The Administrative Services Committee of the DeKalb County Board met Wednesday, September 3, at 7:00 p.m. at the DeKalb County Government Administration Building's Conference Room East. Chairperson Leifheit called the meeting to order. Mr. Faivre, Mr. Pritchard, Mr. Steimel, Ms. Tobias, Mr. Van Buer, Mr. Wiegand, and Mr. Wilson were present. Mr. Sands was absent. Also present was Ms. Joan Berkes-Hanson, Mr. Ray Bockman, Mr. Ken Campbell, Ms. Eileen Dubin, Ms. Margie Gilmour, Ms. Karen Grush, Mr. Gary Hanson, Ms. Christine Johnson, Mr. Greg Millburg, Ms. Mary Olson, Mr. Robert Rosemier, and Ms. Margaret Whitwell.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Hanson distributed the FY 2004 Budget Workbook which included the Administrative Recommendation (A copy of which will be placed on file along with these minutes in the Finance Office). Mr. Hanson presented the committee with an overview of the highlights of the recommendations as well as an explanation of how to use the workbook. He informed the committee that the budget was balanced at $50.4 which was up 1.4% over the 49.7 million from the previous year. He reported that the budget complies with the tax cap law. Several factors are determined such as the cost of living which is 2.4% for the new budget year, and new construction tax cap is estimated at 3.1% for a total limiting factor of 5.5%. Higher fees for the filings in the courts was recommended to add more revenues to the budget. Salary increases for employees (2.4% COLA) were allowed in this budget and the merit increases were restored at a 2% rate. He reported that the health insurance was a big unknown in balancing the budget because some the data isn't available at this time. There are plans to address the deficit balance on the health insurance fund. Personnel requests were dealt with by granting some and denying others. The Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) agency requested funding was approved at $25,000.

A big concern expecting to come in 2005 and 2006 was for FICA/IMRF funding as a result of investments that have not done well. It is recommended to give the Health Department less than what they requested for their FICA/IMRF needs and to assist the Highway Department by picking up some of their building debt to offset their FICA and IMRF costs. A salary incentive program has been recommended to help the Sheriff's Administrative Staff make their overtime budget. Increasing purchasing policy amount from $10,000 to $20,000 was recommended due to changes in the State law. Assisting the City of DeKalb with their agreement with the Illinois Tollway Authority for their interchange for the access road over a ten year period was also granted. Lastly, the recommendation is to extend the Forest Preserve loan for two more additional years. Mr. Bockman cautioned those not familiar with this process not overlook the very first sentence of the first paragraph in the recommendation that all is accepted, except as noted.

Respectfully submitted,

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Sue Leifheit, Chairman

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Lisa K. Sanderson
Secretary