VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL

TAXING UNIT BUDGET REVIEW

SEPTEMBER 30, 2009

The Vanderburgh County Council met in special session this 30th day of September 2009 in room 301 of the Civic Center Complex. Present were Councilmembers Royce Sutton, Ed Bassemier, Russell Lloyd, Jr., Mike Goebel, James Raben, Joe Kiefer and Tom Shetler, Jr., County Auditor Bill Fluty, County Council attorney Jeffrey Ahlers, Executive Assistant Sandie Deig, and Recording Secretary Teri Lukeman. The meeting was called to order at 9:21 a.m. by County Council President Tom Shetler, Jr.

President Shetler: Alright, we’re ready to convene this portion of the civil taxing units and, Marsha Au, the Library.

Marcia Au: Good morning, Chairman Shetler, Councilmembers and other esteemed administrators. The library did meet with Councilman Russ Lloyd a number of weeks ago, went over our budgets, that’s plural because in your packets you will see that we have four, and answered any of his questions. We did submit all the required paperwork and I did ask if there was anything else that we might be able to give you, and certainly would be happy to answer any questions this morning and provide any other supporting documentation or information that might be required of by Council. In what we did send you, we did supply both the 2008 budget numbers, the budgeted amount for 2009, and projected expenditures for 2009, and the proposed budget with any increases or decreases for 2010. I do have with me here this morning, Greg Hager, who is the director of Willard. And in 2005, the legislature removed the money, the tax levy from the city and transferred it to the county library system to raise the taxes for Willard. So we have been working together these past several years on submitting our information together. I would like to point out that we’ve asked for a very minimal increase. We have been streamlining operations at the county library for the last several years. We have, through attrition, diminished employee personnel costs by seven full-time positions and we have moved three others to part-time. Utilities and facilities, operations, have stayed as stable as we can make them. Utility costs, as Councilman Kiefer noted, continue to rise and part of that is the demand cost for electricity and we have noted a huge increase over the past year and a half between what we were paying and what we are paying in terms of just the demand costs and not just the use. I would be happy to –

Councilmember Kiefer: I have a question, please. You know, when you talk about utility costs, are you working with Vectren or any of their companies, one of the Vectren companies? I know you can buy gas on the unregulated market where you can fix positions, and I know that the – they do this here at the Civic Center – you know, they can lock in their prices, control their budgets. I don’t know if that’s something you’ve thought about or – because you can aggregate all your libraries and purchase natural gas and you can talk to ProLiance, I know that’s one of the companies and there are several others. But that’s one of the companies that does that. And you can lock in your prices and right now would be a good time to do that only because gas rates are so low. Something to think about.

Marcia Au: That’s a great idea and certainly we will follow up on that. No, I was not aware and I don’t believe my administrative assistant was either. So we will call and follow up –

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, you might talk to Karen Richert, over at ProLiance. That’s one of the Vectren companies and there’s other companies that do it as well.

Marcia Au: Okay. We do talk to Vectren on a regular basis about utility costs and they usually give us the percentage increase or decrease for the next year. And so that’s where we get the numbers that we plug in, but we will certainly follow up on that. Anything we can do. We’re also looking at a grant for solar energy to help offset some costs.

Councilmember Kiefer: Oh, that’s a great idea.

Marcia Au: It would be – and we’ve just, in fact, just submitted the end of last week, that grant to the state, and which they would pay for half of the cost and we would take the other half from our Rainy Day Fund.

Councilmember Kiefer: Mr. President, is there, are you utilizing some protocol in how we ask questions or can we, if we see something, can we just ask away?

President Shetler: Feel free, ask away.

Councilmember Kiefer: On the Rainy Day Fund, I notice there is a 59.06% increase from your budget of 2009 to your proposed budget of 2010. Can you tell us a little bit about that and, you know, what exactly your Rainy Day Fund is used for and why you are budgeting almost a 60% increase?

Marcia Au: Well, because we’re not sure where the shortfalls will be for next year. We know what LSA has told us about what we can expect not to get, which for our combined budgets is about 408,000 and odd dollars, and we have rainy day funds, which is made up of appropriated but unencumbered monies from the year previously, and end of year county option income tax – if we get an extra payment, that can go into that. We can put insurance settlements into that, I believe. I’m looking at my bookkeeper. So that’s where that money comes from. Now in terms of what we budgeted, we budgeted so that we could spend that money. We could also spend it as an additional appropriation, but we have some work going on currently on the parking deck and we also have some technology implementation for RFID, which is a radio frequency program to identify, to help us identify and track materials. So that’s the increase there. We are increasing, basically, to cover shortfalls.

Councilmember Kiefer: But that’s on capital projects then? It sounds like, you know, technology, parking deck, that’s not on like...operating funds such as salaries and other things?

Marcia Au: No, Sir, it’s not. It could be used for that. It’s set up with the same sort of outline as any of the other funds that we have. But we basically put it into services and equipment.

Councilmember Kiefer: Thank you.

President Shetler: Councilman Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: I’d like to back this process up a second. We have these appointed board review forms. It’s my understanding this Council has no authority to make any changes. All we can do is approve or not approve these budgets or we can recommend changes, and I don’t know if there’s any other thing you wanted to add to that or if our attorney needs to elaborate on that. Is that correct?

Jeff Ahlers: Yes, I mean, in the sense of what you’re doing is, you’re doing a review and it’s, you know, from the standpoint that it has no binding effect, it’s simply a recommending process, so you can either recommend approval of the budget or you can recommend either not approval or also recommend changes, which as you can see on the form, there are lines there if you want to make notations as to what you think ought to be changed in the budget as you go down through these columns or make remarks up at the top. So it’s basically whatever you want to do and then it will be, those recommendations will be taken into consideration by the library, other taxing units and then they can take those into consideration as to whether they want to modify their budget and ultimately, regardless of what they do, this information will go on to the state and the state will take that into consideration as to what they do.

Councilmember Lloyd: I’d also like to commend our director, Marcia Au, who received the Distinguished Hoosier Award, so congratulations.

Marcia Au: Thank you.

Councilmember Lloyd: And the article in the newspaper noted several awards the library has received, both for the building and for the programs that they have implemented.

Marcia Au: Thank you.

President Shetler: Yes, Councilman Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Within this budget, are there any increases for salaries and wages?

Marcia Au: We have a one percent increase across the board, but you will note that our personnel costs are down two percent. We’ve actually reduced personnel costs for the library system. And in explaining that to the board, in talking to Councilman Lloyd, we felt 1%, which will basically probably not cover the increase in insurance costs as far as we know. We’ve limited it to that.

Councilmember Raben: So your 1%, it’s all lumped into one calculation then? Insurance, employee benefits are part of that 1%?

Marcia Au: Yes, they are. And because we reduced staffing by seven full-time positions, you’ll note that the savings under personal services and employee benefits is almost $150,000.

Councilmember Raben: Will anyone as an employee of the library get a pay raise for 2010?

Marcia Au: Everyone will get 1%.

Councilmember Raben: Okay, I thought the 1 – okay, so that is, that’s given directly in the form of a payment or payroll, then, it’s not making up for any increases within the insurance line item?

Marcia Au: No, Sir.

Councilmember Raben: Mr. President, this may or may not be the time, but my recommendation would be, as we begin this process this morning, that we be consistent with the action we took in August for all county departments, that – I would like to pass on or send a message to the state that whether or not we approve the other line items, that throughout these budgets, that the state not approve any pay increases. Anybody agree? Disagree?

Councilman Sutton: Is that a motion or a recommendation? How are you phrasing that?

Councilmember Raben: I would say, I can make that in a motion if that’s...

President Shetler: Why don’t we do it this way, make it specific for each department because we’ll have to vote on each one, I think, independently.

Councilmember Lloyd: Yeah, I mean, in this case, we would just vote either yea or nay, recommend approval as submitted or recommend changes.

Councilmember Raben: Okay. I had one last question. Can you explain to us the Willard Special Library fund? Tell us what that’s all about.

Marcia Au: I’ll be happy to let my colleague, Greg Hager, explain that.

Greg Hager: In 2005, we moved what had been a city appropriation for Willard Library into a county-wide tax and the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library became the taxing authority, so, in essence, passing that levy through their authority to Willard, at which point we added an appointment to our board from the County Council and another appointment from the Evansville-Vanderburgh Public Library. So that’s the history of that change.

Councilmember Raben: So it’s strictly its own levy, I understand that. Thank you.

President Shetler: A couple of questions that I had: are you guys involved in that joint purchasing agreement with the city, the school corp, county?

Marcia Au: No, we’ve not been asked and, frankly, we’d be happy to work with anyone. We do as much, because we have the whole system, we get a fairly decent discount. If we can better our discounts, we’re always happy to look at that.

President Shetler: Okay, because it looks like you’re going to be purchasing a couple hundred thousand dollars worth of supplies and parts and pieces and –

Marcia Au: Parts and pieces, yes, Sir.

President Shetler: The other question, and I hope the people in the city are taking note there and running back and telling somebody after while because I think that’s one more component that could save us all some money. The other thing: health insurance, how many employees do you have that’s on your health insurance program at the present time? Do you have an idea?

Marcia Au: Let me look here. I think about – we have about 160 full-time, FTE, and I don’t think I have numbers of people here. I could certainly supply Council that when I get back.

President Shetler: Well, I’ll tell you where I’m going on this particular question is that, and there may not be a way for us to do it, but I’m looking at, you know, perhaps there’s a way for the library to pool into the county’s resources here and be able to, again, help drive that cost down because of our numbers, you know, that whole pool going up, and it might be a way of saving a few dollars, again, for the taxpayers. The next question I have is on the dental and vision. Am I reading that correctly, do you all pay for some of the dental and vision?

Marcia Au: A very small percentage, yes, we do. And that is, generally speaking, is a fairly small amount, total.

President Shetler: Not that I have a problem, per se, but I think it would be a good idea is, as much as we can, to get some parity here between the county and what you guys are doing, particularly with the number of employees that you have at 160, I mean, that’s substantial. And I would like to see us to get to some, I guess it’s the second largest department we’d have, behind the Sheriff’s department, pretty much behind it.

Councilmember Lloyd: I’m not sure they could afford what the county has, Mr. President.

President Shetler: And it may be, yeah, that’s true. But I’d like for us to look at that and see if it could help our purchasing power somewhat here.

Marcia Au: Certainly, if it’s a savings, we’d be happy to look at that. We are on a three-year contract which will help keep our health insurance lower. But at this point, we don’t have a final number and we won’t have a final number from the insurance plans until November.

President Shetler: You’re getting ready to engage in a three-year contract or you –

Marcia Au: No, we entered into one last year, which took our rates from almost 20, down to about 11.

President Shetler: Okay, so you’ll be at a second year – in your second year?

Marcia Au: Yes, Sir.

President Shetler: Alright, thank you. Anybody else have any questions or comments?

Councilmember Lloyd: Just based on the fact that I think their employees are going to have to pay more for health insurance, I can appreciate what Councilman Raben is saying, I would just like to see us recommend their budget with no changes.

President Shetler: What I’m going to need is a motion for approval, and if you want to make exceptions to it or recommendations for the state, then maybe you could word that into your motion for approval on the whole budget or if there’s not a motion, then –

Councilman Sutton: Well, I’ve got a couple of questions. On your debt service that you’re showing, how many different instruments do you have out there and what’s the shortest, the one that has the shortest length and the one that has the furthest in terms of payoff?

Marcia Au: Actually, we have three instruments: we have general obligation bonds for Oaklyn and North Park that will be retired in 2021, and the central lease corporation bonds in 2023, we refinanced those about – in 2005 – and shortened both the time frames on both of those at a better rate.

Councilman Sutton: Is that something that you guys keep an eye on as far as looking for even additional refi opportunities for you, because the rates have dropped significantly? And I don’t know what kind of rates you may have gotten back in 2005, I would imagine it would be lower.

Marcia Au: I just talked to the financial advisor on our financial vehicles in this budgeting process, during the budgeting process, and he assured me that he is watching those very closely. And as soon as it makes sense for us to do that, we will do that again.

Councilman Sutton: Okay, and your total budget change from what you’re operating under now to what you are proposing for 2010 is a 1.6% increase. Is that –

Marcia Au: That’s correct, and that includes both the library improvement reserve fund, LIRF, and Rainy Day, and the Willard.

Councilman Sutton: And then my last question, the seven positions that you mentioned that had been eliminated, when did that occur?

Marcia Au: Throughout the year. Those were by attrition, --

Councilman Sutton: This year?

Marcia Au: Yes. And they went from a senior administrative post to a full-time custodian, so it was across the board.

Councilman Sutton: Thank you.

President Shetler: Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Do you foresee any more loss of employees through attrition or are you down to bare bones right now?

Marcia Au: No, Sir. We look at every position as it comes open to see whether or not it makes sense to rehire that position or if it makes sense to hire it at another level or to move it to part-time. So we are constantly looking at ways to operate efficiently. The RFID program which we’re instituting should be a labor-saving device and any time that we can do something smarter and better, we do.

Councilmember Goebel: Thank you. I’m sure you do.

Councilman Sutton: I’m sorry, there was one more question I did have.

President Shetler: Yes, Councilman Sutton?

Councilman Sutton: On your Rainy Day Fund, are you, by state statute required to keep a certain percentage aside for Rainy Day or is this by action of your board that they’ve decided to develop this Rainy Day Fund and how often are you putting dollars into the Rainy Day Fund?

Marcia Au: Okay, let me back up. We haven’t had it very long. It was given to us, libraries in the state, about eight years ago. The only money we can put into it, or the monies we can put into it are limited. So we look at our balance at the end of the year and determine, we can put up to 10% of the total budget if it is encumbered – I’m sorry, appropriated but unencumbered. We tend to not take our cash flow down quite so low, so at the end of the year, beginning of next year in 2010, we’ll look at what we’ve carried over and determine if there is anything to go into Rainy Day. The library does not have a capital improvements fund at this time. The only other fund we have is library improvement reserve, and again, from a legislative standpoint, that gives us the opportunity to put some money aside in each budget. So it funds both planned and unplanned expenses if we have large equipment purchases or a new roof that we have to do. We have to determine which of those funds can carry that. When we were in the building program, we actually purchased land from the LIRF fund, because that kept it out of the bonding pot.

Councilman Sutton: With what we show here through June 30 when you had 1,114,000 in that Rainy Day Fund, I mean, that’s a very wise part on your board to make sure you’re protecting your investments that you’ve made and to prepare for the eventuality of something occurring.

Marcia Au: Something occurring, that’s correct. And the state doesn’t tell us how much we can, they tell us how much we can put in, in terms of percentage of our budget. At one time I think DLGF was telling people they should have ten percent of their annual budget in Rainy Day. I don’t know that we could ever do that, but we’ll keep it where we can for those emergencies and shortfalls.

President Shetler: Yes, Councilman Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Marsha, back on this Rainy Day Fund, because it’s just a little foggy to me, because it sounds like you’re using some of this for just doing different projects and doing different things that need to be done, is there so much of that Rainy Day Fund that has to be there at the end of the year, like you cannot spend below – like you have to leave so much in there in case there is a true emergency?

Marcia Au: No. The state doesn’t require us to do that and the board – my recommendation to the board is that we always try to keep some money in that fund. For instance, we had to re-roof McCullough this past year. And without monies in either Rainy Day or LIRF, then we have to –

Councilmember Kiefer: It sounds like it might be better to have a capital fund or something because it sounds like to me you’re using the Rainy Day Fund to do capital projects.

Marcia Au: We are but that was at the behest of a former Council who had asked us not to apply for capital projects. And now, that – because the rules have changed, if we did that, that would then fall within this total amount that we can raise the budgets for. It would become another budget in other words, if we did that.

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, I understand that.

Marcia Au: At this point, it’s about six of one, half a dozen of the other.

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, I understand that, I just –

Marcia Au: If the Council would prefer, we can come back with a capital project request. That has to go before this group in May, I believe, for approval and we’d be happy to look at that.

Councilmember Kiefer: It just seems like it would make more sense than just having this Rainy Day that is really – seems to me to be more of a slush fund but I don’t know, maybe I’m wrong on the way I’m looking at this.

Marcia Au: Well, we pay for a lot of our technology. Many libraries around the state in the past have had capital project funds specifically for technology, computer replacement, additional servers, the computer furniture, those –

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, that would be a capital – that seems like that would make sense to be a capital fund instead of a Rainy Day Fund.

Marcia Au: And we really have, I mean, it’s not slush in the sense that we just use it for anything. We have to budget for it as you can see here and we do use it for technology, which is what we would have done if we’d had a capital project fund.

Councilmember Kiefer: Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Raben: I’m really confused now because as you – if you drill down to the more defined budget items, I mean, while we discussed that we’re paying for those repairs out of the Rainy Day Fund, you’re actually budgeting, let me get back to it, under buildings 175,000, and equipment 226,000, that’s repair & maintenance, so, I mean, if we’re spending roof repairs and stuff like that out of Rainy Day Fund, why do we budget, why do we have different budget items for making those repairs?

