Friday, Aug. 9

County manager may be
idea whose time has come

[AUG. 9, 2002]  On July 12 the Logan County Board Finance Committee discussed hiring a county administrator and supported further investigation of the concept. The next step is for board members Dale Voyles and Dave Hepler to draft a proposal specifying job description and chain of command. That proposal may be discussed as early as the Aug. 16 Finance Committee meeting.

Voyles said hiring a county manager or administrator would bring several benefits. A manager could keep closer track of the yearly schedule, standardize personnel practices, establish a safety program and control losses.

An administrator would also make the job of the county board chair easier, Voyles suggested. Board members, including the chair, have other employment or businesses to run and can devote only a small part of their time to county affairs. A full-time manager would have more time to follow through on board decisions, establish new programs and maintain schedules.

"The way we’re doing business isn’t the most efficient for the taxpayers," contended Voyles. He believes employing an administrator would be a more professional way to operate the county.

Voyles said a manager could have averted the need for the special board meeting on July 12. That meeting was called to renew the county’s liability insurance, which would otherwise have lapsed before the voting session on July 16.

Several causes led to the insurance mix-up, according to Voyles. Some were out of the board’s control, such as St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company’s delay in quoting rates. However, one problem was that the Insurance Committee thought the expiration date was July 17, giving time for a vote at the regular meeting. Voyles believes a full-time county administrator could have caught the problem before the committee did.

 

One component of the 45 percent rise in liability premium was $4,200 in additional coverage for personnel and hiring practices. Voyles said the county risks being sued because it does not have uniform hiring procedures. Establishing and overseeing such procedures would be part of a county manager’s job description.

At present, the county has employment guidelines developed by the Personnel Committee, consisting of board chair Dick Logan, finance chair Rod White and Voyles as insurance and legislative chair. The committee meets four times a year to review and revise the guidelines, which apply to personnel not under union contract. However, Voyles said the process "needs to be done at a professional level" to be sure all state and federal standards are met.

One likely component of a uniform personnel policy is a standard pay scale. There is currently no salary schedule for non-union county workers. Instead, salaries of employees are set by the officeholders to whom they report and therefore vary for comparable positions, White said.

Another need is for a standard application form, still leaving the ultimate authority for hiring to the officeholder. Voyles said such an application form would include a pre-application physical, which the county does not currently require.

The concept of a county administrator has been under discussion for at least seven months. In January White collected job descriptions, qualifications and salary information for administrators in DeWitt, Morgan and Livingston counties.

The job description of the DeWitt administrative assistant to the county board is similar to that of Logan County Board secretary Joanne Marlin, with some added duties related to purchasing and zoning. Marlin performs a number of administrative tasks, including scheduling committees and administering insurance.

In Morgan County the job title administrative assistant applies to a position responsible for budget control, grant writing, county planning, economic development and administration of social service grants in three counties. The Morgan administrator oversees a staff of seven to 12 people.

 

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The situation in Livingston County is far closer to that envisioned by local proponents of a county manager. There the county coordinator’s responsibilities include human resources, risk management and insurance, budgeting and financial reporting, grant applications and administration, purchasing, organizational planning, intergovernmental relations, economic development, and overseeing building projects. Minimum qualifications for the job include a bachelor’s degree in public administration or similar field and relevant experience; a master’s degree is preferred. The current coordinator has served for about two years and earns $50,323. He has one administrative assistant.

Part of a manager’s salary could be recovered in savings, Voyles and White suggested. For example, the county would be able to drop $4,200 in liability insurance covering personnel and hiring practices. Centralized purchasing could save money on office supplies. Consulting fees might also be saved. And a county manager could institute procedures to reduce insurance claims that cause losses.

According to Voyles, a recent worker’s compensation loss control report recommended that the county appoint a safety committee. Some county departments such as the highway department already perform periodic safety reviews. A county administrator could extend to all county offices safety practices such as facilities inspections, maintenance and perhaps accident investigations.

Although duties of the proposed administrator would have to be worked out in committee, both White and Voyles see further potential savings by consolidating other positions.

