HomeMy WebLinkAboutCounty Board of Supervisors - Minutes - 5/11/2009
Minutes of the
Bayfield County Board of Supervisors’ Meeting
Of May 11, 2009 – 4:05 p.m.
Bayfield County Board Room, Courthouse, Washburn, Wisconsin
The monthly meeting of the Bayfield County Board of Supervisors was called to order by
Chairman Kacvinsky at4:07 p.m. Roll call was taken by Bayfield County Clerk, Scott Fibert as
follows: Good-present; Gordon-present; Jardine-present; Maki-absent; Kittleson-present;
Blahnik-presen; Kacvinsky-present; Beeksma-present; Williams-present; Bichanich-present;
Miller-absent; Crandall-present; Rondeau-present. Total: 13, 12 present, 1 absent, a
quorum was present to conduct business. The motion carried. Others present were: County
Administrator, Mark Abeles-Allison; County Clerk, Scott Fibert; Deputy County Clerk, Dawn M.
Bellile; and Tim Kane, Session Facilitator from UW-Extension Office.
The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all in attendance.
1. Public Comment – There was none.
2. Welcome and Introduction – County Board Chair Bill Kacvinsky called the meeting to
order and welcomed the Supervisors.
3. Purpose of Session - Bayfield County Clerk Scott Fibert and County Administrator
Mark Abeles-Allison discussed the purpose of the session, which was to begin to plan and provide
direction for the 2010 County budget. Abeles-Allison also provided some background information
by reviewing a handout on the purpose of the session, which depicted the county’s financial picture,
including its bank balances, delinquency rate and budget revenue sources. He also discussed a sales
tax handout that contained historical sales tax collection data.
4. Review Recent County Accomplishments - Mark Abeles-Allison reviewed a handout
titled, “Recent County Accomplishments 08-09,” which described several accomplishments that had
taken place which he and Fibert compiled. The County has been very productive over the past year.
The list is as follows:
Transfer of Home Health to Northern Lights;
Northern Lights Health Care Bonding;
Agricultural Station Land Use Plan and Lease;
Courtroom remodel and accessibility improvements;
Aging & Disability Resources Center, remodel and coordinated staffing downsizing;
World Class Manufacturing in Bayfield;
Fogerty Clinic in Cable;
Housing State prisoners in the jail;
Criminal Justice efforts; helping to keep jail numbers down;
911 upgrades, system and addition of Wireless 911;
Law enforcement upgrades to include video camera recorders in all vehicles;
Register of Deeds online access to scanned records;
Web Page overhaul;
Roof replacement at the annex;
Green Energy Conservation efforts including in-sulation, solar panels, motion
detector lights and fleet vehicles with higher mpg;
TLC Health Center;
Jail certification for 8 more inmates in renovated cell area;
Crim. Justice Programs;
Financial condition of the County, holding fund balances even in reduced income
times;
Successful grant applications: LCC, Health, Zoning, Land Records, Human Services,
Administrator, Sheriff;
Highway Bridge Award;
Plat Book revisions;
Bayfield County Tourism Visitor’s Guide;
Pictometry Mapping Grant;
Scanning of records for quick retrieval, Clerk of Court, Human Services, Register of
Deeds, and others;
Abeles-Allison discussed bank balances, stating they are pretty constant. He reported that
the County Treasurer has stated that there is a delinquency tax rate of approximately $582,000
over 2007. The budget shows that 41% of the general fund budget comes from property taxes;
sales tax 7.7%; wood sales 16%; interest 5%; permits (zoning) 3.6%; and state reimbursements from
Register of Deeds, Child Support, Sheriff’s Dept. and Land Conservation 18%. Regardless if the
residents of Bayfield County pay their taxes or not, the County still has to make its obligations
whole to the schools and municipalities. The Treasurer feels that the delinquent tax number will
increase with time.
Abeles-Allison discussed with the Board, using graphs and charts, sales tax, the 2009 levy
breakdown, a summary of previous years of adopted budget totals, and levy vs. mill rates.
Review – Identify Most Important Issues Facing Bayfield County Government – Kane
went over the following list with the Board and stated that they will be asked to identify issues
facing Bayfield County and went over the following individually:
Review county Accomplishments
Identify Important Issues
Review Co Dept Head Ideas
Review County levy and Budget History
Identify county budget priorities for 2010
Develop target tax levy for 2010;
Various Supervisors stated that before any of the above is done, they felt that the County
budget should stay at zero budget increase as we do not even know if we will have any money to
operate the business of the on. We need to see all of the figures before we can move on. Also
discussed was the fact that all 3 Unions will be negotiated with this fall. We all need to be in the
same boat to make this year work. Based on the economy, we all should be grateful that we have
jobs. A brief discussion also took place on percentage wage increases vs. percentage on the whole
negotiated package. Further discussion took place on employees who may be retiring – that we
should keep the office working without hiring additional help. Discussion took place on the fact that
with less staff, there sometimes may be less help for Less help for the public. Also discussed was
reassigning em-ployees to different departments to fill in when others are either on vacation or on
extended leaves of absence. This could work efficiently as well.