Marcia Au: We do a lot of our own internal repair work. When you have eight facilities and they’re not all new buildings, and, in fact, even with the new buildings we’ve had some substantial payouts for repairs on HVAC, particularly some of the older branches and we’ve had to replace servers, those kinds of things can be taken out if we have the money budgeted for, and then, for instance, the RFID will be coming out of the Rainy Day.

Councilmember Raben: I understand, but there’s about $400,000 there. And just one last general comment, because I think the library, all these other budgets as we come to them should be held to the same standards that, again, we are within the county, the entire state, that you’re really not exempt from the recession and I think we need to do whatever we can to cut as much growth or – you know, while we might say we’re only looking at a one percent increase, you know, I think a real pat on the back to say you’ve got a ten percent decrease on the overall budget. Because we are, we’re in tough economic times and, you know, we just saw a ten or fifteen minute presentation on the average of homes within the county are going to see about a thirty or what did he say, a thirty-three percent increase overall in their property taxes. You know, I look at furniture and equipment, today, those aren’t necessities. I’d say, you know, if a tube of glue or a nail repairs a piece of furniture, that’s what we need to do because that’s what people are doing at home, that’s what I’m doing in my business, that’s what the business community is doing, so you know, I would really like to see us look – and I know it’s probably too late this year, but I think, you know, I would have been proud to have looked at this and seen a significant decrease and not any increase.

Marcia Au: Well, we certainly do agree with the fact that we are in economic hard times and we are paring back and we continue to do that. I have to say though, that this budget year has been a real difficult one to get through not knowing what you were looking at down the pike. And as we get further down, we’ll be able to tighten things up and present, hopefully, an even more efficient and economic budget to you. We took down as much as we could in terms of feeling comfortable and being able to maintain both our service which is exemplary and the cost of that.

Councilman Raben: Well, again, and not to preach here, I mean, we’ve maintained or we’re responsible for budgets for about sixty different departments. A budget that is in excess of, it’s, you know, 65,000,000 just General Fund, much larger than that if you look at all the other levies and funds. And we were able to cut our budget and that’s 650 or 700 employees, our budget was about a quarter of a million dollars less this year than last year, so, you know, on a much larger scale, we’re able to do it and I, again, it’s probably too late this year, but next year I think every department, every office that’s here today, I’m going to be looking to see some of that action happening next year.

Marcia Au: And we can certainly work on that.

President Shetler: Alright, any other comments or questions?

Councilmember Lloyd: I mean, I can agree with what Councilman Raben is saying. I think it’s been a tough budget year for all of us. I guess at this time, I would just like to recommend approval of the budget as submitted, as a motion.

Councilmember Bassemier: I’ll second it.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded to approve the budget as submitted. Do I have any questions? Yes, Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: If we have reservations about the salary increase for one thing, what are we – are we going to vote no and then send to the state why or –

President Shetler: I think that’s an option to vote no, and then if someone wants to make a new motion with some caveats on it, that points out the recommendations that we would make, then I think that might be appropriate, if that would get voted down.

Councilmember Bassemier: Tom, I just want to say that you all have a seven member board on the library board, --

Marcia Au: Yes, we do, Sir.

Councilmember Bassemier: Seven members, and I know they went through this with a fine tooth comb, and I know that they really looked into this and that they made all the cuts and run the libraries more efficient. I know they did what they had to do, so, and that’s the reason why I think it should stay as it is.

Marcia Au: Thank you, and they did do that.

President Shetler: Okay, what I’m going to do to try to keep us a little bit on schedule, is ask for a voice vote if it appears that this may be a little bit mixed anyway.

Councilmember Kiefer: I’d just go ahead and call individual votes.

President Shetler: We’ll do a roll call on this one because this one looks like it’s going to be mixed anyway. So roll call please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: I think we must be consistent with the salaries, so I say no.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: No.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: I echo Councilman Goebel’s remarks and I vote no.

Teri Lukeman: President Shetler?

President Shetler: Wow, I get to break a tie here. I’ll vote no because I think we need to stay consistent on the zero percent increase. I have no problem with the budget otherwise, so motion is denied 3-4.

(Motion fails 3-4/Councilmembers Goebel, Raben, Kiefer & Shetler opposed)

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Mr. President, I’ll make a motion that we pass on to the state our acceptance of the budget with the caveat that no salary increases be granted, that salary lines be flat lined to 2009's figures.

President Shetler: And keep in mind, this is a recommendation to the state governing body on it, so we have a motion on the floor.

Councilmember Kiefer: Second.

President Shetler: Any questions about the motion? Roll call please.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Repeat that motion again.

President Shetler: I think the motion –

Councilmember Raben: Approve the budget with the exception of no salary increases. No salary increases, everything else, we’re okay with.

Councilman Sutton: And this is a recommendation?

President Shetler: That is correct.

Councilman Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: No.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: To be consistent, I’ll vote no.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Shetler?

President Shetler: Yes. There being five ayes and no nays, the motion carries – two nays, I’m sorry. Motion carries. Thank you very much, Marcia.

(Motion carried 5-2/Councilmembers Bassemier & Lloyd opposed)

President Shetler: Next is Solid Waste, Joe.

Joe Ballard: Thank you. We’ll try to make this a little simpler with the Solid Waste budget. It’s not quite as extensive. I’m Joe Ballard, the director of the Solid Waste District. With me is Susan Jeffries, back there, our administrator, and then also Jenny Collins, the City Controller, who is our controller as well. And Councilman Russ Lloyd is the Council appointment to the Solid Waste board. We approved our budget last Tuesday of $426,000...one moment, 426,820, which is a 15.5% decrease from last year’s budget. We have also, and the way we are funded is not through property taxes but through a fee on waste that goes into the landfill. We increased our fee from $1.50 to $2.00 effective January the 1^st, which should bring in, based on what’s happening right now, should bring in around $434,000, about 435,400, so that should cover our expenditures. As I said, we’ve reduced the budget by $78,000 or 15.5%. I can take any questions if you’d like.

President Shetler: Joe, should the economic downturn, and most people don’t realize that it affects waste and garbage and everything as much as it does anybody else, so you’ve been down on what you’re able to receive, should that continue and you don’t receive the 430 and change that you just spoke about, at 426, who is going to make up that difference?

Joe Ballard: Well, a lot of our budget is based on programs such as the Tox-Away Day, which was September the 12^th. That cost us about $80,000. Next September, if we don’t have the money, we may not get to do that. I mean, that would be one thing. I guess the other alternative would be to raise our fee again. We can go up to $2.50 per ton of waste. I would hate to do that, but that’s an option.

President Shetler: If there is a deficit, you don’t tap on the city taxpayers or the county taxpayers?

Joe Ballard: No, that is correct. We do have in our General Fund, if you will, about $430,000, I think, now, approximately $430,000 that we have saved, although that has been dwindling in the last two years, if you will. So we have some money. We’d like to save, you know, good budgeting practices, financial planning practices, would say you should have one year’s budget saved in case of problems, and I think that’s where we are right now. That’s been dwindling, like I said, and we’re down to about 430,000. But that’s correct, the waste that goes into the landfill, and that’s how we’re funded, this landfill at Laubscher Meadows is about 75% of the waste that goes into that landfill is industrial and commercial. And so, and Whirlpool would be one example of what we won’t get there. But when the economy has a downturn, industry doesn’t produce as much, and when industry doesn’t produce, they don’t generate some waste. They do recycle or reduce their waste, but they don’t generate as much waste and it doesn’t go in the landfill and therefore, we don’t get paid. So that is a problem. We’ve been in existence since 1993 and it has not been a problem with funding until the last year, year and a half or so.

President Shetler: Alright, thank you. Yes, Councilman Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: The Solid Waste board, this has been a difficult situation and we’ve had to wrestle with this and, you know, our philosophy is you don’t want to put all this on industry, either. I mean, but the Solid Waste District has always been funded that way. One of the things that the board is looking at is the possibility of charging vehicles that come through the Tox-Away Day and the tire recycling day where you would charge like a dollar per vehicle or things like that where they would collect some money. But that’s not going to be large amounts of money, but the board and the citizen’s advisory committee is looking at all ways possible to get in more revenues, so it’s difficult. And they did reduce in next year’s budget, a full-time staff member has been deleted. So, you’ll be down to two, right?

Joe Ballard: Right, that’s correct. We have three positions right now; we’ll have two positions next year.

President Shetler: Okay, questions? Yes, Councilman Raben?

Councilmember Raben: As far as salary increases, are there any salary increases calculated in this budget?

Joe Ballard: No, there aren’t.

Councilmember Raben: Great.

Joe Ballard: In fact, I guess I will make a comment. We contract with the City Controller, so we follow city personnel and purchasing practices, and next year, the city, for the last twenty years or so, has funded all departments’ PERF, the retirement fund. That’s going to be discontinued next year and we have to pay for our own three percent –

Jenny Collins: For non-bargaining units.

