.638 - it is a useful snapshot to at least because we 01:01:40.898 --> 01:01:47.416 - we went over this again and again during budget cycle is, where's the general fund? How healthy is the 01:01:47.416 --> 01:01:53.808 - general fund? These levy funds are so important. And just to bring it back, we were asked to provide 01:01:53.808 --> 01:02:00.390 - an overview and to concentrate on those bigger funds. So if you would like something else, we just need 01:02:00.390 --> 01:02:03.934 - a direction. I get it. I'm just noticing what I notice. 01:02:04.578 --> 01:02:10.478 - Also, I do want to know that whenever you start looking at funds beyond the levy funds, you get into 01:02:10.478 --> 01:02:16.436 - nuanced situations. You get into where distributions are going into and out of distribution funds. We 01:02:16.436 --> 01:02:22.394 - flow money through different funds within the county regularly. So whenever you start analyzing those 01:02:22.394 --> 01:02:28.469 - receipts and expenditures that are not true receipts and expenditures, it starts manipulating that data 01:02:28.469 --> 01:02:34.544 - and then it looks a little funky. And so we try to focus on these levy funds where there's less of that 01:02:34.544 --> 01:02:40.768 - So if you notice, whenever you look at these notes, we specifically took out accounts that have money 01:02:40.768 --> 01:02:46.993 - flowing into and out of these specific funds. There's just so many different ways that the financials 01:02:46.993 --> 01:02:52.912 - work that we wanted to give the most accurate representation of what we think is most important. 01:02:52.912 --> 01:02:59.075 - I hear you. Right. I would just suggest that when we're looking at the levy funds, and then you have 01:02:59.075 --> 01:03:01.150 - column over here that needs to be 01:03:01.314 --> 01:03:07.679 - here's our income tax funds because we're relying more and more on that income tax. Now it's all going 01:03:07.679 --> 01:03:13.982 - to be under one great big umbrella before we get turned around, but we've got to figure out how we're 01:03:13.982 --> 01:03:20.347 - going to live between now and the times actually the revenues coming in from that different source and 01:03:20.347 --> 01:03:22.942 - then put back into with our property tax. 01:03:23.842 --> 01:03:32.075 - Sure, we did provide in the email for this group, the lit sandbox, so you can take a look at that when 01:03:32.075 --> 01:03:39.988 - you have ability to kind of digest more information. Yeah, you did. Thank you. All right. We need, 01:03:39.988 --> 01:03:47.742 - I think, to push on to a conversation about longevity, but I do want to give you the final word. 01:03:49.218 --> 01:03:54.667 - just thank you, I think, you know, the pregame, if you will, to prepare for this meeting was really 01:03:54.667 --> 01:04:00.116 - beneficial. We could determine what you wanted to see and hear from us and we'll take the notes and 01:04:00.116 --> 01:04:05.892 - go from there for next meeting. Appreciate it, thank you. And as a reminder to my colleagues, this report 01:04:05.892 --> 01:04:11.340 - will be shared every single quarter that we have these meetings. So if you do have tweaks, you have 01:04:11.340 --> 01:04:16.190 - additional funds you want to analyze, you have additional data that you want to analyze, 01:04:16.418 --> 01:04:25.413 - please get with the auditor's office and we can see those tweaks. All right. Next, we are going to look 01:04:25.413 --> 01:04:34.062 - to Kim shell to give us an update on the longevity and the fiscal impact of longevity. The floor is 01:04:34.062 --> 01:04:42.798 - yours. Okay. Yes. So longevity we've we've and I say we the council has been speaking about removing 01:04:42.798 --> 01:04:45.566 - longevity out of the budget and 01:04:45.666 --> 01:04:54.911 - This all basically, and I just to give a little bit of background, we did a WIS financial analysis when 01:04:54.911 --> 01:05:03.801 - we did our job descriptions and