DATE: September 26, 2007
Supervisors Present: Joan Fordham, Tommy Lee Bychinski, William Wenzel, Thomas Kriegl, Marty Krueger
Others Present: Kathy Schauf, Kerry Beghin, Carol Herwig,
The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Bychinski at 8:16 AM. Certification of open meeting compliance was given. Presentation, discussion and consideration of budget requests commenced.
Circuit Courts:
Judge Evenson and Janell Lennon presented the 2008 budget request. Kriegl noted that serious consideration should be given to preparing for a fourth judgeship in Sauk County. The number of court reporters is diminishing across the State. The Circuit Court budget continues to include a $10,000 amount for the purpose of purchasing electronic court reporting equipment if the need should arise.
Court Commissioner and Family Court Counseling:
Leo Grill informed the Committee that there are not any major changes to either budget. Family Court Counseling supports itself and does not rely on any tax levy. The main reason for increases in the Court Commissioner budget is wages and benefits.
Disabled Parking Enforcement Assistance Council:
Steve Pribbenow informed the Committee of a change in staff that has given the Council better coverage across the County. More law enforcement officers are willing to take appropriate training to help to properly enforce disabled parking rules. The Council uses some of their funds to print flyers that are handed out to people who violate the rules to help educate them. They use their appropriation to purchase cameras and photo printers which helps them prove to law enforcement and the courts when people are violating and helps promote the writing of citations.
Register of Deeds:
Brent Bailey discussed how electronic record keeping has changed his department. Bailey's goal is to get all records available online.
Baraboo-Dells Airport:
Cheryl Giese, secretary to the Baraboo-Dells airport, explained that the airport lost their manager at the end of August. Naming the City of Baraboo as the managing owner is something that the current owners are considering. Giese explained some of the major improvements that the owners are hoping to accomplish within the next five years. The 2008 request is for $10,000 which is up considerably from the 2007 request. Wenzel requested a more thorough representation of all revenues and expenses in the future. The City of Baraboo is planning to make it a priority to form a solid business plan for the future of this airport.
Arts and Humanities:
Art Carlson and Dale Jaedike presented to the Committee their 2008 budget. The State has granted $10,000 if A&H can match it. The projects that A&H are involved in usually bring visitors to this area and often bring attention to businesses in this area which can bring more money into area commerce. Sauk is only one of three counties in Wisconsin that has an Arts & Humanities Committee.
Library:
Sue Mobley, assistant director at the Reedsburg Library, updated the committee on the programs being provided by the library and explained why the library is so important to the community. The 2008 request is $832,513 which is an increase of almost 5% over 2007. Kenneth Grant and Bev Vaillencourt explained that the increase is due to increased use within the library. Vaillencourt explained that a State Statute has been passed which requires other counties to reimburse the library being used. 40% of the Spring Green library use is by Iowa County residents. Now Iowa County has to pay for that use. Wenzel requested that the library board look into how to improve the educational opportunities at the County jail.
Health Care Center:
Barbara Gunderson, Penny Clary and Paul Endres appeared to present the 2008 HCC budget. Gunderson explained the changes that are being implemented to the nursing staff. The Committee discussed adding money to the accounting department's budget to cover the cost of keeping the LTE employee who will likely help with implementing the new computer program during 2008. Discussion followed regarding expected changes with Medicaid and Medicare rates and the methods used to calculate the 2008 budgeted revenues. Gunderson spoke about therapy services and stressed that it is usually more effective to have therapies provided for by outside agencies, unless current staff in other County departments can provide the service. Medical records budget has stayed consistent for 2008 but there are changes expected going into the year. Since the front line caregivers will be entering more information for the MDS reports, there may not be a need for two staff members in the Medical Records department. Gunderson expects that there will still be a need for this employee but it will probably be more appropriate to move this person into a ward clerk position. Housekeeping and Laundry have been budgeted as though there were no changes for 2008. Clary did note that expenses in these departments will likely go down if the Board of Trustees and County Board decides to outsource these services.
Motion by Kriegl that if the budget includes opening of Pod A, that it be tracked as an enterprise fund and carefully track the other departments' expenses that relate to Pod A. Motion dies due to lack of second.
Motion by Wenzel, second by Fordham to adjourn the meeting at 12:25 PM. Motion carried.