Joe Ballard: For non-bargaining units. So, in effect, we have a net decrease in payroll.

Councilmember Kiefer: Joe, thanks. Appreciate the big reduction there in your budget. Thank you.

Joe Ballard: No problem.

President Shetler: Okay, yes, Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: I want to say thanks for providing those Tox-Away Days and the tire days and things like that. I think it’s a great service to the entire community. Thank you.

Joe Ballard: Thank you. I will say, Tox-Away Day, we don’t have the bill from the September 12^th program and that’s how our – that’s kind of what we do, and then of course, how much we pay is based on how many cars come. We advertise some, and we had 1,853 vehicles that came through, which is kind of a, just a regular day for us, but that will probably cost us about between 80 and $90,000.

President Shetler: Alright. Thank you. Any other questions? Motion?

Councilmember Raben: I’ll move approval or send our blessing on to the state.

Councilmember Lloyd: With no changes?

Councilmember Raben: No change.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Anyone opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered. Thank you, Joe.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: Okay, Jenny Collins, City of Evansville.

Jenny Collins: Hi, I’m Jenny Collins, City Controller. I also have Elizabeth Barnes, she’s the Deputy Controller. I will just echo the fact that this has been a very difficult budget year. Just going through, no pay increases for 2010, in order to keep our health care budgeted at the same level to deal with the industry average increases, we had to put that burden on the employees and we are looking for a 20% increase on our employees for health care coverage. In addition to that, we increased our co-pays for our doctor’s office visits. Our medicine deductibles have increased also. Like Joe mentioned, we did, for the non-bargaining units, the city will no longer provide that 3% state mandated PERF coverage. The employees will have to make that contribution. And we’ve made substantial changes to our vacation policy. The most that a city employee can earn will be four weeks. We will no longer allow carry overs. In the past, we used to allow them to carry over half of that vacation if they didn’t use it in a given year. Starting January 2010, there will be no carry overs for vacation. They can only earn a maximum of four weeks instead of the six weeks. We’re hoping that this may be able to reduce some employees because we have a very aged population of workers and when you have someone who has, like an office of mine, I have three employees that earn the max, six weeks each, it becomes very difficult to staff your office and be efficient.

Councilmember Raben: Question on that: you’re doing that with the current employees or new hires?

Jenny Collins: Current employees, across the board. We also, for health insurance, we’ve enacted the spousal rule, so if an employee’s spouse is able to get health care coverage at their place of employment, they are required to do that now. Of course, we would become their secondary insurance, but we hope to see some savings there and we’ve eliminated one of our programs also, for our health care plan.

Councilmember Raben: I know the media has done a good job keeping us informed with your struggles and preparing and approval of your budget. And I know the city has done a great job getting where they have to be to meet their shortfalls that they’re going to see next year, so, Mr. President, I’ll move –

Councilmember Kiefer: Mr. President, I have a question.

President Shetler: Yes?

Councilmember Kiefer: A couple things: there’s been a lot of talk in the media lately about sewer problems and the city is getting sued, I guess. And I know that is a fee based, you know, program because it goes through the water and sewer and paid that way. Is that reflected at all? I mean, you don’t have anything reflected concerning that for next year because these budgets were all done prior to that concern coming about.

Jenny Collins: As far as like, litigation cost or...

Councilmember Kiefer: Well, just as far as, I mean, I’m just trying to figure out what the city is going to do in response to that, you know, litigation –

Jenny Collins: I would have to defer and get that answer for you because I would have to go to the water and sewer department –

Councilmember Kiefer: And then I also understand the rates are being increased and –

Jenny Collins: There is a proposal to increase the water and the trash rates.

Councilmember Kiefer: Is the city shopping their –

Jenny Collins: Yes, we are currently out for RFP for the water and the sewer both.

Councilmember Kiefer: And trash pickup, are you getting multiple bids on trash pickup?

Jenny Collins: I’m not sure on the trash, I would have to defer and get that answer for you. But I do know that we are out for RFP for the operations in the water and sewer department.

Councilmember Kiefer: I’d also be curious about that trash pickup because I know that’s a big complaint people are expressing right now about –

Jenny Collins: And I know it’s in front of our City Council currently. I believe they met with them this week for the proposal, so...

Councilmember Kiefer: Okay, thank you very much.

President Shetler: Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Just a comment: from our standpoint, the county, we’re obviously in better shape and for you people in the city, all I can say is, ouch, because those employees are taking a hit and I think maybe it’s more understandable now, why we’re asking all the other entities coming forward to also zero their salary increase because things are tough all over. And I feel for you, and good luck.

Jenny Collins: Thank you. I would like to mention, also, we did eliminate through layoffs and attrition for budget year 2010, eight employees, and also numerous temporary and part-time.

President Shetler: You also have a hiring freeze as well, don’t you?

Jenny Collins: I don’t know that it mirrors your hiring freeze, though, I don’t think that we have a – we have a SAC committee that approves any new positions, but I don’t think we have a hiring freeze at the level that you do.

President Shetler: Alright, thank you. Councilman Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: Talking about the litigation, I have a little bit of expertise there, I don’t think they budget any reserve for that, I guess, unless you had an imminent situation where you knew you were going to lose a case, so this thing could probably take maybe several years. Other than the attorneys, I mean, you have to pay them ongoing.

Councilmember Kiefer: One last question: on debt service, you know, on debt service, I noticed that’s gone down quite a bit, I mean, what all does that debt service – that’s all the bond payments, everything? Is that –

Jenny Collins: Yes.

Councilmember Kiefer: So does that include anything that will be done with the stadium project, too, or is that in future years, like 2011?

Jenny Collins: That would be in future years. There’s nothing on there that relates to the stadium.

Councilmember Kiefer: So no debt service starts for the stadium project, and if there is debt service for sewer projects, that would come under a different budget?

Jenny Collins: Right, it would come under the water and the sewer.

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, that’s what I was wondering, why the water and sewer, I didn’t see a line item or water and sewer on this page.

Jenny Collins: Because there’s no taxes that are raised for that. It’s a fee based –

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, I know, I understand that, but still, --

Jenny Collins: And if you...

Councilmember Kiefer: I still think that’s a concern of citizens every time a fee is increased. I mean, the number of calls I get for that trash pickup increase is amazing, you know, it’s just people are concerned about that and that’s why I asked those questions, even though it wasn’t on this line item. So thank you.

President Shetler: Any other questions? Yes, Councilman Sutton?

Councilman Sutton: Yes, on your Local Roads & Streets line, can you talk about the substantial increase there? Is this related to capital projects that you guys have going on, kind of why that’s increased?

Jenny Collins: That’s shifted. Local Roads & Streets had a little bit of a cash balance. We had previously, in the past have funded a lot of road paving and so forth out of COIT dollars. And with the COIT dollars going down with the economy and so forth, we thought it would be a better use of the funds to use the Local Roads & Streets money because it can be used for those type items.

Councilman Sutton: Well, I see you do have a balance of almost 6.7 million there and you’re budgeting for next year, for 4.1 million out of that fund, so, I mean, there’s no impact necessarily from a General Fund standpoint, but just wondering how you came up with such a large increase.

Jenny Collins: Just really redirected some projects also from Riverboat to the Local Roads & Streets due to the fact that it had a healthy cash balance and it could support some projects out of there.

Councilman Sutton: And you mentioned Riverboat, that was my next question. How do you guys use those dollars? I mean, you guys have an 18 million dollar balance.

Jenny Collins: Riverboat is used for capital purchases only. We don’t fund any operational costs out of Riverboat at all. The City Council adopted an ordinance when the riverboat was put into place to only use that fund for capital improvement line items.

Councilman Sutton: Is there even some definition on the type of capital projects that that can only be used for?

Jenny Collins: Lease cars...

Councilmember Kiefer: Police vests.

Jenny Collins: Police vests.

Councilmember Lloyd: Fire trucks.

Jenny Collins: Fire trucks, yes...you know, building repairs.

Councilman Sutton: Okay, thank you.

Councilmember Raben: Okay, Mr. President, I will move that we send our approval of the budget on to state.

Councilmember Goebel: Second.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments?

Councilmember Lloyd: Approval with no changes, correct?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah, the only comment that I’d make is that I know the water and sewer department is fee based, but I really think that’s such a huge budget item, that it should be something next year they should allow us to review, but of course, I understand the state makes that decision. But that is a very, very big budget item that’s fee based, but I don’t know too many people in the city that can go without water and sewer service. Just a comment.

President Shetler: Okay, any other questions or comments? Alright, all in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Jenny Collins: Thank you. And I did get Ms. Au’s phone number to contact Jim Harris with the EVSC for the combined purchasing.