just did a big overhaul back in November of 2021. And it was during 01:05:03.801 --> 01:05:12.869 - that timeline that they recommended that we either do away with the step increases or we do away with 01:05:12.869 --> 01:05:15.358 - longevity because they were 01:05:15.906 --> 01:05:28.366 - we were dual paying employees. So in an effort to kind of remove longevity, council passed back November 01:05:28.366 --> 01:05:40.351 - 1st of 2023 and anyone hired after that date would no longer be eligible for longevity. So any hires 01:05:40.351 --> 01:05:44.030 - after November 1st of 2023. So 01:05:45.026 --> 01:05:51.739 - Right now, we sit at, and do you want me to put that up on the screen? That would be really helpful. 01:05:51.739 --> 01:05:58.452 - I think when we start talking about numbers, it's really easy to get lost, especially when comparing 01:05:58.452 --> 01:06:05.364 - numbers over years and over different time periods. And you know, for IT or whoever does this, it would 01:06:05.364 --> 01:06:11.678 - be really helpful if there was a screen over there, of course. Oh, just right in front of you? 01:06:12.258 --> 01:06:21.258 - I mean, I can see this just fine. I feel bad for you guys. Oh, don't feel bad for us. OK, I won't cry. 01:06:21.258 --> 01:06:25.278 - But I really appreciate it. Good, good, good. 01:06:49.314 --> 01:06:57.306 - Okay so I went through each screen by chance. Is there a way to make it the whole screen or that's as 01:06:57.306 --> 01:07:05.376 - big as it gets? If you want it big I can only do it like this. Okay if you want to see the whole thing 01:07:05.376 --> 01:07:13.054 - it's going to be very small. All right there's no medium. Not really. All right so I went through 01:07:13.474 --> 01:07:23.372 - year by year on how many employees we have per the amount that they're going to get long for longevity. 01:07:23.372 --> 01:07:33.079 - So I'm not going to go through each one. It is in the packet if anybody wants to see it. So I'll just 01:07:33.079 --> 01:07:43.262 - kind of scroll a little bit here. But as you can see, we still have quite a few people at the lower level. 01:07:43.362 --> 01:07:51.575 - I would say, you know, like we have 50 people that are currently at the four-year level, and that's 01:07:51.575 --> 01:08:00.117 - a $400 per year longevity amount that they get. So as we continue on, you'll see that the numbers begin 01:08:00.117 --> 01:08:07.838 - to decrease, and you know, that's due to people leaving, people retiring, that kind of thing. 01:08:09.186 --> 01:08:22.925 - So when we get down to the higher numbers, so like 25 years and more, you see even a bigger, you know, 01:08:22.925 --> 01:08:26.526 - bite out of those numbers. 01:08:26.658 --> 01:08:36.207 - we have one year where we don't even have anybody at the 32 year, which I thought was very interesting. 01:08:36.207 --> 01:08:45.664 - So we keep going and we have, as you see, we have one person at the 38 year, we have one person at 39, 01:08:45.664 --> 01:08:54.846 - one at 41, and then we have one who has been here for 53 years. So we have a total of 433 employees 01:08:55.234 --> 01:09:09.685 - full-time employees that are still receiving longevity. And so you can see that that amount equals $394,200. 01:09:09.685 --> 01:09:23.870 - The FICA amount associated with that is $30,157. So this is just for 2026. We currently have 146 employees 01:09:25.218 --> 01:09:34.236 - full-time employees that are no longer eligible due to that November 1st, 2023 cutoff date. And that 01:09:34.236 --> 01:09:43.164 - we also have 32 of those full-time, 32 of our positions are vacant. So we are not paying longevity. 01:09:43.164 --> 01:09:52.360 - Those have become vacant. And if they are filled, they would not be eligible. So that's where we stand 01:09:52.360 --> 01:09:53.342 - right now. 01:09:53.890 --> 01:10:03.367 - with regards to longevity and how we're working through that right now. So I know that council is trying 01:10:03.367 --> 01:10:12.754 - to see if there's ways to maybe move this along faster, but this is where we're at right at the moment. 