The Finance Committee of the DeKalb County Board, met on Wednesday, October 4, 2006 @ 7:00p.m. in the DeKalb County Administration Building’s Conference Room East.  Chairman Jeff Whelan called the meeting to order.  Members present were Jeff Metzger, Sr., Ruth Anne Tobias, Jerry Augsburger, Dennis Sands and Michael Haines.  Ms. Leifheit was absent.  Others present were Gary Hanson, Ray Bockman, Steve Kuhn, Ken Campbell, Karen Grush and Joan Berkes-Hanson.

APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES

 Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Sands, and it was carried unanimously to approve the minutes from September 6, 2006.

APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA

 Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Haines, and it was carried unanimously to approve the agenda as presented.

BUDGET REVIEW OF FINANCE COMMITTEE BUDGETS

 Ms. Tobias asked Mr. Hanson, how do we allocate what the funds are spent on in the Opportunity Fund?  

Mr. Hanson said that $100,000 is being spent on the lobbyists, $100,00 is being spent on the Drug Court and $300,000 goes to the Land Acquisition fund.  There is another allocation of $250,000 that will go to the rehab of the Public Safety Building, too, said Mr. Hanson

 Mr. Haines asked Mr. Hanson about the 5-year special projects – is that also for renovation?  

Mr. Hanson said yes, there are several 5-year plans, one is Special Projects, one for Renewal and Replacement programs on the Sycamore Campus, one for the Jail, and one for the Health Facility.  

Mr. Haines asked that if the referendum is passed would the funding source change?  

Mr. Hanson said yes.  The monies for renovating the existing jail that now come from the Opportunity Fund would come from the New Public Safety Sales Tax.

Finance Committee Minutes

October 4, 2006

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Mr. Sands asked that if the referendum is passed and funds are available from different sources, where is the extra money going?  

Mr. Hanson said that they would go for the jail operation costs.  The referendum money would also be for the additional staff salaries, the Transition budget, such as an allocation for the Lieutenant position to be dedicated to the new building, said Mr. Hanson.

Mr. Sands where do the other funds go?  

The funds would stay in the Opportunity Fund, said Mr. Hanson.

Chairman Whelan asked about the County Farm Land Sale, could Mr. Hanson explain it?  

Mr. Hanson said that the County Farm Land Sale was the money that the County received when we sold off sections of land.  Those revenues helped to pay for the Health Facility.  Subsequent to that the money now goes into this fund.  

Mr. Hanson also reminded the committee that the Forest Preserve District would be paying the County off for the Potawottomi Woods Forest Preserve in November.  

Mr. Sands asked Mr. Hanson if the County had any Mega Projects planned in the next five years?  

Mr. Hanson said that the judicial offices here on the Sycamore Campus would need to expand.

BUDGET UPDATE AND STATUS

 Mr. Hanson said that there are some changes from when he first presented the budget.  

 The first two are revenue items and are within the budget workbook, said Mr. Hanson.  The Board of Health has requested that the tipping fee for waste at the landfill be increased to the maximum allowable.  The fee would go from $1.10 to $1.27 per ton and generate an additional $15,000 per year, with the effective date being January 1, 2007.  The monies will be used for programs that promote recycling.

Finance Committee Minutes

October 4, 2006

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Mr. Hanson said that the second change is from the Sheriff’s Department.  They are requesting that the County Board consider implementing a law, which concerns medical care for prisoners.  The  County may now require local medical care service providers to accept the reimbursement rate that the State of Illinois uses for Public Aid recipients.  This request is approved as part of the FY2007 budget, but a separate single-item ordinance will be submitted for enactment by the County Board with an effective date of December 1, 2006.  Mr. Hanson said that Sheriff Scott will bring this item to the Law & Justice Committee and if it is recommended by that committee, it will be forwarded to the full board for consideration in November.

 Another item that is being changed is from the Supervisor of Assessments Office.  At the last  meeting of the Finance Committee, requested an additional staff person (Administrative Clerk C) at a total cost of $37,000.  The Supervisor of Assessments cites additional responsibilities and workload as the explanation.   At the same meeting a  suggestion was made to look at using part-time people rather than a full-time person to save on benefits.  About that time, a staff change occurred in the Assessment Office which opened the door for an opportunity to address some supervision needs in the office.  Coupled together, the change suggested below will cost about the same as the original proposal, but 14% more work hours will be available than in the original proposal.

