Thursday, October 22, 2009
 
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Draft of Logan County budget passes

Chamber gets balloon fest donation

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[October 22, 2009]  For nearly all of two hours the Logan County Board burrowed in on the final draft of the 2010 budget Tuesday evening. In the end the draft as a whole passed. In between there was a significant quantity of debate and several motions for amendment.

The draft will be on display for the public to view for 15 days at the Logan County Courthouse. It then goes back for further discussion before the board on Nov. 12 and 17 and final approval on Nov. 17. If passed, it would go into effect on Dec. 1.

All 12 board members were present: Rick Aylesworth, Kevin Bateman, Terry Carlton, Robert D. Farmer, David R. Hepler, Gloria Luster, Bill Martin, Patrick O'Neill, Charles Ruben, Jan Schumacher, John Stewart and Terry W. Werth.

$5,000 for balloon fest debated

Discussion picked up with the most disputed issue raised during last Thursday' s board of whole: a line item to take $5,000 out of the farm account to go to the chamber of commerce for the balloon festival.

Several guests were present on behalf of the chamber, including Andi Hake, director, and Frank Shepke, chamber president.

Shepke had with him hotel-motel and sales tax records. The balloon fest and other major events near that time raise revenues substantially: Sales taxes nearly double. Downtown merchants reported record sales this last year, he said. He added that when he talks to people while traveling, they talk about the Lincoln Art & Balloon Festival. It is a renowned event that brings publicity and revenues.

Board members opposed to the measure had a couple of reasons. John Stewart felt it should not be coming out of the farm fund and that it is not something government should be doing. Kevin Bateman thought that other festivals would want to be supported also and it could get out of hand.

Jan Schumacher pointed out that it had been publicized to ask the county for funds. Everyone was provided equal opportunity, but the balloon fest was the only one that asked. She added that the balloon festival and other festivals generate revenues; the balloon festival, though, is above and beyond in how many people it brings from outside the county and the revenues it brings in. So, it isn' t just a handout; it' s an opportunity to generate revenue.

O' Neill agreed that given the packed crowds, no one could dispute that the return on the donation to this festival is a wise investment.

Stewart made a motion to remove giving $5,000 to the chamber for the balloon festival out of the farm fund.

Vote:

Yes -- John Stewart, Kevin Bateman and David Hepler

No -- Rick Aylesworth, Terry Carlton, Robert D. Farmer, Gloria Luster, Bill Martin, Patrick O'Neill, Charles Ruben, Jan Schumacher and Terry W. Werth

Motion failed.

In the original contract the chamber was asked to pay the county the amount that would have been received if the ground was put into crop. It was found since last week that the rate had been lowered to $2,300 from the original amount of $4,250.

Ruben made a motion to make two amendments to the farm fund. The first was to make a correction, the other to make it easier to follow when the payments are made.

Amend farm revenue lines

Lower land rent from $46,920 to $43,307.

Add balloon fest rent, $2,300.

Vote:

Yes --- Rick Aylesworth, Terry Carlton, Robert D. Farmer, Gloria Luster, Bill Martin, Patrick O'Neill, Charles Ruben, Jan Schumacher and Terry W. Werth

No -- John Stewart, Kevin Bateman and David Hepler

Motion carried.

3 percent raise pay raise for nonunion county employees

Discussion began over the 3 percent raise pay raise for nonunion county employees

O' Neill said that surrounding communities are proposing early retirements, looking for ways to offset declining revenues. "We' re facing 10.5 percent unemployment," he said and currently have no source of revenues to make up these 3 percent pay raises. He projected that giving the 3 percent pay raise would mean taking funds from services.

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He said that looking at county department budgets shows that the departments are top-heavy in employee costs as it is. "In difficult times it' s time to tighten the belt and deal with the No. 1 expense: salaries, wages, unemployment compensation, insurance and retirement," he said.

O' Neill suggested that the highway department was a good example of where you can see that the costs are mostly in salaries.

O' Neill noted that the highway budget shows $891,000 total expense, with $623,000 of that in salaries, compensation and retirement. That leaves only $270,000 for roads and bridge improvements, he said.

Ruben explained that you can' t go by the information in the county budget for the highway department and some others, because it is not an accurate reflection of all the expenditures and revenues in some of the departments. He said that there are other line items than what the county sees.

Ruben called on county engineer Bret Aukamp to explain a bit more about their budget and what is not shown.

Aukamp confirmed that the total expense is $891,000 and that $550,000 is for salaries. He said that a lot of the payroll reimbursement comes from motor fuel tax and that a lot of other sources of funds are not seen. He added that the department receives about $400,000 from property tax. And, he pointed out that about half of the highway department' s operating budget is for payroll.

Ruben clarified that when the highway department does a project using motor fuel tax funding, their payroll can then come out of motor fuel taxes rather than county property taxes. "There are a lot of other sources of funds that you will never see (in the county portion of the budget)," he said. "It is a hard department to figure out where all the funds come from, and it can be deceiving (to just look at the county budget information)."

Aukamp contrasted how much is not shown in the expenditures, as it would appear from the budget numbers that there is only a couple hundred thousand dollars available for projects. "We' ve got a 4.5 million project going on right now," he said, referring to the Elkhart-Mount Pulaski blacktop. "Two million of it is a state grant; $2.5 million of it' s federal. Not a dime of it has been through local taxes."

It was noted that departments such as the highway department that rely significantly on outside funding sources all have their own separate audits.

Amend the 2010 budget to remove the 3 percent pay raises for nonunion employees

Motion by O' Neill; second by Hepler

Vote:

Yes -- O'Neill, Werth, Hepler

No -- Rick Aylesworth, Kevin Bateman, Terry Carlton, Robert D. Farmer, Gloria Luster, Bill Martin, Charles Ruben, Jan Schumacher and John Stewart

Motion failed.

Approve draft of budget for public display for 15 days

Motion Ruben; second Schumacher

Vote:

No -- John Stewart, David Hepler, Pat O'Neill

Yes -- Rick Aylesworth, Kevin Bateman, Terry Carlton, Robert D. Farmer, Gloria Luster, Bill Martin, Charles Ruben, Jan Schumacher and Terry W. Werth

Motion carried.

Ruben addressed the board, saying, "We'll have both the 12th and the 17th to discuss it. We must have a budget in place by the first of December. That is the law." If anyone would have a problem with the budget, the expedient way to do it would be through the amendment process, he said.

[By JAN YOUNGQUIST]

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