01:10:12.754 --> 01:10:20.606 - All right. So I may not have it memorized about how they figure the amount per person. 01:10:20.962 --> 01:10:29.001 - So is there a chart somewhere about that? Yes, there is a chart that's in our personal policy handbook 01:10:29.001 --> 01:10:36.961 - on how much they get. So we also have that copied as a reference in our salary ordinance as well. OK, 01:10:36.961 --> 01:10:44.765 - thank you. So do you have something similar to that to show us about the step increases? And remind 01:10:44.765 --> 01:10:49.214 - us when we started the step increases because, you know, 01:10:49.666 --> 01:10:57.695 - time flies, but doesn't seem like that long ago. We haven't had step increases. We started step increases 01:10:57.695 --> 01:11:05.422 - back in 2017 when we added the eight year and the 14 year. And no, I didn't have a chance to do that, 01:11:05.422 --> 01:11:13.224 - but I can have that ready for the next quarter. Okay. I'm sorry. The reason why I was going to suggest 01:11:13.224 --> 01:11:16.254 - that or just have a discussion with it. 01:11:21.282 --> 01:11:28.977 - there are some areas, and I know in some of the school boards and so forth, they have put a freeze on, 01:11:28.977 --> 01:11:36.896 - you know, where we're not gonna catch you back, but wherever you are right now, you're not moving forward 01:11:36.896 --> 01:11:44.442 - or now, just as a pause until they can see where it is. I'm not saying that's what we should do, but 01:11:44.442 --> 01:11:50.942 - because of course we can't even see what the step increases are, because we don't have 01:11:51.074 --> 01:12:00.031 - report on that, but in other words, if you are accustomed to getting 2006 and whatever it is for longevity, 01:12:00.031 --> 01:12:08.655 - it isn't like you would lose that, but you would not gain more. Or if you are already at a certain step 01:12:08.655 --> 01:12:17.363 - increase, you weren't going to gain anymore, but you weren't gonna lose it. You were going to stay right 01:12:17.363 --> 01:12:19.934 - there. So I'm thinking that's, 01:12:20.162 --> 01:12:30.149 - If we got up against it, I don't know. I'm not a seer, so I don't know what kind of position we're going 01:12:30.149 --> 01:12:40.327 - to be in. And so I know that when we talked about reducing longevity, I mean, the employees really thought 01:12:40.327 --> 01:12:48.126 - we had gotten in their pocket because they count on that as part of their salary. 01:12:48.738 --> 01:12:56.215 - And I understand that. So I'm just throwing that out there as something that other units have had to 01:12:56.215 --> 01:13:03.691 - do and said, we're not going to get rid of it, but we're going to pause it, not grow it anymore. And 01:13:03.691 --> 01:13:11.316 - that would also mean that any new person coming on board, they wouldn't have a step increase, and they 01:13:11.316 --> 01:13:16.350 - wouldn't have longevity. So they wouldn't have any of those things. 01:13:16.706 --> 01:13:25.647 - but pause on it to see where we're going now. The other thing that the council did, which was rather 01:13:25.647 --> 01:13:34.764 - unusual, is that they, because the state is in control, oh my goodness, look where that kid's sitting. 01:13:34.764 --> 01:13:43.616 - Can't look. Am I? That happens a lot. All right. Does that look dangerous to you or no? No, there's 01:13:43.616 --> 01:13:45.918 - another shelf, he's okay. 01:13:46.178 --> 01:13:55.336 - Let's get back to step increases and longevity here. Oh, I'm sorry. Okay, I've lost train of thought. 