 In order the October 27, 2020 County Board of Supervisors meeting, are we certified in compliance with the open meeting law? Yes, the agenda is posted on the 23rd of October at 9 a.m. Next is the Pledge of Allegiance. Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next will be roll call. There are 22 supervisors present. Are there any presentations? We have done. County Administrators report and presentation of the 2021 proposed budget. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good evening. Well, here we are. 2021 proposed budget for many of us. This is a good day because a lot of time and effort goes into it. So it's my objective tonight to give you an overview of the 2021 proposed budget. Of course, it was distributed last week. You heard a little bit about it. But as I said last week, everyone, everyone in this room, everyone in this organization has had an opportunity to get their fingerprints on this budget, have input, ask questions. So thank you to all involved. I have some PowerPoint slides. And let's see how we roll here. So that isn't super visible. Can most of you make that out or not? Essentially, I want to take a few minutes to step back because we have seven new county board supervisors. We're live now, broadcast live. So we may have people viewing for the first time and hearing about the budget process for the first time. And so I want to make sure that we can give everyone a feel for what all goes into this. So stepping back, I mean, every year in February, we're already talking about budget assumptions, estimates, making preparations. And it definitely involves the chair, the vice chair, the executive committee, the finance committee. They're very closely involved with that. But a lot goes into just preparing for the year ahead. So already in February and May, you know, we'll wrap this up here in November, right? And a couple of months from now, we'll be working on the 2022 budget. It just happens that quickly. It is a long process, but as you know, it's a very effective and collaborative process. The executive and finance committees are the key committees I work with up front to get clear guidance on what their expectations are. What goals, objectives do they want to set? What do they want to see happen? This is your budget. You're the policymakers. As staff, it's our job to implement it and see those programs and services through. The county board leadership form has really been, I think, one of the secrets to our success. We've had an annual county board leadership form now for 20 years or so. And as you're all aware, we get together. We look at our past performance, what's worked well, where we could improve. We compare and contrast ourselves to other counties. We look at our financial health. And we have presentations from key department heads, but there's a lot that goes into that meeting. And one of the key things that we end with is talking about our proposed budget ahead. You know, this is very distracting. Finance Director Wendy Sharanen. Is everything okay over here? Okay. Very distracting, right? Speaking of very good people. We talk about the budget and what's proposed and what our challenges are, our budget assumptions, and ultimately we come out of that annual county board leadership form. It's not an action meeting, as you know. It's an informational meeting, but we all come out of it with a common understanding of this is what's ahead of us. Here's key challenges. Here's opportunities for improvement. And the finance and executive committee at that point has established a goal and what they want to see happen with the property tax levy. Do they want it to go up? Do they want it to go down? Do they want it to remain the same? What's that goal going to be? Also at that meeting we establish or at least propose targets for all the respective departments. So we come out of that meeting with a common understanding amongst the board about what's ahead of us. When I talk about establishing a goal, you know, years ago, the board probably didn't set a goal for the levy. I mean years ago all the departments individually prepared their budgets and all got pulled together. And I kid you not, 25 years ago we saw increases in double digits in the property tax levy. Once the county board started establishing a goal, that really changed our framework. If they said, well, we want no more than a 3% increase or no more than a 2% increase, or this year we don't want to see any increase at all. And that's how it was for a number of years. You, the board, would establish that goal. And then as staff, we'd work with all the department heads, establish specific targets for each department, and they had to come in and deliver a proposed department budget that positioned the county, the county board, to achieve that goal. Worked very effectively. Of late we haven't had to work real hard on establishing a goal, have we? Because now it's net new construction. It's a state one size fits all cap of net new construction. And on average, it's been in the 1% range, 1.5% range. It's been challenging, but we've risen to that challenge. And this year as well, the county board, specifically finance and executive, established that goal of net new construction, and then we established target. So as you can see through the process, then we have our budget kickoff. This year we did that virtually for the first time. Normally we bring all our department heads in and key accounting staff with finance. We go through the budget instructions, which are very substantial. And a real credit to Wendy and Jeremy and all of the finance staff. Everything is laid out. Everything is clear on what the expectations are. What the respective targets are for each department. And they're not all the same. Not every department is the same in the revenue sources they receive. The priorities that you have established as policy makers. The challenges they face. They're all a little different. But I wanted to acknowledge our finance department staff and everyone involved with the budget instructions. Because again, they do a really effective job with it. We go through that