President Shetler: Because you guys eliminated a person or two, didn’t you, yourselves?

Jenny Collins: Two employees.

President Shetler: So if they’re able to do the same, it would help reduce their costs just immediately plus purchasing power.

Jenny Collins: I will be sure that I pass along that.

President Shetler: Alright, thank you. Appreciate it.

Jenny Collins: I’m also here for the Levee.

President Shetler: Oh, Mr. Mangold isn’t going to --

Jenny Collins: Well no, Mr. Mangold is no longer with the Levee Authority.

President Shetler: Oh, he’s not?

Jenny Collins: He’s retired.

President Shetler: Well, congratulations.

Jenny Collins: But I may refer to him for some questions.

Councilmember Raben: Well, there’s a substantial increase here. I’m sure you’re ready to speak to that.

Jenny Collins: I am ready to speak to that. Again, there is, the Levee follows the same as the city, no pay increases. The changes to the health care is enforced on them. The increase that you’re seeing is, I think it’s roughly about 300,000 and it is for, we are in the process of being re-certified as the city for the levees. We are in need of making some substantial repairs to the levee, and I believe – I’m going to speak out of turn –

Councilmember Raben: I remember this now from our joint budget hearings --

Jenny Collins: The Pigeon levee is in need of repair. Initially we thought that was going to cost a lot more but we found out that we can make some repairs that will last I think approximately ten years at a cost of only 300,000, and that’s the road that we decided to go.

President Shetler: These are being mandated by the Army Corps of Engineers?

Jenny Collins: Correct. In order to get certification for the city, we are having to make these repairs.

Councilmember Raben: Do we also, are you handling Port Authority as well?

Jenny Collins: I am here on the Port Authority.

Councilmember Raben: And there’s really no –

Jenny Collins: There’s no salaries at all. It’s merely operational cost.

Councilmember Raben: That appears to be, I mean, if you look at this sheet I’m looking at here, as if that’s a new account or possibly a new –

Jenny Collins: Well, and there was some confusion and Teri called me on that, too. I merely brought it to you guys because I wanted to be sure that I was covered. I don’t think that it came to you last year, but the Port Authority, I think it’s been in operation for three years. But I just wanted to make sure I had all my i’s dotted and my t’s crossed.

Councilmember Raben: And you did. Thank you. Mr. President, again, I’ll move that we send our unofficial nod yes to the state with no changes on the Levee Authority and Port Authority.

Councilmember Goebel: Second.

President Shetler: Do I have any questions about the motion? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: You did both: did you do Levee and Port?

Jenny Collins: Yes.

President Shetler: Alright.

Jenny Collins: Thank you.

President Shetler: Town of Darmstadt. Mallory Lowe?

Councilmember Raben: No one here? Mr. President, I guess with this one, I will make the same motion as one of the prior motions, that we send our okay on to the state on this budget with no salary increases to salary lines and outside of that, we accept the budget.

President Shetler: Do we know if there are any?

Councilmember Raben: I can come back to you on that, but this will certainly, if there are, it certainly expresses our displeasure. Part of Joe’s point, there’s no historical figures to go by as we look at these, but again, with that standard motion, if there are, we’re saying we don’t approve of them.

President Shetler: Jim, just a suggestion here and by legal counsel, that maybe we might say that the salary levels will be set in at the ‘09 levels, spell that out.

Councilmember Raben: For clarification, my motion will be that this body approves the 2010 town of Darmstadt budget with salaries set in at the 2009 levels.

President Shetler: Okay, we have a motion.

Councilmember Kiefer: Second.

President Shetler: And a second. Do I have any questions? Comments? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Anyone opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: Now we’ll go to the townships. I don’t know if the township folks would like to come up to the front row. Some of it we might be able to take more in a grouping, particularly on some questions. I don’t know if that might make things a little bit easier in the transition and easier for you to make your way later to the podium anyway. Again, we’re going to go in alphabetical order and, lucky you?

Joyce Kron: Some year, we should do this backwards. I’m Joyce Kron. I am the clerk in the Armstrong Township Trustee’s office. The Trustee, Randy Kron, couldn’t be here today, since the fields and the corn have finally dried. He’s doing his full-time job today and asked me to come in his place. I’ll start by, our township fund, we did put in a two percent raise increase and the reason we did this, what we traditionally have done, our advisory board has told us to put in a pay increase and then at their last meeting, they decide what the pay will be. And they have always based that on what the County Council did. And we have done this for as long as I can remember, even before you had approval, they always followed what the County Council did. So while we have a two percent raise increase in there, regardless of what you do today, if you – upon approval of our budget, if, overall on your budget, you say no pay increases, that’s what our township will do, that’s what we have always done. The only substantial increase that I have in my budget is our fire fund and we are contractually obligated, well, we are required by law to provide fire service for our township. We are under contract with German and Scott Township Fire Departments and this is what our contract says that we need for next year, so that’s really our only other increase. So does anyone have any questions for me on this?

Councilmember Lloyd: What was that increase on the fire fund?

Joyce Kron: Five.

Councilmember Lloyd: Five percent?

Joyce Kron: Yes. It’s about $4,000.

Councilmember Raben: Do we want to – are there any questions?

President Shetler: Anybody have any questions?

Councilmember Raben: If not, I’ll make the motion that we send our official nod to the state with the budgets being set at 2009's rates or salaries set at the 2009 rate and all other budget items we accept and approve.

Councilmember Lloyd: Second.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded, do I have any questions about the motion? Comments? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Councilmember Raben: If anyone has any questions, I guess since we’re dealing with just different officeholders, different townships. If anybody’s got any general questions, we might just ask them as groups so we don’t ask the same questions two or three times, and if anybody wants to speak to them, you can. I meant to say that earlier. But, you know, just a brief summary of what township trustees do might be good because we are being recorded, you know, for the folks at home that may want to know what your offices do. Some of the criteria that – and whoever wants to speak for it, whoever wants to volunteer to do that.

Councilmember Kiefer: Before they get started, if you could add in just some explanation between Fire and Cumulative Fire, because those are two different line items. If you can kind of speak to the differences between those two budgets.

Mary Hart: Okay, first of all, the township trustees are temporary emergency assistance for low income clients in our townships. Right now, we’re filling in a lot of the gaps with the state modernization program, so we have seen an increase in our clients. Most of us have tried to keep our 2010 budgets the same at 2009 levels. The difference between the Fire Fund and the Cum Fire, the Cum Fire can only be used for the purchase of equipment. The Fire department budget itself provides the fire service...equipment, land and building.

Councilmember Raben: And as far as relief, is there a standard set of guidelines that each office has to go by that is provided by the state? And just, I mean, you know, again, because I don’t know enough about –

Mary Hart: Each township trustee has their guidelines posted with the County Commissioners. We do have a set of written guidelines that we go by that are with the County Commissioners and also posted in our office.

President Shetler: And are those uniform and standardized between the townships?

Mary Hart: Pretty close but not always because the costs in different townships are going to vary a little bit, but they’re pretty close to being as uniform as we can get them and stay within our budget limits.

Councilmember Lloyd: So are we going to take Pigeon since Mrs. Hart is up here?

President Shetler: Right now we’re kind of going through some general questions.

Councilmember Kiefer: It was mentioned earlier to the libraries that, because we have EVSC, city and county doing, we have one purchasing department now, source, have any of the townships discussed this as possibility for purchasing being sourced through that same entity now that does EVSC, city and the county?

Mary Hart: We haven’t because our forms are having to be approved by the State Board of Accounts, the forms that we use. They have approval with a couple of our printers that we actually all purchase our forms from the same printer. Because they have to be approved by the State Board of Accounts, we can’t just go to any vendor that...

President Shetler: When it comes to health insurance, do you all have some kind of pooling agreements or arrangements through the state or, is it all done independently and on your own?

Mary Hart: We actually pool with the county in the township trustee’s office. We pay the full premiums out of our budget, but we are pooled into the group with the county.

President Shetler: Alright.

Councilmember Kiefer: One last question about this purchasing stuff. So if you guys buy some new equipment like fire equipment or new helmets, new anything that you need to purchase, each individual township just is responsible for making those – there’s no joint effort in acquiring any equipment?

Mary Hart: Joe, I need to bring someone else up here that deals with the fire department, I contract with Center so I can’t answer those questions.

Councilmember Lloyd: Get an expert up here.

David Mosby: And I know where you’re coming from. Basically, what we do is, we contract to Perry. Perry does all their own buying and I have a contract with Perry to provide $256,000 a year. And we do that in two payments per year but they actually buy their own equipment. If they’re going to buy a truck, they go out, they get the bids, they get whatever supplies they want on that truck, and as far as their fire fighters, I mean, they buy their own stuff.