01:13:55.336 --> 01:14:04.314 - Do you want me to take it over and see? I'll ask my question so you can. All right, so right now in 01:14:04.314 --> 01:14:13.383 - the salary ordinance, our highest step is 25 years. That is correct. So anybody on this chart who is 01:14:13.383 --> 01:14:15.358 - at 26 years or higher 01:14:15.906 --> 01:14:24.092 - means that they don't get a step increase in the current system. Because it maxes out. Correct. As you've 01:14:24.092 --> 01:14:31.968 - been thinking a lot about this, what recommendations would you offer to council as to where you would 01:14:31.968 --> 01:14:40.926 - even begin to think about putting those additional step increases? Well, I mean, we've had some departments ask for 01:14:41.154 --> 01:14:51.878 - an increase, like another step level above 25, so they're asking like for a 30. We've also had departments 01:14:51.878 --> 01:15:02.302 - go, it's such a long section between the three year and the eight year, maybe do a five year and maybe, 01:15:02.302 --> 01:15:07.614 - you know, like shuffle some things around, you know, 01:15:08.034 --> 01:15:15.198 - do a five and a ten rather than an eight and a fourteen you know kind of thing so. And I know we haven't 01:15:15.198 --> 01:15:22.157 - done the math yet but I think that's where the decision lies is where is the fiscal impact greater in 01:15:22.157 --> 01:15:26.046 - providing those additional steps or leaving it as it is. 01:15:26.178 --> 01:15:33.743 - Well, and you have to think as well, when you do step increases, step increases also, you have FICA, 01:15:33.743 --> 01:15:41.907 - but you also have PERF within that. So you're also paying for any retirement on top of that. With longevity, 01:15:41.907 --> 01:15:49.621 - it's just straight FICA. It does not get PERF on top of that. Great, thank you. Would you mind closing 01:15:49.621 --> 01:15:52.542 - the blinds? That would be interesting. 01:15:55.362 --> 01:16:06.671 - It's really distracting. Are you gonna close the blind so I can't see you, John? I'm glad I had my dream. 01:16:06.671 --> 01:16:17.340 - Right, so, okay. So Kim, Kim Schell, you were saying that that's the analysis that we need to do to 01:16:17.340 --> 01:16:24.702 - move forward. Right, because like I said, this only shows, you know, 01:16:24.834 --> 01:16:33.695 - You've got 433 people that you're going to pay this amount out for this year plus the FICA. When I have 01:16:33.695 --> 01:16:42.556 - to go back through and do the analysis with regards to the step increases, that's also going to include 01:16:42.556 --> 01:16:48.350 - FICA as well as PERF. I will have that ready by the second quarter. 01:16:48.738 --> 01:16:58.982 - there's going to be 35-hour positions versus 40-hour positions, and then we have SO positions. So, yeah. 01:16:58.982 --> 01:17:09.032 - So there's a lot of work to do here to build in all of the contingencies? Correct. The chief deputies, 01:17:09.032 --> 01:17:18.398 - for whatever reason, instead of having them at 75% of the elected officials' salaries, which is 01:17:18.818 --> 01:17:28.401 - what it is in most every other counties. We put it in one year, like, I mean, we went literally. 01:17:28.401 --> 01:17:38.676 - We're at 90%. 90% when other counties are, and we had always been at that 75%. So that is quite a jump, 01:17:38.676 --> 01:17:44.702 - but that's just for the chief deputies, but I'm just saying, 01:17:44.802 --> 01:17:52.251 - We had never done that before. So that was one of the things when people thought, oh, we got money. 01:17:52.251 --> 01:17:59.775 - Let's go spread the wealth. And in addition to which, they were allowed, I believe they were allowed 01:17:59.775 --> 01:18:07.522 - longevity. Yes, chief deputies do get longevity. OK, so what I've been hearing from some of the elected 01:18:07.522 --> 01:18:13.854 - officials is, look, by the time they get longevity, if this staff person that's been 01:18:14.210 --> 01:18:22.832 - dedicated and actually in many cases, as we all know, that chief deputy is actually the one to run the 01:18:22.832 --> 01:18:31.203 - office. True. Some of the offices. But what I'm hearing is that the time you count longevity on top 01:18:31.203 --> 01:18:39.742 - of the 90%, they're getting close to making the same thing