budget process. A key piece of it obviously is working with all the departments making sure they propose a budget that meets the expectations, hits their target. If they come and meet with me or Wendy and they haven't proposed a budget that hits the target we've established, they need to go back and return. It's an expectation to hit that. I can tell you it's been over a decade since the department head hasn't come in and hit the target. They hit the target and then if they need additional resources or have ideas for where they want to expend more or do more programming or services or make changes, they can identify that separately. So they certainly can be creative and come up with different thoughts, but they have to hit the target that we've established. We meet with the liaison committees after they've met with the county, myself, county administrator, the finance director. The liaison committees then review it all, have input. Refinements ask for changes. Then it goes to the finance committee. The five-year capital plan is obviously a key component of our overall budget and a credit, a compliment to the county board and our organization. We're looking at five years and what capital projects we're going to need, how we're going to pay for it, how much we're going to bond, how we're going to make those payments. It's all about being fiscally responsible and planning accordingly and how much we can do. As most of you may recall, the county board established a self-imposed bonding limitation of about 5.5 million. The finance committee, up the ante, and established 2.5 million a year or 5 million every other year. And that's largely what we've been doing. And that is now contributing to our bonding costs, our debt service actually going down. You didn't have to do that. I think the auditor that was here last week said, if you look at our overall bonding and debt service, we're really well positioned in comparison to a lot of other local units of government. The reason we are is because of you being proactive in establishing that self-imposed limitation. And then here we are. We published the budget. We distributed it last week. And tonight, of course, we're presenting it. In summary, we're looking at a tax rate. I touched on this briefly last night, and I know it's in the information you received, but we're looking at a tax rate reduction of 26 cents. And that's because equalized value went up about what? 7%, 6.88%. So the good news is, as values go up, the tax rate goes down, and that's beneficial for all of us. So that's helpful. That's not where the rubber meets the road, but that's helpful when the tax rate goes down. It is going down for the fifth consecutive year. So that says two things, really. We're seeing some nice growth in Sheboygan County, and we're not just taking that and spending more. We're utilizing that to distribute some tax rate relief. Our tax levy overall, the levy, what we control is actually going up 1.56%. Again, within the net new construction increase, which I believe was 1.88%. So we're well within the state imposed levy limitation. You can see the levy change over last year. We were up 1.1 million at 2.4% this year, 1.56%. And then overall, with the overall budget, it's actually about an $8 million reduction in our $150 million budget. 158 to 150. And the reason predominantly for that is not that we've dramatically changed any of our departments, programs, or services. In fact, we haven't recommended or sought any layoffs to our organization this year. We're really largely, you know, maintain quality programs and services, maintain the important services we provide in the community. But because of capital outlay, capital outlay projects predominantly, that can ebb and flow each year. You know, five-year plan projects, key capital investments, that can ebb and flow with that number a little bit. But it is going down almost 5%. For a $100,000 house, and many people in this community own a $100,000 house, many people own a $200,000 house. They can do the math, but for a $100,000 house, on average, your property taxes will decrease $26. Of course, that will vary depending on the area, depending on whether you have a library or not. There are implications depending on how much your home may have gone up in value. Big picture, $150 million budget. And the big four, as I like to fondly refer to them, are the Sheriff's Department, the Transportation Department, Health and Human Services, and Rocky Hill. They make up almost two-thirds of our overall budget. Critically important departments doing really valuable work in our community. But of course, there's a lot of other things going on. We continue to invest in capital projects and making improvements to our facilities or public resources. We continue to have some debt service. We have planning resources and development. I'm going to touch on that a little bit more in a moment. You can see it's only about $2.2 million of planning and conservation. But in a moment, I'm going to share some of the grants they've recently tapped into and the good work that's going to achieve. UW Extension and then General Government, all the other departments combined. So that gives you the big picture, but really what a lot of our constituents locally are concerned about is the property tax levy. $150 million is property tax levy. State, federal, private pay, fees, fines, forfeitures, all that combined. But the property tax levy is what I think many people hold you accountable for, hold all of us accountable for. They don't want to see property taxes increase. And certainly with state caps in place that has put a barrier in place, the board can go to referendum or can seek to exceed that, which we are seeing in some communities, some counties across the state, but we haven't had to do that. And we haven't had to do that because we've worked very effectively in collaboration to establish priorities and work with the limitations that we have. But what's noteworthy with this slide, what I'd like to point out is if we're going to control our costs, if we're going to control property tax levy, how much savings are we