VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL

TRUSTEE BUDGET REVIEW

OCTOBER 5, 2011

The Vanderburgh County Council met in session this 5^th day of October, 2011 in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex. The meeting was called to order at 9:27 a.m. by County Council President Joe Kiefer.

President Kiefer: I would like to call to order the Vanderburgh County Council. This is a review of the Civil Taxing Units for October 5th. I would like to do roll call please.

President Kiefer: I would like to ask Fred Happe to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance please.

(The Pledge of Allegiance was given)

President Kiefer: Thank you, Mr. Happe, I appreciate that. All these packets, we’ve had a chance to review these. I don’t know if there are any specific questions regarding the individual packets, but yes, Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Nothing that I see wrong in the packets, just it would be nice in each township if we could have a spreadsheet with a comparison of the prior year or two for each one of them. It would give us a little bit more information, I think.

President Kiefer: Okay, that’s a good recommendation.

Councilmember Goebel: Thank you.

Councilmember Lloyd: To follow up on that, I just think these state forms are crappy.

President Kiefer: I agree.

Councilmember Lloyd: I don’t know if the townships like dealing with them, but they are not very user friendly, I would say.

Councilmember Raben: Mr. President, I am going to move that we accept the proposed budgets or grant our oversight on Armstrong Township, Center Township, German Township, Knight, Perry, Pigeon, Scott and Union Trustees.

President Kiefer: Okay. Is there–

Councilmember Terry: Second.

President Kiefer: There is a second by Councilman Terry. Is there discussion? I would like to acknowledge that this is my favorite part about having this meeting is to see all these smiling trustees showing up to the meeting. I appreciate your time this morning. Councilman Lloyd.

Councilmember Lloyd: Yeah, I have questions on some of these individually. Did we have a second?

President Kiefer: Yeah.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay. I didn’t have any questions on Armstrong.

President Kiefer: If you have any questions, please feel free to ask any question.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay, on Center Township their fire has gone up 25%. Is that through the people that you’re contracting with or do you guys have your own fire department.

James “Tiger” Ritter: Yes.

President Kiefer: That’s Tiger Ritter, the Trustee.

James “Tiger” Ritter: (Inaudible – comments made away from mic.)

President Kiefer: Tiger, would you mind coming to the podium, so that way we can get it on the record? Sorry, Councilman Lloyd is putting you through these rigors.

James “Tiger” Ritter: We find that it’s hard to find individuals who want to volunteer anymore. It’s not like it used to be. We didn’t, we were turning people down and now we’ve already got five paid and they need more. It’s just going to be worse later.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay, so on the–

James “Tiger” Ritter: Our township has really grown, as you know.

Councilmember Lloyd: So on the Township Fire, some of your firefighters are having to be paid, basically.

James “Tiger” Ritter: Right, out of that, the payroll comes out of that, plus insurance.

Councilmember Lloyd: And then your Township Assistance is up as well 22% and I would assume that is the bad economy.

James “Tiger” Ritter: Yeah, the bad economy affects us in a different way. It just makes things worse. Well, to give you an example, yesterday and Monday and Tuesday we waited on 120 people. For three people that is quite a bit. The most since I have been there.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay.

James “Tiger” Ritter: And we have cut down on that too, Russ. We used to give $200 for Vectren and we’ve cut that to $100, so we’re trying to cut down our help.

Councilmember Lloyd: So you are seeing increased numbers due to the bad economy?

James “Tiger” Ritter: Oh, yes.

Councilmember Lloyd: Quite a bit?

James “Tiger” Ritter: Quite a bit.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay. The councilmembers, this one cover sheet does give you some good information. Not all of them use that, but anyway it shows your levy going up 11% and the tax rate 16%, it looks like. So, okay. That was the only question I had on Center. You want me to keep going?

Councilmember Raben: You have more questions on others?

Councilmember Lloyd: Yes.

Councilmember Raben: Okay.

Councilmember Lloyd: Thank you, Tiger.

James “Tiger” Ritter: Okay, thank you very much.

Councilmember Lloyd: I mean, I think it’s the same story on German where your fire protection went up quite a bit. Kind of digging around in here trying to find it. You guys actually had to take out a loan?

Fred Happe: Yes, we had to take out a loan. We just didn’t have enough money coming in for fire protection.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay, and that’s the volunteer German Township?

Fred Happe: Yeah, volunteered. There is some paid staffing, but minimal.

Councilmember Lloyd: Was the loan just for operations or was that for capital projects?

Fred Happe: It was to fulfill the contract obligations.

Councilmember Lloyd: Oh, okay. Do they do ambulance, too, or not?

Fred Happe: They do EMS, they don’t transport. They are emergency medical service.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay. So you guys contract for ambulance?

