Finance Committee

09/28/11 Minutes (53 KB)

Members present: Steve Bach, Tommy Lee Bychinski, Joan Fordham, Jason Lane, and William F. Wenzel

Others present: Judy Ashford, Brent Bailey, Pat Barrett, Kerry Beghin, Brent Bergstrom, Jim Daniels, Patrick Dederich, Jennifer Erickson, Tom Fandry, Jessica Fry, Kevin Fults, Joel Gaalswyk, Liz Geoghegan, Greg Hahn, Fred Halfen, Lynn Horkan, Lowell Haugen, Steve Koenig, Tom Kriegl, Marty Krueger, Todd Liebman, Andrea Lombard, Chip Meister, Vicki Meister, Brentt Michalek, Peter Murray, Sue Nagelkerk, Steve Pate, Sandy Roamer, Kathy Schauf, Jeff Spencer, Donna Stehling, Mike Stoddard, Sharon Terry, Jeff Tobin, Bill Weitzel, multiple other members of the public, and media

The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Bychinski at 2:00 PM. Certification of open meeting compliance was given. Motion by Lane to adopt the agenda, second by Bach. Motion carried.

Bychinski stated the order for the meeting to include first the departmental presentation. Second, non-finance committee members/general public have an opportunity to comment for up to three minutes. Lastly, the Finance Committee will discuss and review the presented budget with the Department.

Justice and Public Safety Departments:
V Meister gave an overview of the functional group, their mission and goals. Non-member comment: Kriegl spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

District Attorney:
Barrett reviewed departmental budget request. Caseloads, staffing vacancies and funding were highlighted and discussed. Non-member comment: Murray, Terry, Kriegl, and Weitzel spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Child Support:
Fandry reviewed minimal budget changes. He reviewed the State funding status. Non-member comment: Kriegl spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Register in Probate:
Daniels reviewed budget and anticipates maintaining same level as 2011. Concerns for department include legal fees for CHIPS (children in need of protection and services) and psychiatric evaluations. Caseloads in these areas are increasing. Non-member comment: Kriegl spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Clerk of Courts:
V Meister reviewed budget and noted 10% cut in state aids funding. Recent small claims limit changes may cause a decrease in fees. Technologies for efficiencies were highlighted. She reviewed the status of collection efforts. Non-member comment: Schernecker spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Coroner:
Hahn reviewed budget. Autopsy expense includes an increase based on a 5 year average. Fuel expenses have also been increased.
Non-member comment: Kriegl spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Sheriff:
Sheriff Meister distributed an updated highlights page and reviewed the requested budget. Revenues and rentals from other jurisdictions were discussed. Budget request does not include any rental income from other jurisdictions. Reviewed staff levels and cuts that have been made. The ramifications of decreased staffing were discussed. Required jail staffing due to jail configuration, classification and previous resolution were discussed. Request for proposal (RFP) in Administrative Coordinator’s 2011 budget for Sheriff Department analysis was discussed. Study is similar to the current TMG study and prior study for the Health Care Center. Caseload and county population was discussed. Tourism effect on Sauk County was discussed. Huber and electronic monitoring options and restrictions were discussed. Non-member comment: Murray, Halfen, Gaalswyk, Kriegl, Schernecker, and Roamer spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Jail Assessment:
Revenues are transferred to Debt Service fund for payment of Law Enforcement Center construction debt.

Drug Seizure:
Fults noted seizures are required to be used for the drug task force purposes and officer safety. Funds cannot supplant levy. Seizures are highly variable.

The Committee discussed the Budget survey. There were 57 responders.

Recess at 4:07 until 6:00 PM.
Resumed at 6:00 PM

Land Resources Departments:
Pate reviewed the functional group collaborations and goals.

Land Records Modernization (LRM):
By state law the fees must be expended for modernization of land records. Pate anticipates the fees collected will be adequate to cover the redaction solution. Capital outlay includes $100,000 for survey remonumentation projects. Remonumentation was discussed; Dederick stated continued collection of county corners at current rate will take an estimated 6 years to complete. Ongoing, state law requires perpetuating 5% of corners in the county per year. Non-member comment: Kriegl spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Surveyor:
Dederich commented the budget request is essentially the same, slight decrease. Majority of budget is remonumentation bounty expense. Dederich reviewed the remonumentation reimbursement process and its benefits for to the County.

Conservation, Planning & Zoning (CPZ):
Michalek reviewed budget request, strategic plan and priorities. The budget includes Board of Adjustment, Land Conservation and Planning & Zoning. 2012 will be a transition year for the consolidated department. Reviewed staffing plans and structured teams. CPZ joint committees increased original departmental request $100,000 for use at the discretion of the department head, which was added to the contracted services expense line. Discussed use of engineering firm versus hiring a staff engineer. Program compliance monitoring, conservation practices and other various programs were reviewed. Budget includes outlay for “cyclical” vehicle replacements; end result reduces the fleet by two vehicles. Non-member comment: Lombard, Murray and Kriegl spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

University of Wisconsin Extension (UW Ext):
Erickson reviewed mission, purpose and budget highlights. Erickson spoke about staffing levels. Budget includes increase in garden/horticulture staffing hours. Nagelkerk noted UW-Extension has been awarded a new national grant for study of children with incarcerated parents.

Arts, Humanities & Historic Preservation (AHHP):
Erickson noted the budget request remains the same as previous year. Ashford reviewed various expense lines. The use of the grant funding was discussed. The requirements for county match were discussed.

Parks:
Koenig reviewed the most recent completed dam projects and ongoing maintenance and analysis expectations for the county dams. Currently, a camping reservation system is being worked on with MIS. Revenues for entrance fees have a budgeted increase. 2012 outlay request includes a mower replacement. Non-member comment: Kriegl and Stehling spoke concerning the 2012 budget.

Register of Deeds:
Bailey reviewed the department vision and collaboration with LRM for redaction the solution. Highlighted future goals to scan and digitize documents enabling more accessible and secure records.

Motion by Lane to adjourn the meeting at 8:08 pm, second by Wenzel. Motion carried. 2012 Budget presentations will begin at 2:00 PM on Thursday, September 29, 2011.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan Fordham
Finance Committee Secretary