going to get if we go after UW Extension or even planning resources and development? Not much, right? You still have to look at some of these larger departments and the sheriff's department obviously relies on a lot of property tax levy. We're fortunate in my opinion to have a really effective sheriff. I think Cory Raceler is incredibly thoughtful, very knowledgeable, knows his team inside and out, highly regarded in the community and he does a good job keeping his eye on the budget, where his department, where we struggle as a whole, is sometimes with staffing as you know, and corrections and dispatch. I mean, that is the struggle and we all know that, we're all well aware of that. But from a standpoint of being mindful of his budget and doing his best to keep costs in check yet continue to provide effective law enforcement, I'm proud of our sheriff and proud of our sheriff's department. But look at where that levy is. There are 20 million of the 51 million. If the sheriff's department needs to go up 5% or 10%, we're in trouble. We're going to have to cut other departments in order to achieve that, so we really need our largest departments to be very mindful and cost sensitive to how much they're relying on the levy. Health and Human Services, 14 million, I mean a big chunk there. But look at transportation. We've actually reduced the levy for transportation significantly because as you know now we're relying on the sales tax revenue. And has that been a wonderful development for Sheboygan County? And then of course Rocky Knoll, that's a $14 million operation yet the property tax levy is under a million dollars. Some of you may recall that back in the day our healthcare centers, we had three of them. Comprehensive Healthcare Center, Sunny Ridge and Rocky Knoll. Our property tax subsidy for those three facilities at the time was $6.1 million. $6.1 million of tax levy was going to subsidize or assist with the operations of three facilities that we aren't mandated or required to provide. And for those of you who have been on the board for a while, that was a challenging process but clearly righted the ship and now our subsidy or levy is under a million. And of course Rocky Knoll continues to do and provide great service in the community. I wanted to thank Emmett Feldner who I see in the room today and I also wanted to call out Diana Dabrowski from the Sheboygan Press. Both of them have done such a nice job following our budget development and if you read the article from Diana on the press I thought her overview was very nice and well done. And of course Emmett has followed us I think for over two decades. There isn't a reporter I respect more than Emmett Feldner. He put our charts and graphs in the Plymouth review I noticed that this morning and I want to thank and acknowledge both of them for the job they do sharing information with the community and letting them know how we're doing. Tax rate I touched on earlier. Good to see it going down. But this is the chart that I think means the most to us in this room and in the community. This is the levy. This is how much are we expending of their hard earned dollars and using for county programs and services. And the good news is if you look at the last dozen years or so our average property tax levy increase each year on average it's gone up and down a little bit right? 1.24% 1.24% 1.24% each year since 2010 that is remarkable that is a reflection of your thoughtful leadership being fiscally conservative I mean that's a track record that I think any county would be very pleased to have and proud of. Difficult to see here but I just wanted to point out a couple of departments that had increases that we need to be obviously mindful of and you have this in your packet but of course every department depending on the size of the department and what's going on that increase could look more or less dramatic. The Sheriff's Department is coming in with a 2.9% increase. Well that's more than that new construction right? That's more than the 1.88% or the overall 1.5% increase in the levy. Do we support law enforcement? Darren Wright we do Health and Human Services 2.76% more than the overall levy increase do we support Health and Human Services? Of course we do to critically important departments. Rocky Knoll 8.83% increase but again keep in mind that $14 million budget levy less than a million sometimes those percentages can be a little misleading in what's really going on big picture right? We'd rather not see more levy going to Rocky Knoll but I think there's a lot of support in this chambers and across the county for the very important work that Rocky Knoll does. In fact Rocky Knoll continues to be a five star facility they had a state survey or a pop in this week whenever that happens think of the angst and uncertainty that's going on in all of our nursing homes across the county right now 7 of 9 have COVID currently going on in their nursing homes assisted living facilities I mean the level of work that our healthcare providers are doing they deserve so much credit and then you have a state surveyor walk in and they're looking over your shoulder and checking things out and that's what can change those ratings. The surveyor came this week and I'm sure some of you saw the report from Kayla no deficiencies we maintain our five star rating the best it gets very pleased with that very proud of our team at Rocky Knoll we're also offering child care at Rocky Knoll and sometimes I don't think this has gotten really the attention or accolades that it deserves but we did that to help recruit and retain staff and our employees are now starting to utilize it more and more I think we have 10 infants or children now utilizing the daycare there it was a risk it was a leap of faith but we had the space and it's really it's really working out well so it's again a credit to Kayla and everyone involved with the developing that the administrators office the county administrators office a 31% increase what is going on with the county administrators office well we went from two to three staff we're not a very large area or office right but