[OCT. 14, 2005]
Most of the discussions that took place at the
Logan County board-of-the-whole meeting on Thursday evening revolved
around finances. County needs, services, materials and salaries
surfaced frequently.
Balance between continued services, maintaining levies for roads and
bridges and the tuberculosis sanitarium, reinstituting support for
the Logan County Health Department, and pressing needs for
equipment, vehicle and building maintenance in a time of increasing
insurance, fuel costs and unfunded mandates -- such as GIS and GASBY
34 expenses -- continue to elude board efforts to balance next
year's budget and secure a more solid financial future.
The public
safety tax that voters passed this past spring will not have much
impact on next year's budget, as the funds from that will not begin
coming in until five months into the new fiscal year. The county
fiscal year begins on Dec. 1, and those funds will not start coming
until April 2006.
Board members were called to a special meeting that took place on
Sept. 26 to help resolve the new budget. Following that meeting the
"just barely in the black" budget was considered ready for
presentation.
However, shortly after last evening's meeting began, the board
went into a lengthy executive session to discuss county engineer
candidates and the salary that would be offered. What went on in
that closed session set the tone for the remainder of the meeting.
The former county engineer, Tom Hickman, resigned his position
not long after the board elected not to participate in at state
program that allows the county to draw funds from the motor fuel tax
fund to pay the engineer's salary. Hickman never said what his
reasons for resigning were.
He had complied with county requests to hold back spending and
had not requested levy for equipment upkeep for the past two years,
nor for this coming budget.
When the lengthy executive session was over and the meeting
resumed, it was evident that participation in the state program was
once again proposed.
Board members clearly drew up sides stating their positions on
the matter.
Participation in that program requires the county to increase the
engineer's pay from $65,000 to 83,000. The county would pay a small
portion of the salary out of the general fund, but the bulk of the
expense would be from motor fuel tax. The way it stands now, the
entire salary is out of the general fund.
The motor fuel tax funds are pooled from one year to the next and
held for county use on special large road projects. Municipalities
also have their own motor fuel tax funds to be used the same way.
The county, or city, can request use of their funds at any time. The
funds are distributed by the state, with the approval of and under
the supervision of the Illinois Department of Transportation.
The advantage of participating in the alternative salary program
is that the county does not have to take the engineer's full salary
out of the general budget. This frees up county funds to be used
elsewhere.
George Mitchell began pointing out that he didn't like entering a
program that gives the state so much control and said that the
option to participate in this program was just rejected two to three
months ago.
The use of motor fuel tax funds has been called creative
financing at the expense of roadwork that taxpayers expect to be
done.
Paul Gleason said he could not agree with paying any new employee
a higher salary than the last person received.
Another drawback that concerned some board members was that it
reduces the funds available for county road projects.
The state recommends the minimum engineer's salary. It is based
on a formula that measures the county size and miles of roads. It
was begun because counties in the state were losing good engineers
and not attracting new ones, since the counties could not afford the
higher salaries, Terry Werth said.
Evidently that is where Logan County now finds itself. Judging
from the discussions that followed the executive session, none of
the current engineer applicants is willing to accept the salary that
Hickman was being paid: $65,000.
Road and bridge chairman Terry Werth made a motion proposing that
the county enter the state salary program. A straw poll showed an
equal number for and against it, indicating that it will fail when
it is voted on at next Tuesday's meeting.
The anticipated rejection of that program means that the
engineer's full salary of $65,000, and possibly even more, will have
to come out of the general budget.
That expense and some other adjustments push the proposed budget
into the red. As a result the board unanimously indicated that they
would reject the new budget, as well, when it is presented next
Tuesday.
County board chairman Bob Farmer and finance chairman Chuck Ruben
asked the full board to meet again to determine where cuts will be
made to bring the budget into the black.
The board will meet on Monday, Oct. 17, and on Monday, Oct. 24,
at 6 p.m. to discuss the new budget. Ruben hopes to have it ready
for board approval at the November session, and once approved, it
will go on public display for 30 days before it can be enacted.
The future is not as bleak as it appears for this year. According
to finance chair Chuck Ruben the county will have the full public
safety tax in the next year, and they have been told that it is
producing more income, as it comes from fuel sales and those prices
are higher. And the county will begin seeing returns from the Sysco
development as it gets up and running. Just making it through this
time period appears to be the most challenging.