Councilmember Raben: Outside of your 250, everything else you have to raise, right?

David Mosby: Yeah, through businesses, how ever.

Councilmember Raben: In Perry Township, I’m thinking, what is there, three stations?

David Mosby: We’ve got Williams Road and Rollett Lane or Johnson Lane, and then we also have a truck down in Union Township now that is providing service to Union. I think they have six or seven trucks actually because they’re housing about three trucks on Johnson Lane, which is made for one, but they’re housing three.

Councilmember Raben: The 250 that you provide is outside of what they raise and when they do barbecues and stuff like that, I mean, that’s –

David Mosby: And I agree, they do a terrific job. I don’t know how they do it with the amount of money they do –

Councilmember Kiefer: I was just looking to see if, like from your experience as a City Council person, all those years of, like if a policeman gets a new vehicle, they go through a statewide, there’s like a statewide system and I just was seeing if there was opportunities to reduce cost by pooling instead of each individual one doing their thing, pooling it together through either the state or through this new purchasing program that we have with EVSC and the county and the city.

David Mosby: I do know Perry talks with the same people that the city talks with. I know that for a fact because one of the guys has a brother that works out there. And they have went and refurbished, they found that it was cheaper for them to refurbish a couple trucks.

Councilmember Raben: I think Joe was talking more in general. We kind of got on the fire and so he’s talking about if you need a new copier or if you need, you know, pens and pencils, are we utilizing our city/county purchasing staff that –

Mary Hart: Well, we haven’t but most of us are using copiers and printers that are 20 years old so...

Bob Harris: In Scott, unlike the other townships, Scott Township Trustee, we buy the truck, they’re titled to the township rather than the fire department, so all the buildings and all the grounds, all the fire equipment, all the equipment in the fire houses are township equipment. And actually, –

(Tape changed)

– when I buy a copier or anything for the fire department, I contact purchasing and see where they’re getting their best bids and that’s what I go by.

President Shetler: Alright.

Councilmember Kiefer: Again, I was only expressing like at the beginning of the year, if you knew you were going to do something and the city, county and the school corporation, they were going to buy ten, you add yours on, you know, now you’re getting eleven, you know, you just get a little better discount. And if you guys are out talking to them, and exploring that opportunity, I’d appreciate it. Thank you.

President Shetler: Yes, Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: If we’re going across the townships in a blanket form, I guess, are we going to bring them up individually?

President Shetler: Yes, we are. I was kind of, the general questions to get out of the way before we get into specifics about someone’s budget, then I think we need to go back.

Councilmember Goebel: Excuse me, but maybe if anyone has a zero line increase for salaries, you could let us know that right away so we don’t have to ask.

Mary Hart: I can tell you right now, my 2010 budget is identical to my 2009.

Councilmember Goebel: No pay increase?

Mary Hart: No pay increase.

President Shetler: And this is a general question that I had and I served on the Center Township board for several years and I know Bob Orr always kept a part of his resume, the fact that his politics started at the Center Township board and he was very proud of that being part of his references there. I don’t expect to end up where he did, but anyway, I do appreciate the work that’s being done. The fire department, one of the issues that I know we came up with a few years ago at Center Township, volunteer firemen and how many would come out to emergency runs and all that kind of thing, is there any kind of standardization or any kind of set rules on that between, or is that just up to the individual townships as far as what they pay per run and how many people can get paid and the like, because I think we had a couple situations like that? And the second question that I had in general was on burials, because I know we also had some issues on pauper burials and they were getting to be fairly costly to our township and I didn’t know if there is a standard rate on that, again, between townships or how that’s done.

Mary Hart: As township trustees, we have met and we have worked with the funeral homes and we have a set standard that all township trustees on pay on burials, which is the same. It’s $2,000 for a pauper’s burial, $600 for cremation. And we all pay the same amount on burials. And we’ve worked with the funeral homes and they work with us.

President Shetler: And all city funeral homes are involved in that process then?

Mary Hart: Just about all of them will accept what we pay on the burials and bury our members.

President Shetler: Okay, emergency runs? Can anybody address that as far as –

Bob Harris: Before we go on a run, we have to have four firemen on the scene before they can make an entrance to a house. On emergency runs, I guess Scott Township is the only one that has their own ambulance service. We have a full-time paramedic and EMT on duty 24/7. And so they make the medical runs. And we do – Darmstadt, we do all the medical runs in Armstrong and the German Fire Department and Scott Township does the runs in Armstrong.

President Shetler: Alright.

Councilmember Bassemier: That’s a state law. You have four people there, two in and two out.

Bob Harris: Right, right. So I think most of the fire departments now have people on during the day. I think Scott’s the only one that has people on 24/7.

President Shetler: That’s one thing I’ve noticed looking through all these budgets is that, and I know it’s been a few years ago since I had actually served, but the cost of fire protection is definitely increasing.

Bob Harris: We’re in a real bind out in Scott with the new school being built out there. We’re going to have to put on some men during the day to protect the school and I’ve been working on that.

President Shetler: Alright. Any other questions?

Councilmember Raben: Again, back to – I don’t care who answers it, --

James “Tiger” Ritter: I want to say something about the fire department. We contract with the McCutchanville Fire Department for serving Center Township, which is a big area. And with the volunteer fire department, we’ve had to hire four regulars in the last two years, and that’s why you’ll see on my budget, I have 50,000 more than last year, and it’s because we need the fifth person. So I just wanted to explain that.

President Shetler: Alright, thank you, Tiger. Yes, James?

Councilmember Raben: Again, I’m still trying to give the folks at home – somebody tell me just, some of the different types of relief that are available, and again, I come in for relief, what guidelines or what criteria do I have to meet?

Mary Hart: Well, each case is handled case by case, Jim. We assist with food, non-food items, rent, utilities, medical, burial, just about anything that’s a basic living necessity, we deal with through the trustee’s office. But each case is handled case by case. I mean, it depends on what the client’s need is when they come in as to how they’re – what services they will receive. It just depends on what their need is at the time that they apply. It could be for rent, it could be for utilities. We’re seeing a lot of the bleed over from the state modernization program where medical benefits have been discontinued for the loss of paperwork, so we’re picking up medicines and testings until the Medicaid can get straightened out. TANIF benefits have been cut off, so we’re assisting with rent, utilities because those benefits have been cut off for lack of communication with the state modernization. Food, we’re seeing a lot of food orders that we’re having to issue because food stamps have been discontinued for a minor problem with the state modernization program. So, I mean, that’s what we’re there for. We’re kind of a fill gap for any of the state programs that they have been taken off of, no failure of their own.

Councilmember Raben: Do you have a means in which to verify (inaudible – microphone not turned on) somebody that really needs your assistance? I mean, what do you do to verify that the situation is what it’s said to be?

Mary Hart: Each township trustee has an investigator that investigates and verifies, we verify through the child support division on the income, if they’re receiving that. We have a connection with the state modernization program that we can email and get information back that those benefits were stopped and for whatever reason, but we do have investigators that investigate each and every case and determines whether or not that need is truly there.

Councilmember Raben: Every case is investigated?

Mary Hart: Each case.

Councilmember Raben: That’s great.

President Shetler: Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Mary, with the modernization problems we’re having, and maybe you picking up at the township level some expenses you wouldn’t normally have, is there any recourse for the township to get reimbursement?

Mary Hart: No, because that’s really what we’re there to do, is to assist the clients who fall in the gap or while they’re waiting to apply or be approved for state programs.

Councilmember Goebel: Are some of these existing qualifiers who, simply because of the state issues that have fallen back to you, that might be qualified for both township and state?

Mary Hart: Well, they qualify for our assistance in between time that they have been taken off of the state system. And we will assist that client until they can get the state program back in place, but we do assist them in getting the state program back in place, also.

Councilmember Goebel: Okay, just for general information, since the state is not very forthcoming with information about the modernization, have you noticed a change in improvement at the state level?

Mary Hart: It is getting better here locally. We’re not having near the problems that some of the states are having, some parts of the state. They have just put in two actual troubleshooters in our local office, so we are seeing some improvement with that program here.

Councilmember Goebel: Thank you.

Councilmember Raben: Okay, we want to –

President Shetler: I think Councilman Kiefer had a question.

Councilmember Kiefer: One question: just out of curiosity, I noticed all the trustees, I mean, it seems like the salaries are different, the boards are paid different, is that all just established through each individual board and they establish what the salaries have been and what the board is paid and what the – there’s no like, real formula based upon the size of the township or anything? It’s just kind of established by each individual board?

Mary Hart: Well, if you notice on some of the township budgets, the trustee makes less than their employees because they’re considered part-time positions.