from two to three staff of course that had a significant impact on our levy this young lady that used to be over my left shoulder did Elaine leave Elaine Bosman as you know has been promoted to deputy administrator unanimously supported by EXAC finance HR she's really so effective and provides such value but please be mindful again you look at that increase you're like hmm well we took savings from a vacant position in the HR department and transition that over to the county administrators office so we went from two to three staff HR has one less staff their overall department budget went down our office budget went up it's a wash so someone wants to point out that wow what's going on there I want to make sure everyone's on the same page half percent sales tax whenever we talk about this and we don't very often right but I'm just so proud of Tom Wagner and Roger Distruty and the board is a whole for supporting this this was heavy lifting and we all know it and there wasn't a chair that I haven't worked with since 1999 who didn't say at some point we're going to need this and in 2017 the board implemented it and as you know we're using every single penny of the property of the sales tax of the half percent sales tax which again is tagged on to the states they get their five percent right this is half percent for Sheboygan County that what 65 of 72 counties are there about to have now we use every cent of it for our transportation system and for direct property tax relief every penny it all goes to transportation we share 1.5 million with our communities for their transportation needs and we provide about a million or so for direct property tax relief it is a reliable funding source in a time when everyone was worried about how are they going to maintain their roads and bridges and be fiscally responsible as we all know the worst they get the more expensive it is to fix them and I really credit the board for doing this those are the dollars that we've been receiving each year it actually exceeded our expectations a little bit you recall this year we were worried that with Covid and so many things being cancelled including the Ryder Cup are where we're going to see a significant hit in our sales tax revenue we took action already I think in March April to cut back on some spending, reprioritize make some decisions so we wouldn't have a huge variance negative variance at the end of the year so credit to Greg Chanel and many others for doing that and the good news is the sales tax revenue is actually on pace to meet our budget for 2021 year to date it's up 2.7% we certainly saw a decrease in the months after Covid hit but year to date we're looking alright key initiatives what's all in this budget as I said and I feel that way for really a number of years now when you have net new construction caps you're not going to spend a lot of additional money or create a lot of new programs and services right you're going to reprioritize and do the best you can to gain efficiencies and maintain the quality programs and services we have yet every year thanks to our department heads and our liaison committees and the collaboration we do reprioritize and we do address initiatives our enhanced community based mental and behavioral health services we're contracting for three additional residential treatment facilities one of them may be trying to call right now so that's in play and we're very pleased to see that happen initiative of Matt Stripmoder and his staff certainly with the support of the health and human services committee so we're going to be adding and they're in the midst of being developed that slowed down this year because of COVID but we'll be doing more to help people in need and I'm proud of that continue focused on improving child welfare services we are doing everything we can to get child more children permanent homes and crystal and health and human services and our judges everyone involved including some of the people on the phone Elaine do I need to give you a second these are our department heads online rather than everyone being crammed in here this evening as you know we wanted to promote safety and social distancing so all of our department heads have called in and I presume Elaine right now is trying to get them back on the phone if anyone has questions is that correct Elaine yes so thank you for that Elaine we're looking to enhance alternatives to incarceration at the sheriff's department big focus and trying to reduce the number of people in our detention center the cost associated with it and the sheriff and others have been involved with looking at enhancing alternatives to incarceration we're going to be adding some office space we added staff last this year as part of this budget and it's making a difference it's a step in the right direction we're enhancing our radio our emergency radio system we're adding staff to the clerk of courts department I'm not enthusiastic about this not because Melody doesn't need the help and not because the clerk of courts office doesn't do a tremendous job serving the five circuit courts but because this is a state mandated department everything about clerk of courts is state mandated we have to do it yep years ago we were spending five six hundred thousand dollars of levy to subsidize the state mandated programs and services and now it's closer to two point three million we're recommending a hundred thousand dollars more property tax levy for the clerk of courts is it the right thing to do absolutely I think it's the right thing to do Melody needs to help her co-workers need to help the judges need to help we're not seeing less demand for that those services but for me personally this is an area where the state if they want to help us keep property and take more responsibility for what you're mandating us to do want an example of one where you can be helpful start with the clerk of courts and we've had this discussion before with our area legislators good people and we need to continue to have the discussion but of course the state like us has limited resources and some of these things just tend to be out of sight