Kane now asked the Board to list the most important issues facing Bayfield County
government that the County needs to address? The Board members were given cards to fill out to
provide their answers via a round robin. Their responses are as follows:
1. Revenue & expenses; employee wages and benefits.
2. Learn to efficient and create cost savings within budgetary restraints.
3. Try for a zero budget increase.
4. Maintain critical services during these economic times.
5. Maintain HS to the most vulnerable populations.
6. Savings through employee attrition.
7. Contingency Fund to respond to flu pandemic.
8. Wait to establish county budget after we find out where state and federal budgets
are determined.
9. Need to improve communication between County Board and Department Heads.
10. Focus on energy savings.
11. Run and keep county fleet vehicles an extra year.
12. Holding wages and freeze levy and provide mandated services.
13. Put a hold on capital expenditures.
14. Capturing more tourism dollars.
15. Reducing size of county workforce.
16. Enhance communications at all levels.
17. Shop around for different insurance.
Supervisor Miller arrived at 5:00 p.m..
18. Look at County fund balance.
19. Continuing Ag Station issue.
20. Have session on reviewing the responsibilities of County Board members.
21. Concern about the category of state inmates in county jail.
22. Take a close look at highway dept. staffing and contract out services.
23. Look at self-insurance program.
24. Look at ways to increase revenues.
The Board recessed at 5:15 for a short supper break that was brought in and reconvened at
5:35.
Review County Department Head Ideas on Things County Can Improve, Save Costs,
Increase Revenues and Priority Issues. Abeles-Allison referred to a County Department Head
Planning Session Summary handout that he and Fibert had put together, and reviewed the items
listed under: things the County does not do well, cost saving ideas, what are your ideas for
increasing County revenues and priorities the County needs to address. He also mentioned to the
Board members he had furnished them with a complete list of ideas that were shared by
Department Heads at their budget planning meeting.
Review History of County Levy and Budget. Abeles-Allison referred to and discussed the
following handouts with the County Supervisors: Bayfield County Summary of Adopted Budget
Totals 1985-2009, Levy vs Mill Rate graph, Levy Increase Over Previous Year graph and 2009 Levy
Breakdown.
Identify County Budget Priorities for 2010. The County Supervisors were asked to think
about the most important issues facing Bayfield County government that they identified earlier as
well as the list of ideas from the County Departments Heads as they consider the County’s budget
priorities for 2010. In order to identify these priorities, Kane asked the Board members to write
down on an index card as concisely as possible their answers to the following question:
What do you consider to be the top County budget priorities for 2010? Kane then
asked in a round robin manner for the Supervisors to tell him what their budget priories were for
2010, which he recorded on a flip chart. The following 12 County budget priories for 2010 were
identified:
2010 Budget Priorities for Bayfield County
1. Zero levy increase for 2010
2. Maintain critical services – Human Services and County roads
3. Pass on insurance increases to employees or raise deductibles
4. Evaluate Sheriff’s Department workforce size
5. Don’t create new County positions
6. Bargain total wage and fringe package at not to exceed 2 percent
7. Minimize capital budget for next year
8. Evaluate each position when person retires
9. No increases in taxes, including sales tax
10. No increase in County permit fees
11. Reduce County workforce by contracting out services
12. Improve communications between Board, Department Heads and employees
Kane reviewed the 12 suggested budget priorities and asked if any clarification was needed
and if any of the priorities were duplicates. It was agreed to leave each of the 12 identified
priorities as separate items. Board members were then asked to vote on their top three 2010
budget priorities.
The top 8 budget priorities for 2010 were as follows (the number of votes received are
indicated in parentheses at the end of the budget priority):
Zero levy increase in 2010 (11)
Bargain total wage and fringe package at not to exceed 2 percent (8)
Maintain critical services – Human Services and County roads (7)
Minimize capital budget for next year (5)
Pass on insurance increases to employees or raise deductibles (3)
Don’t create new County positions (2)
Evaluate each position when person retires (2)
Evaluate Sheriff’s Department workforce size (1)
Develop a Target Tax Levy for 2010 Budget. Kane commented that it would be useful for
the County Board to have a target tax levy going into its 2010 budgeting process. Abeles-Allison
walked the Supervisors through the calculations shown in a handout titled, “2010 Budget Planning
Calculations.” He added the dollar amounts for the exempt Act 420 library ($90,000), County
library ($200,399) and bridge aid ($75,000) funds to the 2010 base levy maximum (based on a 3%
increase on the 2009 base levy) of $8,656,993 to get a potential County levy amount of
$9,022,392. Mark then added 3% allowable levy increase amount of $252,145 to the exempt fund
increase total over 2009 of $88,752 to get a total net potential increase over 2009 amount of
$340,897. A discussion followed. It was recommended and agreed to by the County Board
members to set the 2010 target tax levy at 3.2 mills, the same as 2009, plus the amount of the
exempt funds.
On a Note: Kacvinsky stated that he, Abeles-Allison and Millie Lindsey met just prior to
this evening’s meeting regarding the swine flu epidemic. He passed out an information on H1N1
influenza activity summary for the Board members to read.
There being no further business this evening, a motion was made by Gordon/Kittleson to
adjourn. The motion carried and the meeting adjourned at 7:07 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott S. Fibert,
Bayfield County Clerk
SSF/dmb