as the elected official who is the one who 01:18:39.742 --> 01:18:41.918 - is absolutely responsible 01:18:43.138 --> 01:18:49.939 - they've got to know what's going on. And if they don't, their name's on the dotted line. They're the 01:18:49.939 --> 01:18:56.403 - ones that have to answer to the public. They're the ones that have to go to the public and say, 01:18:56.403 --> 01:19:03.137 - trust me. And so that was also sort of a sticky wicket. You know, I'm not arguing either point. I'm 01:19:03.137 --> 01:19:09.534 - just telling you what happened. And in addition to which, at about that same time, even though 01:19:09.698 --> 01:19:17.333 - The state is the one who tells us what we have to pay our probation officers. We don't get to choose. 01:19:17.333 --> 01:19:25.117 - The state says this is what they're to pay. Now, that doesn't mean that we can't pay them more. We just 01:19:25.117 --> 01:19:32.902 - can't pay them any less. And there's all kinds of different step-ups with probation officers, depending 01:19:32.902 --> 01:19:34.174 - on how many they 01:19:35.202 --> 01:19:42.055 - you know, have under them or if they hit a certain amount of education or, you know, because they've 01:19:42.055 --> 01:19:49.180 - gone to the state and said, this is what we wanted to say. And the state came back and told the counties 01:19:49.180 --> 01:19:55.965 - is what you have to do. But they had a step plan, you know, a step plan, which we did not have. The 01:19:55.965 --> 01:20:02.750 - county didn't have at the time. We just had longevity. Well, a couple of years ago, they, you know, 01:20:03.042 --> 01:20:10.346 - People thought we had money. We just said, OK, now we're going to start on top of paying them what the 01:20:10.346 --> 01:20:17.721 - state has to pay. We're going to also give them our increase in salaries. Like if we get a 3% increase, 01:20:17.721 --> 01:20:25.024 - the state says, no, we just add 3% on top of there. And at the same time, we added on longevity, which 01:20:25.024 --> 01:20:30.910 - they'd never received before. So they get a stat increase, and they get longevity. 01:20:32.322 --> 01:20:39.703 - and they get our increase. And if we don't have the money for an increase, but the state gets an increase, 01:20:39.703 --> 01:20:46.876 - they will get the increase. So, you know, do I love our probation department? Yes, I do. But what we're 01:20:46.876 --> 01:20:54.050 - talking about, the rest of the county employees, if we're talking about, if they have to have hardship, 01:20:54.050 --> 01:21:01.086 - we have to make sure everybody shares the pain, I guess is what I'd like to say. On that cherry note, 01:21:01.826 --> 01:21:08.873 - I am hearing that you're gonna come back for the Q2 version of this with some additional information 01:21:08.873 --> 01:21:15.990 - about additional steps, that fiscal impact, and compare that to the fiscal impact you showed today so 01:21:15.990 --> 01:21:22.479 - that we have a better understanding of what any one of these step increases would look like. 01:21:22.479 --> 01:21:30.085 - If it's a five, if it's a 35 or whatever. Correct. Okay. And then, Madam Auditor, did you have an additional 01:21:30.085 --> 01:21:31.550 - comment or question? 01:21:32.514 --> 01:21:40.087 - just a quick comment I would just caution the council from just identifying such a small subset of employees 01:21:40.087 --> 01:21:47.452 - they are employees are appointed but they're not elected their employees of the county and chief deputies 01:21:47.452 --> 01:21:54.469 - there's a really minimal fiscal impact you know even between that seventy five and ninety percent of 01:21:54.469 --> 01:21:56.414 - the overall big picture and 01:21:56.866 --> 01:22:03.208 - reducing salaries would be terrible for morale for these people. In addition to that, I don't think 01:22:03.208 --> 01:22:09.549 - we would be able to maintain the employment of these individuals. So I just wanted to put that note 01:22:09.549 --> 01:22:15.891 - out there. I hope you recognize I did not say we should reduce their salaries. I've never said that 01:22:15.891 --> 01:22:21.598 - about any position. I'm just saying it might be something we'd want to look at in future. 