out of mind but here is a great example of a one hundred percent state mandated operation and we're putting more and more property tax levy to subsidize it unlike register of deeds register of deeds is a state mandated operation how much property tax levy goes to register of deeds none so it presents an opportunity maintaining our and improving our transportation system we're investing more there not only in transportation with the sales tax revenue but the airport what a beautiful airport we have and how important it is for economic development our quality of life here it's wonderful extending the old plank road trail from green bush to fondle act you know this was planned already back in I think 2006 but we just received a stewardship fund to see that through and of course that's going to be a wonderful amenity more importantly highway 23 that was certainly something that former chairman Tom Wagner and Roger Distruty and I mean our board we advocated for we kept reminding the importance of it and finally it's getting done it's so wonderful to see that happening it's going to be such a safety enhancement and so important for our quality of life and economic development upgrading the courthouse heating system no doubt some of you have heard there are certain areas in this courthouse that could use some enhancements and and that's going to be in play road repairs for the entrance at UW Sheboygan green bay that's our facility many people don't know it that those are our buildings our grounds the state operates it we own it and it's looking a little rough on the exterior particularly has anyone played tennis or pickleball out there recently I know you haven't because there are serious cracks at that tennis court and it's an eyesore and with that beautiful hospital going up next door we wanted to enhance the front door of our important UW Green Bay University and create a little more green space there software upgrades at health and human services the new marsh multi-purpose building construction as you know a shout out to the friends of the marsh they raised about two million dollars to see that through though the county is providing about three hundred and fifty thousand so we have certainly ownership for that and ultimately will have ownership because like the tower friends of the marsh then will donate it to the county but what a wonderful collaborative partnership between the friends of the marsh Kohler Sargento Bratz family and many others who contributed to help bring that to fruition or at least right now the work is in play mitigation bank development we haven't talked about that in a while Aaron will be up here shortly to give an update on the mitigation bank but we're going to be making ongoing recreational enhancements out there and improving the resources and speaking of planning and conservation and improving the resources I showed you earlier that line-up item where you know rather modest budget in the grand scheme of things yet Aaron Brault and his team have they been successful in acquiring grants 8.3 million in grants and these grants right now are not part of this budget because we just receive them right we just receive them so they reseat this year will largely implement next year but it's just so wonderful when we don't have to use property tax levy or other funds to make enhancements we're looking at stream restoration projects working with Ozaki Washington Fondlack and others to improve the Milwaukee River watershed I mentioned extension of the old plank road that's what the state stewardship funds are for the 175,000 improving our mapping capability improving culverts and the construction structure for the South Ditch at the Sheboygan Marsh just credit to Aaron Brault and their staff and of course the planning resource agriculture and extension committee for the good work and being proactive to go after these grants and help make good things happen in Sheboygan County speaking of good things 6th consecutive year that we've received the certificate of achievement for excellence in financial reporting Dave touched on it last week our auditor I don't think he said 6th straight years though this isn't just handed to you you earn it Wendy Sharon and Jeremy Federer Stephanie Albright, Jeremy Fredrex, Evan Grossen, Austin Grinke Lucy Vu, Natasha Roll Mary Jablonsky all of our accounting leads all of our staff in the finance department help make good things happen this is a real nice reflection not only on Wendy and her team but all of us and then finally I wanted to conclude and this may be more for some of our viewers or possibly some of our our newer board members but it's easy to forget what we've done together over the years to position ourselves for success preparing a budget and working with very modest resources that doesn't just happen as Tom Wagner and some of the other board members who know county board chairs across the state and what their budget processes are like how long their county board meetings go how much angst there is and what they're going to cut and what they're going to keep we've got something going here and it's truly because of collaboration bottom line we've worked together to problem solve over the years we have consolidated all sorts of areas register and probate with of course comprehensive healthcare center with printing with information technology privatization of sunny red UDW extension with UW Sheboygan property listing with treasurer land and water co-located with planning ADRC from Baxter building to Sheboygan Falls land and water consolidated with planning payroll with finance, airport with highway support with health and human services we combined emergency dispatch with the city installed a ring of fiber our transportation complex we consolidated three highway sheds into one transportation facilities veteran services with co-located with aging and disability resource center that's heavy lifting it doesn't just happen and it's contributed to cost savings and efficiency in 2007 we had 1,350 employees 1,350 employees today we have about 850 employees just about every department here has made adjustments over the