County Borrows $150,000 To Pay Medical Bills

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Perry County Board authorized Treasurer Bill Taylor to borrow $150,000 from Murphy Wall Bank to pay medical bills on a tax anticipation warrant. The interest rate will be 4.4 percent.

The county is partially self-insured. Taylor said that many of the claims are from June. The renewal date for coverage is July 1- the new deductible begins with the new year.

"We weren't supposed to borrow anymore," Taylor said. "But it's something we need to do to keep employees from getting collection calls."

The tax anticipation warrant will be repaid with the first disbursement of this year's real estate taxes.

Taylor said he hopes to have a final multiplier from the Department of Revenue in the next two weeks. Shortly after that, tax bills can be mailed.

He also mentioned that the Prairie Ridge Landfill has paid $134,918, bringing them up to date for the second quarter of 2009 and resolving the lawsuit the county had filed over recycling and road improvements.

In other business, the board:

-- discussed upcoming repairs to the southeast corner of the government building. Water has leaked in with recent heavy rains. County Engineer Doug Bishop will remove dirt from the corner and pour concrete. A French drain will also be installed. Currently, the land slopes towards the building. Bishop will use the concrete direct drainage towards the parking lot.

-- discussed creating a committee to revisit property casualty and workers compensation insurance. The committee will have a little over two months to create a bid package and review bids. Bishop warned that the unit road district is facing a lawsuit over the traffic fatality at the intersection of Falcon and Grosbeak Roads near Tamaroa.

-- approved a contract for Dee's Construction of West Frankfort to make repairs to a bridge on Sassafras Road. Dee's Construction was the low bidder at $98,889.

-- discussed implementing the auditor's recommendations when creating the 2010 budget. Some of the items that are covered by the contingency fund will need to be moved to other line items in departmental budgets. County Clerk Kevin Kern said that he and Taylor would create the appropriate line items. The board also needs to stamp all claims that are approved for payment. The final recommendation is to gather receipts from employees who receive pre-payment for expenses. Kern will create a protocol for pre-imbursements.