01:22:21.730 --> 01:22:32.201 - for newly elected officials, new chief deputies. I mean, if we're looking at let's cut longevity, I'm 01:22:32.201 --> 01:22:43.390 - just saying let's be fair. It always seems like it's fair until it hits your pocket, I guess is what I said. 01:22:43.746 --> 01:22:49.623 - The underlying factor here is these are very difficult decisions. And that's why we wanted to encourage 01:22:49.623 --> 01:22:55.274 - Michelle to give this presentation today, because when we make difficult decisions the last second, 01:22:55.274 --> 01:23:01.038 - we make mistakes. But if we have months and months and months and months to consider this and to take 01:23:01.038 --> 01:23:06.858 - the time to look at it with our partners throughout the county, then we tend to make better decisions. 01:23:06.858 --> 01:23:10.814 - And so that's exactly what we want to do is we want to slow walk this 01:23:11.266 --> 01:23:17.048 - and get as much information out there before a decision is made. And again, I'll say the same thing 01:23:17.048 --> 01:23:23.119 - here that I mentioned to the trustees. No decisions are being made at LTF. The council, the full council 01:23:23.119 --> 01:23:28.959 - needs to make all the decisions. And I think that's probably a good place to leave this. And we look 01:23:28.959 --> 01:23:34.740 - forward to your report next. Also, if you're preparing a report, if you could show us what it would 01:23:34.740 --> 01:23:40.638 - be if we did say we're freezing everybody where they are, we're not reducing it, we're just freezing. 01:23:40.994 --> 01:23:47.963 - Now I'm not saying freeze the salaries. I'm just saying freeze wherever you are in the step plan. Freeze 01:23:47.963 --> 01:23:54.733 - wherever you are in the longevity plan. OK. So like if every OK, so like for me, for instance, I'm at 01:23:54.733 --> 01:24:01.370 - the eight year I would just. I'm getting ready to go to the 14. I would just stay at the eight year 01:24:01.370 --> 01:24:04.158 - until. We figure out what we're doing so. 01:24:04.354 --> 01:24:11.888 - Okay. You see how much you won't like that if it hits you. Exactly. I mean, I get it. Yeah. On the other 01:24:11.888 --> 01:24:19.206 - hand, People don't want their longevity cut, but you know, maybe, maybe the money trees gonna show up 01:24:19.206 --> 01:24:21.502 - in the backyard. I've got to so 01:24:22.050 --> 01:24:29.280 - I think we're gonna be right. All right, we have one final first quarter update that is from Mr. Jeff 01:24:29.280 --> 01:24:36.511 - Cockrell. This is not on the agenda, but we received information very recently. And so, Mr. Cockrell, 01:24:36.511 --> 01:24:43.670 - what do we need to know? I guess, just fair warning, I got a call coming in at 3 p.m. and it's 2.55. 01:24:43.670 --> 01:24:45.726 - I guess before that, I would 01:24:46.146 --> 01:24:53.150 - I was listening to the last conversation. I was wondering if Kim could email me that 2021 report from 01:24:53.150 --> 01:25:00.154 - WIS that had all the guidance on it. I think that would be interesting to look at. Yes. I guess Molly 01:25:00.154 --> 01:25:07.295 - Turner King and I met with the Bond Council of Barnes and Thornburg on Friday. The primary goal of that 01:25:07.295 --> 01:25:13.406 - was to determine if we, as we're looking at the jail project, what would be a reasonable 01:25:13.506 --> 01:25:21.278 - bond timeline in order to accomplish what was in the report that Mr. Gadget House put together and presented 01:25:21.278 --> 01:25:28.408 - to the council. The bond council indicated that there is a path to move forward where that could be 01:25:28.408 --> 01:25:35.538 - issued this year. He noted that if we waited until next year, that path may