years the bulk of that was our healthcare center going from three facilities to one no question but everyone has contributed we also haven't been afraid to bring outside experts in and often people are a little uncomfortable doing that but our finance committee has really led the charge of saying let's let's get some let's get some folks to come in here and assess how we're doing things and what we can do better we did a program evaluation and prioritization process twice health and human services Matt Stripmutter Brian Hoffman and the health and human services committee they're looking at all their programs now I think there's 44 and 47 and health and human services alone give them credit for that this list again sharing the purchasing agent with the city in health clinic joining the wisconsin counties with our health insurance number of things were done to save dollars but back to the finance committee in these operational studies in addition to the program evaluation we identified 207 programs and services what were mandatory what was discretionary what were the priorities what did they cost in addition to doing that we've asked consultants to come in without an agenda and say go in and look at our departments and tell us what we can do better and that can be a little uncomfortable but we've welcomed it and it isn't a silver bullet sometimes we've gotten some really helpful recommendations where we streamline, gain efficiencies provide better quality programs and services other times maybe they say hey you're doing a good job keep doing what you're doing but we've done it at the health care centers which obviously led to significant changes health and human services, sheriff's department highway, child support, information systems clerk of courts, human resources health and human services administration and most recently the treasurer's office the best practice that brings us value and again offers outside perspective and suggestions for improvement so with that I just want to say thank you for bearing with me I know that was a little longer introduction than some of you needed for the 2021 budget but we do have which is a good thing we do have more people I think perhaps than ever before paying attention to what we're doing here that's good that's good come on in attend our committee meetings get online and listen get engaged with your local government offer suggestions for improvement that's good so my compliments to all of you for your work for your collaborative approach for your leadership and with that Mr. Chair I'll turn it back to you thank you next is the public hearing 2021 proposed budget the notice of public hearing was published on October 9th 2020 and the public hearing on the proposed 2021 budget is now open for anyone wishing to be heard we have Hans Kuhn from Elkhart Lake thank you Mr. Chairman I'm Hans Kuhn my old address is N8894 Snake Road Elkhart Lake some of the half-send sales tax was provided to the town and they reconfigured an intersection out there so I'm actually off of County Highway MM at this point and I forgot to look what the number is I got that letter a couple weeks ago I don't remember that so anyway with that I appreciate the detail that Mr. Payne has provided this evening I wanted to try to highlight something that I had brought up last year just to try to help with a little bit of focus from my standpoint and what I see out in my area and that's what I refer to as crisis intervention when you have mental health issues or if you have some drug issues but also emergency medical issues we have first responders the paramedics ambulance services they struggle for funding too those are interests that I see that need to be met and need to be met by I believe Sheboygan County obviously with the help from state where the tax revenues can be generated and there has been from my standpoint some shift in the funding going more to some of the mental health issues and such in Sheboygan County but I really think that's that's an initiative that needs to be promoted down in the road and years coming up and I'm also a little bit concerned if we try to shoehorn some of those responsibilities into the sheriff's department because I do believe that it's training and education on the part of the individuals involved who don't necessarily need to be trained in how to force people up against walls that don't need to be carrying guns tasers and the such they need to have skills on intervening family disputes if you have drug issues that type of thing or as I mentioned with the medical response that you have to have you know the EMT training and etc paramedic training the sheriff's department has a rather unique approach to things and they always come with the training that forces things to happen and that in and of itself can bring enhanced levels of tension as soon as they arrive and that's not something that I think really is beneficial to Sheboygan County to those individual circumstances as they arrives and so I think that some shift from what sheriff's department and what's been shoehorned on to them, that staff would be better placed in other areas that's a main part that I wanted to share with you this evening I think there should probably be several goals that we have and one of them I believe in terms of like the detention center there had been some talk in years past and probably as current about expansion and I think one should give serious consideration to whether that's really the most appropriate place for expansion or additional services secondly in your yearly budget and that the detention center and planning on the building there and such is part of your capital fund of course capital expenditures but from a yearly standpoint your yearly budget I think actually some of those services and the cost could easily be shifted and might have a goal down the road of reduction in the sheriff's department budgeted expenses of probably as much as 10% I would think you know obviously as a shift of funds to a different department whichever one would be most appropriate but a shift that would provide I think better services to the community