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County Board approves FY17 budget

Posted December 01, 2016 10:00 pm

By Pete Spitler Editor@heraldtrib.com

The county's long-term financial outlook continues to be murky as the Randolph County Board of Commissioners approved the fiscal year 2017 budget on Dec. 1.

The county's CPA, Jim Schmersahl, outlined a budget that reflected only 11 months of previous expenditures as the final November bills had not yet come in.

Despite that, the commissioners approved it in order to make payment of salaries on the Dec. 2 payroll.

Schmersahl stated that the full 12-month figures would be complete by the board's next meeting on Dec. 16.

"(The budget) reflects the fact that county revenues continue to decline from previous levels enjoyed by the county," Schmersahl said.

Schmersahl noted that the $900,000 in sales tax revenue budgeted for 2017 was down significantly from the $2,018,000 budgeted in 2012.

State sales tax receipts follow that same line, with $850,000 anticipated next year, down from $1.15 million in 2012.

"Not only are those revenues down, but expenses have come up in that time," Schmersahl said.

Schmersahl noted the situation is made more difficult due to the county being subjected to the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), which limits the amount of increases in property tax extensions for non-home rule taxing districts.

The limits slow the growth of revenues to taxing districts when property values and assessments are increasing faster than the rate of inflation.

The budget includes $500,000 in contingency funds should a significant disaster occur. Last year, the New Year's Flood - the second highest on record on the Mississippi River - tested the contingency line item only a month into the fiscal year.

Overall, the 11-month budget projects $7.297 million in total receipts offset with $7.290 million in disbursements for an ending balance of $7,576.88.

Taking a hit this year is the county highway department, with fewer appropriations for the maintenance of roads and bridges within the county road districts.

Bridge maintenance has been given $5,000 in appropriations - and $180,000 in contingencies - for fiscal year 2017, which is down from $70,000 in 2015.

Road maintenance was appropriated $130,000, a decrease of $100,000 from the year before, with $80,000 in contingency funds budgeted.

County Engineer Mike Riebeling noted that motor fuel tax funds could be slightly higher - $632,800 compared to $560,000 - next year to use on various projects.

The rest of the board's regular meeting was relatively tame. The commissioners reorganized and appointed Ronnie White as the board's next chairman - replacing Marc Kiehna, who had served a two-year term in the top role.

One of White's first acts was hearing from Randolph County Care Center Administrator Ken Slavens, who stated that the facility needs to patch a 40x20-foot portion of its roof to fix a leak.

"It's gotta be done and I'd like to get that done as soon as possible," Slavens said, noting that he had to move a resident out of one of the affected apartments.

Health Department Administrator Tom Smith stated that there is a lot of concern about the continuation of funding after the state's "stopgap" budget expires on Dec. 31.

"We'll have to take a look at what we can do," he said.

Commissioner Dave Holder asked Smith if he knew what would happen on Jan. 1.

"Not a clue," he said.

Smith later said that "most of the state things are status quo for now."

In making the courthouse improvements report, White said that Honeywell anticipated having the project complete by Dec. 8.

Roundup

• The Randolph County Care Center reported 63 residents.

• The commissioners approved the 2017 holiday schedule.

• The commissioners approved special use permits for Patrick Schratz and Kenneth Ragland. Both involved the separation of land with home sites in an agriculturally-zoned district so that the extra acreage could be sold.

• The commissioners approved delinquent tax resolutions for Kaskaskia Port District, Kim Land Trust and Sparta Limited Partnership.

• The commissioners approved a $12,000 resolution to participate in the Appellate Prosecutor program.

"This allows us to continue with the prosecutor program if there is an appeal," Kiehna said.

• The commissioners approved a resolution to allow them participation in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.

• The commissioners approved the transfer of $150,000 from the Working Cash Fund to the Social Security Fund and $425,000 from the Working Cash Fund to the IMRF Fund. The Social Security transfer is until taxes are collected next year.

• The commissioners tabled appointments to the roles of Randolph County Animal Control director and Randolph County Land Resource Management administrator.

• The commissioners made the following appointments:

Randolph County EMA

Coordinator - Mike Hoelscher (one-year term)

Assistant Coordinator - Nancy Schilling (one-year term)

Assistant Coordinator - Rick Grah (one-year term)

Board of Review

Alan Ashbrook (one-year term)

Carol Hamilton (one-year term)

Doug Sachtleben (one-year term)

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