The county board spent several hours on Tuesday, November 25 going through proposed levy expenditures department-by-department, having lunch brought in—at their own expense—as they tried to reach consensus on county spending. The discussion will continue on Tuesday, December 2.
Commissioners have been working on the budget since June and at the end of September were looking at a staggering initial levy increase of 27.8 percent. On Monday, September 29 after 2½ hours of poring over county budget information, commissioners agreed to set a maximum tax levy increase of 7 percent.
The board has been working with department heads and Auditor Braidy Powers since then to bring the levy numbers in line with that goal. At the November 25 meeting, Powers told the board that the proposed levy is now $6,536,740.
Powers explained some of the measures to get the levy in line with the 7 percent increase. He said $175,000 of funds that had been committed to other funds could be returned to the general fund, such as $93,750 earmarked as a deposit for the wildfire sprinkler grant and $20,000 from the county car replacement fund.
Powers had some good budget news for the board. The county had planned for a 5.2 percent increase in its health insurance. The increase will only be .6 percent, which will result in savings across all of the departments, for a total reduction of $58,103.
As commissioners prepared to tackle department budgets, Commissioner Heidi Doo-Kirk said she wanted to make sure that before any cuts were made to county employees, the county took a close look at donations to nonprofit organizations. Doo-Kirk noted that these entities do a lot of good in the community but said, “I hate to take away from our employees.”
Commissioners then began going through a huge binder of budget information, trying to squeeze more savings out of the already tight budget.
Reductions hard to find
At previous budget meetings the board worked with the County Highway Department to cut $150,700 from its budget.
At the latest meeting, there was consensus on a few smaller levy reductions—the board agreed to reduce the county’s cemetery budget by $750, based on actual expenditures. Commissioners reviewed the Cook County Sheriff ’s Office request to establish a Search & Rescue squad in Tofte, which included a proposal to either purchase a new or used vehicle to tow a snowmobile trailer to rescue scenes. The board agreed to authorize a used vehicle, which would mean an approximate $42,000 cut from the levy.
Powers said that County Maintenance Director Brian Silence had eliminated a request for a new lawn mower because he had repaired one, a savings in that department of $5,000. However, there was an increase in the maintenance department because of contracted services for snow removal. “We hope that’s not a repeat,” said Powers.
Powers said in his office the printing budget was reduced from $6,000 to $5,500.
Status Quo on some expenses
When commissioners considered the County Attorney’s Office budget, it was asked if there were any way to increase fees for handling court citations. County Attorney Molly Hicken said there is already a $75 surcharge and $15 law library fee on citations. “So, a $40 ticket gets $90 tacked on,” said Hicken.
Commissioner Garry Gamble said he wouldn’t recommend an increase in fees based on that information.
Commissioners agreed there was little flexibility in many parts of the budget, such as the election budget as the equipment is 10 years old and will likely need replacement before too long.
More information wanted
There was considerable discussion of whether or not to increase the budget for the County Veteran Services Officer to add more hours. The board wondered if there was enough of a workload to justify increasing the hours since veteran services are also available from the Grand Portage Veteran Services Officer and from Caroline Wood at the Birch Grove Foundation.
Commissioner Sue Hakes said she supported keeping the position at 20 hours a week, but eventually increasing hours if a need for more time was determined.
Commissioner Bruce Martinson said it would be good to hear from Pat Strand who is serving as Veteran Services Officer on the numbers of veterans she serves and the time she spends with them and in training and travel.
Commissioners asked for Strand to be on the agenda for the December meeting to discuss the Veteran Services budget.
Other departments to be revisited include radio services as commissioners had questions on a line item called “other supplies and equipment” and the County Agriculture Inspector.
Nonprofits revisited
Commissioners debated the requests from area nonprofits at length. Commissioner Garry Gamble said the county should review all of these entities—senior centers, afterschool programs, community centers and historical societies. “If we’re collecting taxes from all taxpayers, we need to ensure that the funds are distributed fairly,” he said.
He suggested developing some sort of matrix to determine what an organization receives, based on population and levied tax revenue, as well as public value.
Commissioner Hakes expressed concern about such a formulaic approach. She said smaller entities could be penalized. When it came time to consider the donation request from the Grand Marais Playhouse, Hakes argued for an increase from them even though they had not requested one. “We know they are in dire straits,” said Hakes, noting that their director has sometimes worked without pay.
None of her colleagues agreed to the increase.
Commissioner Doo-Kirk agreed that it would be good to have some sort of criteria. She noted that the county gets more and more people coming in with requests saying, “Well, you gave it to them.”
She noted that entities like the Violence Prevention Center, which is asking for less this year, should be rewarded. Doo-Kirk said when the VPC’s funding was cut, they asked for more. Now that some of their funding had been restored they were asking for less.
Hakes argued that all of these programs are what make Cook County special. Gamble agreed but said, “We’re looking at having to cut things. We have to look at an equitable way of distributing resources.”
Gamble said he would like to revisit how donations to nonprofits are made. “We have to balance fiscal responsibility with public good,” he said.
Discussion will continue at the December 2 board meeting. The levy must be finalized by December 31.
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