Councilmember Kiefer: I mean, I don’t think, you know, like I’m looking at German here, you know, it’s not, you know, 13,100 is not, there’s a vast difference from other trustees and I was just curious how they came up with it.

Mary Hart: Some of those, when you see the salaries that low, they’re considered part-time positions, so they’re not paid a full-time salary, so, I mean, their employees may make more than they do.

Councilmember Kiefer: I’m sure it’s like the mayor, you know, each mayor from every city, the Council appropriates that, so –

Mary Hart: Each township has a three-member advisory board that approves our budget, so there may be a difference and variation in salaries. I know that all of us have met and tried to get our budgets the same, but sometimes our tax rates won’t allow us to do that. So we get it as close as we can to be uniform within the county.

Councilmember Kiefer: I’m sorry, I’m just trying to better understand how it works. Thank you.

Councilmember Raben: Okay, on Center, Mr. President, I’m going to move that we send our –

(Inaudible)

Councilmember Raben: I’m going to make that in a motion. I think we’ve asked that question or maybe we did not. On Center Township, are there salary increases calculated into this budget?

Mary Hart: Tiger, do you have any salary...? Yes, there is.

Councilmember Raben: At what rate?

James “Tiger” Ritter: Three percent.

Councilmember Raben: I’ll move that we send our approval on all budget items with the exception of salaries, and salaries be set at the 2009 rate for Center Township.

Councilman Sutton: Second.

James “Tiger” Ritter: I want to say something. My people are working harder now than they have ever worked since I’ve been there fifteen years. And we even thought we, at one time, I needed to put a part-time person on. We’ve done 200 new applications this year, and right now on just the poor relief alone, we’ve done 90,000 more than last year. And so they’re doing their job and I think they need a raise. So that’s why we did that.

Councilmember Raben: And I understand that and appreciate that, Tiger.

President Shetler: There is a motion and a second. Let me just ask you real quickly, Tiger, your hours of operation, what time do you guys start in the mornings and what time do you finish, and is it five days a week or what?

Mary Hart: It’s eight to four, five days a week. Let me explain the reason that he, as most of you know, the new county jail is now in Tiger’s township, so the 300 clients that I was seeing on a monthly basis are now in Tiger’s territory, so I’m sure he probably does need another full-time person. And they are working a whole lot harder.

President Shetler: Okay, we have a motion and a second on the floor. Any questions about the motion? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers except Councilmember Bassemier voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

Councilmember Bassemier: I oppose. I’m –

President Shetler: Let’s do a roll call.

Councilmember Bassemier: Tiger comes up here and says he needs that increase, I’m going to give it to him.

President Shetler: We’ll do a roll call vote, please. Let’s do a roll call, then.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: No.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Shetler?

President Shetler: Yes. There being six ayes and one nay, the motion carries.

(Motion carried 6-1/Councilmember Bassemier opposed)

President Shetler: The next township, then, is German Township. Anybody here for German? Any specific questions?

Councilmember Lloyd: That would be, Mr. Fred Happe is the Trustee.

Councilmember Raben: This budget appears as if it’s, request is 10,000 less than last year, well, actually a little over 11,000. Okay, well, Mr. President, I’ll make the same standard motion that salary items, we only approve the salary items set at 2009's figures and all other budget items we’re okay with. That’s my motion.

Councilman Sutton: Second.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded. Any questions, comments? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: Knight Township. Linda? I guess I’ll ask you the question that Mr. Raben has been asking all night, afternoon, morning, whatever it is. It seems like it’s afternoon. But anyway, and that is, do you have any rate increases in here?

Linda Durham: We do have a three percent rate increase in our salaries. We also have some rate increases in our poor relief, that has increased substantially over the past year given the fact that we have seen a lot of job losses in our area, clients that were previously financially stable, they’re losing incomes and not being able to pay rent, utilities, basic necessities, and they’re now applying to us. We’ve had over 500 new cases this year alone, in addition to a lot of activations or reactivations of prior cases. I’d say we have probably about 600 to 700 new cases or reactivations this year. So our poor relief has went up, however, our fire has went down by $40,000.

President Shetler: Okay, yes, Councilman Kiefer.

Councilmember Kiefer: A little bit more specific to Knight Township, because I know a lot of your area was annexed, how much – I guess, how much territory is now no longer, is not in the city? How much of Knight Township is outside of the city limits?

Linda Durham: We only lost to the annexation about a five to six mile square radius. We lost what’s called the commercial block and that’s the area between Morgan Avenue and the Lloyd, Burkhardt to the county line. And that’s all we lost. However, that money really wasn’t, we didn’t lose any net valuation for that area because it was already in our TIF bond.

Councilmember Kiefer: I was just curious because I was trying to understand what was left in Knight Out, and as far as I can think of, it’s that area over between Covert and Riverside, east of Green River Road, somewhat back in that area.

Linda Durham: Uh-huh.

Councilmember Kiefer: But is there any other area that’s in Knight Township Out?

Linda Durham: We have the area north of Morgan to Lynch, and then Burkhardt again being the line.

Councilmember Kiefer: Okay, thank you.

President Shetler: Burkhardt to 64.

Councilmember Raben: The city did take over a fire station, right?

Linda Durham: No, we still have two operational fire stations. We have one that is a 24 hour station, and then we have one that is a home response station. The home response station is the one on Pollack and our 24/7 station is out on Burkhardt.

President Shetler: Okay, any other questions?

Councilmember Lloyd: I know, and this was in the media about your fire coverage, was the amount that you decreased it, is that a one year contract with –

Linda Durham: Yes, we are – because of the annexation, we thought it financially feasible to operate on a one year contract at this time.

Councilmember Lloyd: So that will come up for review or is it being reviewed now?

Linda Durham: We’re reviewing it right now. We are actually in agreement on the terms, the $260,000, some of that being Cumulative and some of that being contractual amount. We’re in agreement for that term for the 2010 year.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay, well, that’s good news, I think, for Knight Township taxpayers. Thank you.

Councilmember Raben: One last question, and I just caught it. I didn’t see this before while reviewing this and looking back, I don’t see it on the other budgets, one of the line items is, under other personnel services is a cleaning man, cleaning and maintenance man for 3,000. Can you explain that?

Linda Durham: We have added, in the past year we added a cleaning and maintenance man to do small repairs around the office and to clean the office on a weekly basis, take the trash out, stuff like that. And this past year, we took it out of the repair and maintenance fund. But as the building ages, we’re requiring more and more maintenance and we thought it would be financially more feasible to have a maintenance man already on staff rather than contract with agencies to come in and do those repairs.

Councilmember Raben: So does everybody clean their own office or who contracts and who cleans their own?

David Mosby: I contract.

Mary Hart: I contract.

Councilmember Raben: Okay, so it’s about half and half. Okay. I was just curious who does and who doesn’t contract on that. Alright, Mr. President, I’ll move the same standard motion: no salary increases, that our recommendation is the salaries be set at 2009 figures and we approve of all other line items.

President Shetler: I have a motion.

Councilman Sutton: Second.

President Shetler: And a second. Quick question: hours of service?

Linda Durham: We are open Monday through Friday, eight to four, we’re closed twelve to one for lunch. But we do have an answering machine on at that time that takes calls, and then we call them back after lunch.

President Shetler: Okay, thank you. We have a motion on the floor. No questions, comments? All in favor signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered. Thank you.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: Next is Perry Township. Mr. Mosby.

David Mosby: Good morning. Yes, we do have some raises in our budget and are across the board, $500. Didn’t do percentages –

President Shetler: Flat amount?

David Mosby: $500 per employee, and the reason we did that, and if you’ve got the information from other townships and I have researched this and also researched it through the state with a couple other trustees, our employees were lagging behind per se, pretty far, so what I’ve tried to do is just catch them up over a period of time, and that’s why we’re going with across the board rather than percentage raises. And yes, I do have a janitor that comes in after we close in the evenings and just works a couple of hours and cleans the office and vacuums, and stuff like that so it’s ready for the next morning.

President Shetler: Well, I will say this, particularly for full-time employees, that your office and whether it be Pigeon or any of them, or Center Township, and the one thing that I have noted, that most of the salary levels are a little bit lower than you might find other places in government. But my gut feeling is, unfortunately, this isn’t the time to try to get those things on some kind of level of parity here.

David Mosby: You know, and I just went off of what, like in the city when I used to sit on the salary administration committee, and I heard the controller refer to that earlier, and I know in the county when I was commissioner, I know how they did things and brought it front of you all, from that knowledge and just looking at the salaries when I got to the trustee’s office, they were well lower than what I was used to seeing through the city and county. So that’s why I did it and there’s – you know, I’m not apologizing for it because the girls work very hard, they run a very good office. I’m not there all the time, I am a part-time trustee, I still work at the fire department, but I can assure you one thing, the citizens of Perry Township are served very well.