you know and I also think of that not just in terms of the mental health or drugs but emergency medical response which I think is something that's been addressed here and there with like tax credits on the state level but I think that's really not a very meaningful way to address it and these people need to be if not on staff they need to be paid for the time they put in so that there's some stipend of some sort this day and age since we're all here wearing our masks you know the responsibility for things like like contact tracing and such which is added staff and responsibility at the Sheboygan County level you know they're that's the type of training that they would be easily adaptable to and I think that's something that would be worthwhile thinking about because as much as we all hope we don't have to go through this many more times we may very well be faced with it down the road in not too many years so those are the two things I wanted to bring up and I would very simply then thank you for the opportunity to share those thoughts with you this evening it is the public hearing once in a year event and I didn't want to miss it and hope that you all stay healthy and I wish you good luck Mr. Payne and Mr. Chairman thank you thank you is there anyone else that wishes to be heard is there anyone else that wishes to be heard and is there anyone else that wishes to be heard okay with that I declare the public hearing closed the budget do the review of the 2021 proposed budget starting in your binder we'll start on page 29 with the transportation fund summary if anyone has any questions please use your quicker to request to speak otherwise next alright we'll jump to building services pages 36 through 38 Supervisor Nelson thank you Mr. Chairman I wanted to kind of catch this before we started the budget but I think one person was left out of Adam's discussion about the budget and that's Adam Payne you know it's a collaborative event but even a collaborative event needs a leader and I just wanted to I think we're so fortunate to have such a strong leadership by our county administrator and such a breadth of information and on the subject and I just wanted to say it's just a great job he does I know he won't say it for himself so I'm saying it Supervisor Nelson Supervisor OJ thank you Mr. Chairman our statement more than anything it has to do with something before where we started here knowing that the state doesn't reward us for not raising our our tax rate up to the levy limit and we are underneath it and knowing that things happen like Mr. Payne said the Sheriff's Department could need more money next year or the year after I'm just wondering what the thought process is that we don't raise the tax even though I hate saying it that way to the levy limit and using the money on debt service or something so that way we don't lose the ability to collect those funds in future years Wendy to help me out on this I stated when I presented the budget we're looking at a 1.56% increase in the property tax levy and then our net new net new construction increase went up 1.88% Wendy Supervisor OJ I think question is are we capturing all of the net new construction and I see her nodding yes so though our overall property tax levy it's a good question and good clarification our overall property tax levy is going up 1.56% we are capturing the entire 1.88% net new construction Wendy do you want to briefly explain if that's not putting you too much on the spot what that subtle difference is yes absolutely net new construction is towards the increases that we can have for our operating levies the allowable levy there debt service has a different parameter around it so the both of them together is what comes to our final rate our debt service went down 2.28% so the two together is why you're seeing a lower percentage but we do capture all net new construction okay thank you next we'll go back to building services pages 36 to 38 next clerk of courts pages 39 and 40 next corporation council pages 41 and 42 next administrator pages 43 and 44 next county board page 45 supervisor oj this is the last time I'm going to talk tonight there's been a lot of questions from people in the last month or two a lot of misinformation could you explain first of all if a county board supervisor can collect benefits and if they do like for instance if we purchase insurance how that's reflected in the budget once again I'm going to tag team this with the finance director so county board supervisors are not eligible for free health insurance I think that change was made 26 years ago but if they want to purchase it if they want to purchase health insurance is that what you're alluding to supervisor oj yes yes I believe they do have the opportunity to purchase it though I don't believe we have any county board supervisors that do sell I'm looking at your former chair Wagner what we do not so it wouldn't be anywhere in the budget no county board supervisors are currently purchasing health insurance but for anyone who thinks that if I run for county board am I going to get this extensive salary and am I going to get all these perks and am I going to get health insurance and that just simply is not accurate board members receive a very modest salary modest per diem they're not eligible for any free benefits and certainly anybody who has an interest in learning more about running for office or wants to know what that is our clerk of courts I mean our county clerk's office manages that tracks all that and can share that information but no it's people are here on the county board because they want to serve their community supervisor Wagner I just wanted to add to what Adam said there I think it was pretty clear but I understand supervisor oj question and why you asked it very frankly is because I think there is some misinformation out there and the bottom line is if you want to take any of those benefits which you have an option to take you pay 100% of the cost of those that's why it's not reflected in the budget levy that goes to that and the individual supervisor pays 100% of the cost so I just want to be clear