 The new request states that the Supervisor of Assessments has requested that the position of Administrative Clerk A be upgraded to the position of Chief Deputy of Assessments and that two part-time positions of up to 4 hours per day each be approved with the classification of Administrative Clerk C.  This request will address the need for a supervisor when the Department Head is absent as well as addressing workload factors.  The request is approved with an effective date of January 7, 2007 for the part-time staff and retroactively to October 23, 2006 for the classification upgrade.

 The last item is from the State’s Attorney’s office regarding a workload problem.  The Victim Witness Assistant is currently funded by a State grant.  They have decided that some of the duties that this Assistant is doing are no longer allowable under the grant which funds the position.  These duties will now have to be performed by someone else.  The State’s Attorney has expressed an immediate need to add a half-time Legal Secretary B to his authorized staff.

 The Coroner/ESDA office who recently had the retirement of a long-term employee working at the Secretary B classification.  The Sheriff currently has an unfilled position of an Executive Secretary.  Both the Coroner and Sheriff feel that they could combine the duties that each position serves within their respective offices and have one full-time person, recruited at the 

Finance Committee Minutes

October 4, 2006

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higher pay scale, fill that job.  This would then leave a half-time position to be transferred to the State’s Attorney’s Office.  There should be no additional cost as this arrangement, with the Executive Secretary placed in the Coroner/ESDA budget and “loaned” to the Sheriff as needed, allows the County to maximize reimbursements from the State ESDA grant program.

 Therefore, said Mr. Hanson, the new budget paragraph will read, that the State’s Attorney has requested the addition of a half-time Legal Secretary. The Sheriff and Coroner have requested to share a full-time position of Executive Secretary under the supervision of the Coroner/ESDA Director and to transfer the secretarial position to the State’s Attorney’s Office and add it to a current half-time Legal Secretary position for one-full position with benefits.  This is effective retroactively to October 23, 2006 as Departments had to respond to workload factors from turnover and to comply with State grant requirements.

 Mr. Metzger asked if there were any additional equipment needs that were attached to the grant for these positions? Any equipment needs for any of these positions?   

Mr. Hanson said no.

 Chairman Whelan asked, how much does this add to the budget?   

Mr. Hanson said nothing really.

 Mr. Hanson reminded the committee that they will be holding a Public Hearing on the budget at their November meeting.

REFERENDUM UPDATE FACTS AND FIGURES

 Mr. Hanson handed out factual information (see paperwork attached to these minutes) to the committee on the Jail Referendum.  It states what the money is going for.  He also said that there will be jail tours throughout the month of October that are open to the general public. They will have speaking engagements scheduled and a video of the Jail and brochures are being produced currently.   

 Mr. Bockman explained to the committee that the ballot language has to be what the State Statutes states, nothing else (see attachment to these minutes).

 Mr. Sands asked, of this $20 million for the jail expansion, is it true to say that half of it is for the building costs and the other half is personnel?  

Finance Committee Minutes

October 4, 2006

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Mr. Hanson said that the $20 million is all building costs.  We will need $2 million a year to staff it. About $4 million will be generated a year from the referendum.  About $2 million from this amount will go for operating it and staffing it; $1½ million will go to pay off the bonds; and half a million will go for alternate programs.

Mr. Hanson also handed out a Don’t Build Option sheet to the committee.  He said that the first sheet covers the fact if the County does not expand and the prisoners are shipped out-of-County.  He said that the County is currently paying $71.00 per day to house the prisoners out-of-County and if you inflate that by 5% over 10 years it will cost the County $27,632,811.00.

He further stated that the second sheet shows that if the referendum passes what it will cost for the proposed solution, that is, to build a jail, operate it, start the alternate programs, pay off the bonds, etc.  Over a ten year period it will cost the County $27,200,000.00, which shows that it is cheaper to expand the jail, said Mr. Hanson.

The third sheet states that if we spend that money in DeKalb County with salaries, buying supplies and put that money into the local economy, what it would really generate.  Mr.  Hanson said that every dollar that you spend in the economy turns over six times. So, if we look after ten years, that’s where we will have generated $75,000,000.00 into the local economy.

ADJOURNMENT

 Moved by Ms. Tobias, seconded by Mr. Augsburger, and it was carried unanimously to adjourn the meeting. 

      Respectfully submitted,

      ____________________________________ 

      Chairman Jeff Whelan

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