President Shetler: Alright, any other questions or comments?

Councilmember Bassemier: Yeah, you might want to take a vote again. I’m going to vote as submitted, so...

Councilmember Kiefer: I’d like to make a comment. Dave, I really do agree with you. I know your employees as well as the other township employees, you know, I know they work hard and so do the city employees, the county employees, there’s a lot of hard working folks in local government, and so when we vote that we’re trying to do this, we’re trying to stay consistent and we’re not saying that one group doesn’t work as hard as another group. There’s no indictment here against the employees. We really feel like we’ve got a great group of employees and we’re not, by doing a zero pay raise, we’re not saying that they’re under performing or anything like that. That has nothing to do with it at least from my perspective, it’s more economy driven than it is anything.

Councilmember Bassemier: Joe, and I agree with you, but I think Dave is just trying to catch up –

David Mosby: And I understand that, and like I say, you know, as far as the trustee, I don’t have a salary administration committee or, you know, a committee of the City or County Council to go to throughout the year. I mean, you know, the city or county could throughout the year sometimes go in and raise an employee’s salary if something changes. I don’t have that alternative. I can only do it at budget hearings, and I can assure you, you know, in conversation with my board and everything, they have no problem with it, they understand what I’m trying to do and we started this a couple of years ago. As far as my board employees, they’ve been making $599 a year for the last 100 years, and they don’t want a raise. They flat tell you, it’s a service to the community, it’s a service to the citizens of Perry Township, and they don’t want a raise. And I’ve offered them a raise just for gas money and they said no, and we’d rather give it to the employees.

President Shetler: Councilman Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: I just want to say also, with a zero pay raise, it’s pretty obvious that most of your offices are having many more demands now than under normal times, but these are not normal times. And we appreciate the work you do, but once again, consistency. Thank you.

Councilmember Raben: Okay. Mr. President, I will move that Perry Township’s salary lines or salaries be set at 2009 rates, with no salary increases. All other items within this budget meet our approval and I make that in the form of a motion.

Councilmember Lloyd: Second.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded. Let’s take a roll call because I think Ed made an indication we might have a ...

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Sutton?

Councilmember Sutton: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Bassemier?

Councilmember Bassemier: I’d like to see his employees get a $500 raise across the board. I vote no.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Goebel?

Councilmember Goebel: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Raben?

Councilmember Raben: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: Councilmember Kiefer?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yes.

Teri Lukeman: President Shetler?

President Shetler: Yes. There being six ayes and one nay, the motion carries.

(Motion carried 6-1/Councilmember Bassemier opposed)

Councilmember Raben: Okay, in Pigeon, I think Mary spoke a lot and thank you for taking the reins this afternoon or this morning. Well, it seems like this afternoon, we’ve been in here so long. I’m going to move that all salaries be set at, our recommendation is that –

Councilmember Kiefer: She flat lined hers.

Councilmember Raben: Just as a matter of record, that they remain at the 2009 levels and we approve everything else within this budget.

Councilmember Lloyd: Second.

President Shetler: We have a motion and second. Any questions?

Councilmember Lloyd: Couple of questions for Mrs. Hart. I noticed under your township assistant, you have seven employees. Has that number been consistent or have you had to add?

Mary Hart: Two years ago, we went from nine to seven. We’re at bare staff now. I can’t decrease any more. I have three investigators and I have two clerks. Those three investigators are handling right at 500 cases a month each. So I’m at bare minimum.

Councilmember Lloyd: It looked like your assistance fund was down quite a bit two years ago, but since then it’s really jumped up and I guess that’s the economy. Do you have a percentage of what your case load has gone up? Roughly over two years?

Mary Hart: In ‘07 we were right at 1,100, in ‘08 we were at about 1,200, and we’re averaging about 500 cases a month now. So it’s gone – or 500 cases more. So it’s gone up quite a bit.

Councilmember Lloyd: So 40% plus, it sounds like.

President Shetler: Okay, any other questions? I think we have a motion. We had a motion on the floor, didn’t we?

Councilmember Kiefer: Yeah.

President Shetler: So all in favor signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: Next is Scott Township.

Bob Harris: I do have a three percent raise in for salaries, but my board does like Armstrong does, we usually go with what the county gives for that year. So it is what it is.

President Shetler: Alright, thank you. Anybody have any questions?

Councilmember Raben: Yeah, Bob, the fire equipment debt, that looks like a new line item and might be the reason why the budget is up 28%.

Bob Harris: Right, we just bought a new aerial ladder truck this year, $700,000. We signed the contract for it about three weeks ago.

Councilmember Bassemier: Bob, it’s a nice truck. Really nice truck.

Councilmember Raben: Okay, other than that, it looks like everything is fairly consistent. The Rainy Day Fund, is that something that, I mean, we hit on that –

Bob Harris: That’s excess tax monies we’ve gotten in the past and we just haven’t spent it.

Councilmember Raben: And that’s what your balance is in the Rainy Day Fund?

Bob Harris: The 10, yeah.

Councilmember Raben: Okay. Mr. President, I’d like to make a motion that Scott Township salaries be set at this year, 2009's rate, so there’s no increase, and recommend approval for the rest of the items.

President Shetler: It’s been moved and seconded. Any questions or comments? Yes, Councilman Lloyd?

Councilmember Lloyd: I still had a couple of questions. Your township does quite a bit between the fire, emergency, ambulance, and parks, you have the one park. Is your fire contract, is that multi-year or do you just go year to year?

Bob Harris: Year to year.

Councilmember Lloyd: And I know you indicated a lot of concern there, just the escalating costs. And you’ve got a new line item, fire equipment debt, so you had to borrow to get a truck?

Bob Harris: Yes.

Councilmember Lloyd: Okay. That’s all I have.

President Shetler: Bob, just real quickly, on the emergency runs, for example, in Center Township it seems to me that the McCutchanville Fire Department, a few years ago, was charging $15 or something like that for everyone who showed up at an emergency run, --

Bob Harris: We don’t pay that.

President Shetler: But you don’t have that because you’ve got your permanent –

Bob Harris: We (inaudible) the volunteers. They show up, but we don’t pay them per run.

President Shetler: Okay, they don’t get paid for anything when they show up for a fire or anything at all.

Bob Harris: It’s volunteer.

President Shetler: Alright.

Bob Harris: And they’re very dedicated volunteers.

President Shetler: Alright. Anything else? We have a motion on the floor. All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: Motion carries. Thanks, Bob.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

Councilmember Raben: And last is Union Township. I don’t think there’s anyone here. I’m going to make the motion that the state not grant any salary increases for 2010, that salaries be set at 2009 levels. All other items within this budget meet our approval.

President Shetler: I have a motion.

Councilmember Lloyd: Second.

President Shetler: Second. Do I have any questions about the motion?

Councilmember Lloyd: Comment. One question I would have for them, I know they had carried a negative cash balance in 2009, but they’ll obviously bring that back up this year. But anyway, it’s one of the most rural townships and it’s a pretty small budget.

Councilmember Raben: Yes, it is.

President Shetler: It gets kind of soggy down there, too. Okay, any questions about that? All in favor, signify by saying aye.

(All Councilmembers voted in the affirmative)

President Shetler: Those opposed?

(No opposing votes were cast)

President Shetler: So ordered.

(Motion unanimously approved 7-0)

President Shetler: That concludes our agenda that we have unless anybody has anything else to bring up about anything that we dealt with today. If not, yes, Councilman Sutton.

Councilman Sutton: There is something. This will be, I guess we’ll pick it up next week, this was from our regular meeting. Assessor Weaver has indicated that he would be fine on that plotter/printer taking it out of the Reassessment Fund as opposed to the General Fund, so I told him just to show up next week and we’ll --

President Shetler: With his checkbook and we’re happy. Yes. Thank you. That’s good news. Well, he was one of the guys I had in mind for his funds.

Councilman Sutton: He said he gets use out of that plotter/printer, too, so --

President Shetler: Yes. Alright, good, great. Alright, anything else? Motion for adjournment would be –

Councilmember Raben: So moved.

President Shetler: Thank you. Alright, we’ll see you next Wednesday.

(There being no further business to come before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 10:56 a.m.)

VANDERBURGH COUNTY COUNCIL

                                                                                                                                             
President Tom Shetler, Jr.              Vice President Joe Kiefer

                                                                                                                                        
Councilmember Russell Lloyd, Jr.   Councilmember Ed Bassemier

Councilmember Royce Sutton

Recorded and transcribed by Teri Lukeman.