Fred Happe: No, that’s, I guess, paid–

Unidentified: We pick that up through AMR.

Councilmember Lloyd: Oh, okay, I’m sorry. The loan, are you planning on paying that off like within a certain time?

Fred Happe: What we applied for, Emergency Fire Loan, which we’ll have to pay about twice a year. Hopefully we’ll get it approved this time. Last time they changed everything on it and the loan wasn’t approved last year.

Councilmember Lloyd: Was that locally or the state?

Fred Happe: State. They had...they used to have appeals and everything else and they pretty well done away with excess levy and appeals on that, so this time we just went for a direct loan through the state and hopefully that will all be taken care of.

Councilmember Lloyd: Well, that is unfortunate when you’re saying we need this locally and the state would not cooperate.

Fred Happe: Yes. There is a lot of things.

Councilmember Lloyd: Wow, okay. I mean, that’s the questions I had on German.

President Kiefer: Okay, thank you. I had a question, I guess, for Knight Township.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay, thank you, Fred.

President Kiefer: Kathryn, good morning. Just real quickly, I just want to ask you, since last year was such a, or the year before was a really tough year, so just how are things going in Knight Township – cash flow?

Kathryn Martin: We are 100% debt free.

President Kiefer: Okay.

Kathryn Martin: We are completely, totally out of debt. We owe nobody. We are still providing poor relief and doing the things that are required of us.

President Kiefer: Okay, that is really all I wanted was an update. Any other questions?

Councilmember Lloyd: I mean, I am glad that Knight Township is no longer a headline item.

Kathryn Martin: Oh, we love it. We love just doing our job.

President Kiefer: Okay, I have no other questions.

Councilmember Lloyd: According to this report, their budget increased approximately 2.9%.

Kathryn Martin: Yes.

Councilmember Lloyd: So that’s a pretty reasonable request.

President Kiefer: Right, I agree.

Councilmember Lloyd: I appreciate the good work.

Kathryn Martin: Thank you.

Councilmember Raben: Mr. President, just for clarification, the motion was that we approve the budgets as listed for Armstrong, Center, German, Perry, Knight, Pigeon, Scott and Union Township Trustees.

President Kiefer: Right, and I believe there was a second. Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Going back to my statement earlier, is there a way you can get a form to the Trustees so that they can give us a breakdown? Just a spreadsheet form? Several of them have them, but it would be nice to have that information for comparison. I know we are a non-binding vote, but–

President Kiefer: No, I agree with you. I think it would be useful to have.

Councilmember Goebel: Could we send something because these state forms are kind of cumbersome. Just a quick reference.

President Kiefer: Yeah, something that compares previous year to the current year.

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

President Kiefer: No, I agree with that and let’s work on that in the meantime so we can get something to the trustees.

Councilmember Goebel: Would that come from us to the Trustees?

President Kiefer: I think Mike is...I don’t want to speak for you, but you’re asking for something supplemental to the state form.

Councilmember Goebel: A quick read for us.

President Kiefer: Yeah.

Councilmember Goebel: And maybe for the trustees as well. Thank you.

Councilmember Lloyd: This one at least gives you the prior year, but not all the townships use that.

Councilmember Goebel: That’s what I was referring to. Some do. Is that Center?

Councilmember Lloyd: The one I’ve got is Perry, but Center also has one.

Councilmember Goebel: Okay, if we can share that information maybe that would help us a little bit.

Councilmember Lloyd: Right, right.

President Kiefer: Yeah, I think what Mike is talking about is like whether it’s salaries, what were the salaries in the previous year, what is it this year. Fire protection last year, fire protection this year, that kind of thing. I think it’s definitely good and would help us when we review these for our purposes. I would ask for a roll call vote then.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Terry?

Councilmember Terry: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Shetler?

Councilmember Shetler: Just a quick comment. Having served on the Center Township Board for a number of years I know how tough it is dealing with the volunteer fire department and to make sure you have adequate services. It is getting harder and harder as far as, making sure that the funds are there. So I appreciate the efforts that all of the townships are doing, but I also want to particularly commend Kathryn Martin on the job she is doing in Knight Township. It was a big, deep hole that she had there and to dig her way out of that, it has been remarkable, so it’s been impressive. I vote yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri I Lukeman: Councilmember Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Kiefer?

President Kiefer: Yes, so approved. Just keep in mind that was a non-binding recommendation, so they each have their own boards that they have to answer to.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Kiefer: Okay, I look for a motion to adjourn.

Councilmember Terry: So moved.

Councilmember Lloyd: Second.

President Kiefer: All in favor?

(All Councilmembers voted aye)

(There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 9:37 a.m.)

VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL