By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS – County Administrator Terry Proctor Thursday night delivered Cass County Board of Commissioners a proposed budget to consider for the fiscal year which begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30, 2009.
The budget, a collection of 46 funds – one for each special revenue fund, debt service fund, capital project fund, internal service fund, the general fund and four component units – totals $14,175,398 in the general fund and $13,557,334 for the others, or $27,732,732 in all.
The CAFR, or Consolidated Annual Financial Report, is a companion document to the annual budget detailing how well county departments actually operated compared to the operation plan the budget contains.
County government is not a business, Proctor said, but incorporating business practices in Cass operations can have positive results.
County government provides services for the public good that businesses are unwilling or unable to provide.
For example, he said, Cass County provides services for the mentally ill, the aged and the poor. It also protects public safety through operating a road patrol, jail, prosecution and courts.
Cass County undertakes governmental activities, which are principally supported by taxes and intergovernmental revenues, and business-type activities, which are intended to recover all or a significant portion of their costs through user fees and charges.
Cass County's two significant business-type activities are operating the Medical Care Facility and collecting delinquent taxes. The county uses net assets generated from these business-type activities to help meet capital and operating needs.
A key function of the Board of Commissioners is appropriating the dollars to county departments to operate the government.
"The board's decision-making is crucial to the success of the entire enterprise," Proctor said. "It has many partners and stakeholders to hear from before it makes its taxing and spending decisions. This is accomplished by setting budget targets, circulating the proposed budget for comment, holding a public hearing (on Aug. 7) and meeting with partners and stakeholders as needed."
Proctor said it is "very difficult" to project 2009 property values and taxes due to conditions in the national housing market.
Estimated taxes of 4.5942 mills will generate $8,438,818, or 59.53 percent of general fund revenue. The tax rate is rolled back by the Headlee amendment each year depending on the increase in taxable value.
Proctor's proposed budget assumes a 4.5-percent increase in taxable value, which will need to be adjusted as new information becomes available.
Most departments and agencies did not request personnel increases, though District Court, the sheriff for the jail, Family Court and Probate Court did.
Last year, small property growth in the county helped offset the even smaller increases in homestead tax revenue, Proctor said. "This growth, plus past conservative spending, is now providing an opportunity to consider improvements in the county's operations. One such opportunity is to acquire Arthur Dodd Park from the state. The county has followed the state's process for this over the last year. It is hoped the acquisition can be completed in 2009."
General fund expense largely consists of wages, salaries, benefits, gasoline and utilities.
Wages and salaries are set by the Board of Commissioners and also through collective bargaining and arbitration. Health insurance costs are projected to increase 10 percent; gasoline, 25 percent; and utilities, 3 percent to 7 percent.
Proctor did not recommend any increase in general fund hours or positions at this time.
"My goal has been to maintain employment in the face of a troubled economy," he said. "Should the economy continue to be troubled, it will be very difficult to maintain the number of services and employees at 2008 levels."
District Court, Circuit Court, Friend of the Court and the administrator's office requested reclassification of general fund personnel. Proctor said a classification/compensation study is planned for the latter half of 2008.
At the same meeting, commissioners awarded a $29,575 contract to Rehmann Robson, the low bidder from four ranging up to $73,000, for the classification and compensation study.
Proctor highlighted four other funds, central dispatch, public improvement, the drug enforcement team and the E-911 building debt service.
In August 2006, county voters approved a telephone surcharge to finance operation of E-911 central dispatch.
"The Legislature took that local control away," Proctor said, "and replaced it with the Public Service Commission (PSC) in Lansing. The PSC erred and approved a phone surcharge that will not generate enough revenue to operate E-911. This budget proposes that the county use $141,628 from the budget stabilization fund to stabilize the 2009 central dispatch fund budget."
The public improvement fund is used to acquire, repair and equip public buildings. There is a need to equip county buildings and offices with computerized document imaging systems.
Such systems decrease the time spent on search for records and decrease the number of file cabinets needed.
A preliminary budget of $200,000 is included in the public improvement fund.
The CCDET fund accounts for the drug enforcement team millage and activities of the drug enforcement team, which is a partnership between the City of Dowagiac and the county Sheriff's Office.
The team currently has three detectives, a drug prosecutor and a clerk from Cass County and three Dowagiac detectives.
It is proposed to add a uniformed deputy and a half-time Cass County detective.
"I believe that this proposed increase should be scrutinized very carefully by the Board of Commissioners before a decision is made," Proctor stated. Proctor also said with the ongoing issue of E-911 funding, "This is a good time to evaluate whether paying off the building debt would be a wise decision."
Such an analysis is already underway.