be changed by the state 01:25:35.538 --> 01:25:41.598 - legislature, either positive, negative, don't know, but it would be subject to that. 01:25:41.890 --> 01:25:48.353 - I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that the state legislature is going to be looking at kind 01:25:48.353 --> 01:25:54.816 - of what happened with SCA one a couple years ago and continuing to make tweaks. So I don't think it 01:25:54.816 --> 01:26:01.343 - would be unrealistic that something in that wouldn't be looked at and addressed. So that was kind of 01:26:01.343 --> 01:26:07.871 - the update in the report that we received on Friday. Great. Council members, do you have a less than 01:26:07.871 --> 01:26:11.102 - a four minute question? Well, it should be clear. 01:26:11.362 --> 01:26:19.873 - I did inquire from the person who was discussing this, if it was still, whatever the bond amount was, 01:26:19.873 --> 01:26:28.300 - was it still to be repaid in out of the 1.2, which is the county operating dollars. And he confirmed 01:26:28.300 --> 01:26:36.977 - that that is the case. So I hope that we won't just jump right into, yes, we agree to this rather large 01:26:36.977 --> 01:26:39.230 - bond that's gonna take out 01:26:39.330 --> 01:26:47.205 - you know, maybe 40% of our revenue. Unless that's what everybody wants to do. At least I think we should 01:26:47.205 --> 01:26:54.929 - know what we're doing before we do it. Right. And I appreciate this update. It's not so much about the 01:26:54.929 --> 01:27:00.254 - dollar amounts at this point, but rather about the timing has changed. 01:27:00.578 --> 01:27:07.576 - And I think particularly we were looking at that report that Financial Solutions Group had put together. 01:27:07.576 --> 01:27:14.441 - They had some maximums and things like that, that I'm not here to recommend. I would not go with their 01:27:14.441 --> 01:27:21.373 - maximum. I would recommend not looking at the full amount, but looking at something below that, because 01:27:21.373 --> 01:27:28.105 - spending every dollar you have extra, even in that context, doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me. 01:27:28.105 --> 01:27:29.438 - But I do think that 01:27:30.242 --> 01:27:37.469 - That report also indicated that the point four probably isn't realistic, at least, and that would raise 01:27:37.469 --> 01:27:44.418 - the 225, right? I think everybody kind of understands that that 225 is off the table unless we wait 01:27:44.418 --> 01:27:51.785 - till 29, and then it could be on the table, could not be, right? But I think for the short-term solutions 01:27:51.785 --> 01:27:56.510 - that we need with our jail project, that 225 is just not realistic. 01:27:57.026 --> 01:28:04.544 - Sure. A question on timing, real quick, before you have to leave, is knowing that bond counsel needs 01:28:04.544 --> 01:28:12.285 - a certain runway to move forward, hearing that we could be moving forward with this calendar year, what 01:28:12.285 --> 01:28:19.877 - are we looking at in terms of needing to make a decision by the full counsel? I think, and I've heard 01:28:19.877 --> 01:28:22.110 - two different dates from him. 01:28:22.210 --> 01:28:28.835 - he said yesterday that a decision on the property need to be made by July and when we talked to him 01:28:28.835 --> 01:28:35.857 - on Friday he indicated that we need to start the process sometime in June. I think the additional process 01:28:35.857 --> 01:28:42.614 - and I think that's really kicking off the we're going to have to use the building corporation for the 01:28:42.614 --> 01:28:49.438 - constitutional debt limit and so we have to have some kind of lease the lease purchase kind of kind of 01:28:49.570 --> 01:28:56.221 - motive using a building corporation and that takes signatures and an extra amount of time to authorize 01:28:56.221 --> 01:29:02.742 - the lease and move forward it's just additional steps that we typically don't see when we do our our 01:29:02.742 --> 01:29:09.651 - general obligation bonds all right well thank you so much okay i heard you said that i don't think there's 01:29:09.651 --> 01:29:14.558 - anything new about timing it isn't like a change of legislature in the last 01:29:14.978 --> 01:29:21.610 - week or so but it's just an update to say if we're going to have it done within takes so much time to 01:29:21.610 --> 01:29:28.112 - do each of these states. It's a process and we and the council is kind of accustomed to our general 01:29:28.112 --> 01:29:34.744 - obligation bond process and this is a longer process than that. Right. All right Mr. Cockrell we look 01:29:34.744 --> 01:29:39.230 - forward to future updates from you enjoy your phone call. Thank you. 01:29:40.642 --> 01:29:46.874 - All right, that concludes our first quarter updates. Again, council members, if you have additional 01:29:46.874 --> 01:29:53.106 - reports that you think are going to be interesting or helpful to the public to showcase that we are 01:29:53.106 --> 01:29:59.711 - being good stewards with tax dollars, please request those and we'll meet again. And since we are talking 01:29:59.711 --> 01:30:06.130 - about meeting again, I would like to keep our LTF meetings moving forward. And it has been recommended 01:30:06.130 --> 01:30:10.430 - by council staff to go ahead and schedule our second quarter meeting 01:30:10.786 --> 01:30:17.944 - for Tuesday, June the 30th at 1.30 p.m. and the third quarter meeting for September 29th at 1.30 p.m. 01:30:17.944 --> 01:30:25.312 - They would take place here in the NatU Hill Room and be available online for all of you as well. Council 01:30:25.312 --> 01:30:32.469 - members, do you have any questions regarding these dates? No, I don't. I think the June 30th might be 01:30:32.469 --> 01:30:37.662 - problematic for me, but if it works for you guys, that's fine. All right. 01:30:37.986 --> 01:30:45.626 - staff any questions or comments about the dates Otter's office this works for you as you're going to 01:30:45.626 --> 01:30:53.266 - be providing updates and I know you've got a lot of I mean having it on the 30th doesn't allow for a 01:30:53.266 --> 01:31:00.981 - full month data you know but that is what it is we'll make do like we did this time I think given the 01:31:00.981 --> 01:31:06.654 - overview that we're doing I'm not sure that we need that drilled down last 01:31:06.882 --> 01:31:13.867 - And I'll just say the reason we chose those particular dates is because it was the fifth Tuesday or 01:31:13.867 --> 01:31:20.922 - yes of those months so there's no conflict with anybody in the rooms or anything like that so that's 01:31:20.922 --> 01:31:27.976 - why we kind of did it that way all right so I think we're gonna move forward with adoption and if we 01:31:27.976 --> 01:31:30.910 - need to change things we can always do so 01:31:31.138 --> 01:31:37.873 - So all those in favor of adopting the second and third quarter LTF meetings as presented signify by 01:31:37.873 --> 01:31:44.811 - saying aye aye aye all those opposed same sign the motion carries unanimously finally as always on the 01:31:44.811 --> 01:31:47.774 - agenda is public comment for items that are 01:31:47.938 --> 01:31:54.773 - haven't been on this agenda. If you have questions or comments about the fiscal affairs of this county, 01:31:54.773 --> 01:32:01.608 - about our long-term financial standings, please, you have three minutes to tell us what's on your mind. 01:32:01.608 --> 01:32:08.246 - We ask that you come forward to the podium here or raise your hand on Teams. State your name for the 01:32:08.246 --> 01:32:14.883 - record. And the floor is yours. I don't see folks here on the NatU hill. And I'm gonna give one more 01:32:14.883 --> 01:32:17.118 - second for hands raised on Teams. 01:32:17.570 --> 01:32:25.776 - I'm not seeing anybody. So that means that we are going to see everyone again on Tuesday, June the 30th 01:32:25.776 --> 01:32:28.222 - at 1 30 p.m. We are adjourned.