DATE: Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Place:
Room 213,
West Square Building
Baraboo WI
Supervisors Present: Joan Fordham, Tommy Lee Bychinski, William Wenzel, Marty Krueger, Thomas Kriegl
Others Present: Kathy Schauf, Kerry Beghin, Carol Herwig, Michael Hafemann, Jessica Fry, Fred Coller, Lowell Haugen, Darin Carignan, Steve Muchow, Tom Scheidegger, Michael Steinhauer, Cindy Bodendein, Bonnie Konkel, Pat Carignan.
The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Bychinski at 8:30 AM. Certification of open meeting compliance was given.
Motion by Wenzel, second by Fordham to adopt the agenda.
Motion carried.
Motion by Fordham, second by Wenzel to approve the minutes of the previous meetings of December 11 and December 18.
Motion carried.
Haugen stated that his reason for voting against the recent budget is because property taxes are rising too quickly. Foreclosures have become commonplace and he believes that high property taxes are part of the reason that people are losing their homes.
Supervisor Krueger handed out a letter from Supervisor Wheeler regarding the opening of unit A in the jail. This letter will be discussed later in the meeting.
Tom Scheidegger, partner with Virchow Krause, explained the new standards for the auditing of internal controls and how this may impact our upcoming audit. He explained that the County's technological controls will be important in keeping adequate controls over our electronic data. The policies set by the board are also a significant part of the county's controls.
Steve Muchow and Darin Carignan explained that this has not been a typical winter so far. Snow fall was near record levels in December which has produced a hit to the winter maintenance budget. This line item had $650,000 budgeted for 2007 and the estimated actual total will fall around $1,120,000. Muchow explained that the summer floods exacerbated the problems. Road construction was cut back in 2007 and will continue to be cut back in 2008 to lessen the ultimate budget impact. Highway fund balance is available to offset the current year overage, if an overage truly occurs.
Cindy Bodendein explained that the Home Care division of the Public Health department will likely have a net loss at the end of 2007. The exact amount is yet to be determined because they are still expecting to receive revenues for November and December. The census is down largely because they are having trouble securing reliable physical therapy services. Home Care is an area that needs to be monitored closely and vacant positions within the department have negatively affected this monitoring. Steinhauer expressed hope that with his time now available to do some of the things that Bodendein had been doing, Bodendein can go back to focusing on Home Care and get the program back on track. The Home Care program is important to continue because of the direction the State wants to go with Family Care and because any assisted living facility that we might build will need Home Care services. Therapy services will be discussed further and may end up being a centralized service. Krueger stressed the importance of cross-training. Schauf explained that the continuity of operations is key to all departments and assured the committee that this will be looked at throughout County operations.
Kriegl stated that the board had been promised an "accurate and complete accounting" of unit A activity and he believes that a report of where we are at now is a valid request. Captain Hafemann was present to answer questions about to data related to opening the empty jail unit (pod A). Hafemann explained that income and expenses for unit A will be tracked for each inmate. A project number has been created for unit A in the County's accounting program, and revenues and expenses will be coded using that project number. Krueger explained that the County Controller should be the one to decide what financial information is necessary.
Kriegl then asked how many Dane County inmates are in the Sauk County jail. Hafemann answered 35. Kriegl asked who was occupying 20 other beds Dane County had occupied under contract. Hafemann said no one was currently paying for those 20 beds. Kriegl asked Hafemann how many of the new employees were hired for pod A. Hafemann said most of them were hired but not all of them have started working or training. Kriegl asked how the eight weeks required training would be accomplished by March first. That question wasn't answered.
Kriegl also expressed concern about the loss of added income over added expense for the 20 beds currently vacated by Dane county and not being paid for in Pod B. Hafemann stated that the 2007 income from renting pod B exceeded the budgeted amount.
Fordham stated she believes the Finance Committee needs to focus on policy making and give the Sheriff's Department time to make this project work. Fordham recommended that the Finance Committee focus their attention on reviewing the unit A reports monthly and let jail management be the focus of the Law Enforcement Committee. Kriegl disagreed but said the discussion could be continued later.
Carignan updated the Committee about the increasing number of foreclosures that are occurring. The department is expecting to take a drop in interest rates on some CDs that are maturing soon. Motion by Wenzel, second by Fordham to approve the payment of the Treasurer's Department bills in the amount of $3,940.09.
Motion carried.
Beghin explained that year end is always a busy time in the Accounting Department. Pay and benefit rates change, as well as preparation for printing W-2's and 1099's. Herwig has been finishing the internal control documentation for the auditors who will be coming on January 21st to start the preliminary field work. Motion by Krueger, second by Wenzel to approve payment of the Accounting Department bills in the amount of $5,752.99 and County bills in the amount of $2,872,302.09.
Motion carried.
Next meeting will be on January 15th at 5:30 prior to the County Board Meeting. The next regular Finance Committee meeting will be on February 12th at 8:30 a.m.
Motion by Wenzel, second by Fordham to adjourn the meeting.
Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted: William F. Wenzel, Finance Committee Secretary