White said "it is the best of times, it is the worst of times" for making the decision to hire a county administrator. It is best because some changes will occur anyway. In the past, auditors from Sikisch Gardner & Co. have done closing and adjusting entries as part of the annual county audit. According to Logan County Treasurer Mary Bruns, Governmental Accounting Standards Board 34, which redefines generally accepted accounting principles for governments, does not allow accounting firms to do any managerial work for clients. Therefore, closing and adjusting entries will now be done by Bruns’ office.

 

Another coming change is that six current county board members will leave office in December, including White and Roger Bock from the Finance Committee and Law Enforcement/ESDA chair Doug Dutz. The resulting climate of change would present a convenient time to institute a change in county governance.

However, it is also the worst of times due to budgetary pressures, White added. Because of revenue shortfalls, especially in sales taxes, the county may finish this year with a deficit larger than the budgeted $315,000. The deciding factor will be whether officials and committees continue to hold expenditures below budget, as they have done in the first seven months of the fiscal year.

With budget hearings for fiscal year 2002-3 beginning Aug. 16, officials are being asked to keep their requests within current figures. Setting up a new office would entail expenses beyond the salary of the administrator, White noted, and it would be difficult to vote for additional expenses when budgets are being held steady or cut.

[Lynn Shearer Spellman]

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Financially strapped students
suffer credit problems

[AUG. 9, 2002]  College students who bear the burden of paying for school themselves are at risk for accumulating large amounts of credit card debt and misusing credit after graduation, according to a University of Illinois study. This category includes women, minorities and graduate students.

"Low- to middle-income populations have historically been left out of the credit market," said Angela Lyons, U of I consumer economist. "Now, as students, they have access to credit, but have not been provided information to help them manage their debt."

Students who are at risk for significant credit card debt tend to be those who have the most difficult time paying their way through school. They are often financially independent and borrow more money in general than most students. This group is more likely to have student loans and to be involved in work-study programs.

"How students obtain their credit cards is also a factor in whether they manage them well," said Lyons. "Students who get their card in the mail, at a retail store or at a campus table are more likely to be financially at risk than those who received them from financial institutions."

Lyons, through the U of I Office of Student Financial Aid, used an online survey to measure student credit card usage. From 835 surveys, Lyons found that about 79 percent of U of I students have credit cards, which is similar to other colleges and universities. And she discovered that for the most part, students are using their credit cards responsibly.

 

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Financially at-risk students reported at least one of the following credit problems: having credit card balances of $1,000 or more; paying off credit card balances some of the time or never; maxing out credit cards; and being delinquent on credit card payments by two months or more. The percentage of students who described themselves as fitting into one or more of these categories ranged from 7 to 30 percent.

Lyons is involved in a four-year U of I Extension project called "$tudent $marts" to help financially at-risk students in Illinois build their financial knowledge about credit, make informed financial decisions, use financial services responsibly and develop a sense of financial independence. The goal is to develop pamphlets and Web-based materials.

"The students in the survey reported overwhelmingly that they prefer to receive information on the Internet rather than through other forms of communication," said Lyon. "We are creating materials that will be available for use statewide. The information will be available in a variety of formats so that it can be used in ways that best suit students at a number of colleges and universities."

[U of I news release]


Articles from the past week

Thursday:

  • Lack of funds no reason for closing LDC, Bomke says

  • Training offered for county board candidates

  • Abraham Lincoln Marovitz collection donated to state

Wednesday:

  • LDC faces new setback
  • Illinois reports first human West Nile disease case (Illinois Department of Public Health news release)
  • International fraternity honors Illinois Supreme Court justice

Tuesday:

  • Bidding problems delay sewer plant upgrade

  • Derek Heath takes demolition checkered flag
    (Sports)

  • Local authorities watching West Nile virus

Monday:

  • Governor’s commission announces hearing to revise school code

Saturday:

  • July 2002: Hot and dry in Illinois

  • Bomke offers homeowners tips on safe home repair

  • Tractor pullin’ (Part 2) and a couple of visits (Fair page)

Friday:

  • Are you ready for some… tractor pullin’???

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