on that I think you were clear Adam but I just felt the need to do that thank you then we'll move on to the next alright county clerk pages 46 and 47 next court commissioner pages 49 and 40 48 and 49 next district attorney pages 50 and 51 next finance pages 54 and 55 supervisor Hoffman I'm going back a page going back a page what was our percent health insurance increase this past year I had that question given to me and I'm sorry I'm a little slow on the uptake here what was percent increase maybe Adam would address that I am pleased to report that we were looking at a potential increase of 13% and ultimately we came in at 8.5% so still higher than we'd prefer but overall we were pleased with the negotiations and what we came to 8.5% thank you health human services pages 56 through 58 next pages 59 and 60 next information technology pages 61 and 62 next medical examiner page 63 next non-departmental pages 64 and 65 next planning and conservation pages 66 through 69 next property liability insurance page 70 page 71 and 72 next page 73 through 75 next sheriff pages 76 through 79 supervisor Hoffman thank you mr. chair I have a concern with COVID and everything else are we going to run short and I know we are being on that committee also with monies to meet the goal in terms of wages overtime especially it concerns me and I are we budgeting enough for the overtime that we're going to get hit with and we know it's coming that's a good question everyone hear the question are we budgeting enough for overtime for the sheriff's department I'd like to say I think we're budgeting too much we'd rather not see our overtime cost be what they are at the sheriff's department but as we all know we're struggling to maintain corrections staff good people come and go and when people leave there's overlap and overtime needs to be expended when we have dispatchers leave more people need to step up and take on additional responsibility overtime is expended and of course when deputies are out there's an accident they don't just go home after the eight hour shift if they have to stay to see that through overtime is expended so this has been an area of discussion as you know with law and with finance and with the sheriff and I I'd rather see us spending less on overtime I don't have it committed to memory was it around 650,000 are there bolts does anybody have the number in front of them Wendy can pull that up quick my concern is that we have something else we have an officer there's a number out there but I think it was around that anybody see that in front of them for the benefit of our viewers who don't have the documents in front of them and while Wendy is looking for that so COVID is having negative implications for most of our departments certainly Rockinel Corrections Public Health if there is any good news and I can't really say there's any good news about COVID but to the state and federal government's credit through the CARES Act funding throughout the recovery we have been reimbursed to the tune of about 2.2 million dollars for COVID related expenses so that's helpful that's not falling on the backs of our property taxpayers we are concerned with whether or not that will be extended and will we see that opportunity in the year ahead because unfortunately I think we're all going to be grappling with this in the year ahead right now we have I think through November 16th to get reimbursed for any COVID related expenses so I hope at the state and federal government level they will revisit that but yes your right supervisor Hoffman without question that's having implications for the Sheriff's Department and other areas we have not budgeted for COVID related expenses and to me that felt a little uncomfortable why aren't we budgeting for something that we know before us the answer is if you receive if you budget for those expenses you're not eligible for the reimbursement well it certainly wouldn't be prudent and I certainly don't think our property taxpayers want to spend more for COVID if they don't have to so we haven't budgeted for it we have healthy reserves we have healthy reserves that if we need to rely on those reserves we'll do so and that's what's happened really with the Sheriff's Department we'll budget a certain level that we hope is appropriate we never want to position any department for failure we look to it to be enough but things happen out of our control and when that happens that's why it's so important that we have a healthy and designated fund so we can fill that void and that is what we've done at the Sheriff's Department of late and we may have to do so going forward Wendy or you or anybody able to get that number for me the Sheriff they have $650,000 in overtime and an additional $122,000 in compensatory time compensatory to comp time another $122,000 $650,000 in overtime so I think we're taking a responsible approach and I know we have healthy and designated funds that if we need to expend more there we will and the reason I know that is because that's exactly what's happening this year and then as for COVID funding Supervisor Hoffman we certainly hope the state and federal government will extend that date and continue to provide assistance okay thank you just a concern that I have thank you transportation airport division pages 80 and 81 next transportation highway division pages 82 through 85 next treasurer pages 86 through 88 next UW extension pages 89 and 90 next UW Green Bay Sheboygan campus page 91 and next Veterans commission page 92 next Veterans service page 93 next that is all with no further motions the budget review session is now concluded pursuant to section 5.06 8 the 2021 proposed budget is being referred back to the finance committee which will submit its final recommendation on the budget at the November 3, 2020 county board meeting next is adjournment Supervisor Testruity thank you Mr. Chairman I'll move to adjourn thank you Supervisor Testruity Supervisor Hoffman I would be glad to second that thank you everybody thank you Supervisor Hoffman remember to vote Supervisor Wagner Supervisor Nelson Tom and Fran Supervisor Kuro very adjourned