 Tuesday, October 31st, 2017, Schwoing County Board of Supervisors. Certification of compliance with the Open Meeting Law? The agenda was posted on October 27th at 3 p.m. Thank you. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. United States of America and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with the liberty of justice for all. Thank you. Roll call. Twenty-two supervisors present. Thank you. County Administrator's presentation of the 2018 proposed budget. Good evening. Well, it's a pleasure to be here and it's a pleasure to once again present an annual budget that I think everyone in this room at some point has their fingerprints on. So this evening, it's my role to present the budget though. I think for the vast majority, you've heard it, you've been there, and you were a key role in the establishment of the budget. As you know, we're proud to present a budget this evening that has a modest property tax-level increase of only 1.38%. It's a $660,000 increase for a budget that supports over 200 programs, 825 employees, and does a tremendous amount of good in this community. This increase is associated with net new construction. The net new construction actually came in slightly higher than that. We're able to exceed expectations and come in below the net new construction increase. The proposed tax rate will be $5.45, a decrease of 20 cents, or 3.5% from 2017. So that should be well received. And as a result of that, on a $100,000 point to put that in perspective, property tax will decrease on average about $20. Now when we say this, we know that community by community there can be some variation. And whether or not you have a library, whether or not you're a town, you're going to be doing some bridge work. Whether or not your respective equalized value was a little bit more than the average. So folks need to keep that in perspective. But overall, it's a property tax rate decrease on modest savings. And we're pleased that we were able, once again, to hold a line on property taxes in Sheboygan County. The 2018 budget preserves core services that people in this community expect. They expect good law enforcement. They expect health and human services to help the neediest of the need. Provide a safety net to people who are hurting. And they expect a transportation system that's going to get them to and from work, where they recreate their kids to school, and in a safe manner. Unlike what's happening on Highway 23. Sheboygan County is a leader of providing cost effective quality programs and services. We've earned that track record. You've earned that track record. We have a thoughtful group of County Board supervisors. We have a strong management team, many of which that are here this evening. And thanks to the half percent sales tax that the County Board and this community supported, we now have, we are now our poise, better than ever before, to maintain our transportation system in a responsible manner. Greg Schnell and his team are doing 30 miles and overlay a year. That was a goal the County Board established, and he's hitting it. And I commend him and his staff for doing so, especially this last year with all the work being done on the new transportation complex and much of the site work being done by Greg and his crew. Some key components of the budget. Well, thank you Tom Eggebrecht and the staff at the Health and Human Services. There will continue to be funding to support the drug treatment court and provide non-hospital based detoxification services for people struggling with heroin and other drug addiction. Tom and his staff are responding to the need. We know more resources are needed, but we have leaders in that department that are helping people's lives turn around. And I thank you for that. The budget supports once again the implementation of the half percent sales tax, excuse me, to maintain our transportation system as I just mentioned. But in addition to that, looking forward it will reduce debt service and we're sharing it with our partners, local units and government across the county that also are struggling with their own independent transportation needs. Final stages of the construction of the new transportation complex will help, will happen this year. We're combining three facilities into one. We have additional borrowing one more year for that to get that done. But again, Greg, Tim to Beast and others are to be commended for the attention to detail and the impressive facility that's being constructed there. The budget also supports reconstruction and resurfacing projects at the airport. We have a tremendous airport. It's a jewel in the community. It's one of the first impressions many people receive. And the county board is to be credited for continuing to enhance that. And I know Charles Sweet is here this evening. And he's a key role as well. Thank you. Aaron Brault helped a lot establish the Amsterdam Dunes Wetland Mitigation Bank and Preservation Area. Back former chairman, Roger Distruty, have believed the charge the county board was strongly behind it. We took a leap of faith for $4.2 million to purchase it. We had that recouped. And this year in 18, the budget ahead, we're going to start actually establishing that Wetland Mitigation Bank. So companies like Sargeno and Kohler and others, if they choose to expand and impact a wetland, rather than buying very expensive credits out of the area, they can do so right here more cost-effectively and further develop the natural resources that we have in our community. Courthouse security enhancements. Gene Gallamore, Judge Rebecca Persick and many others, some of you in this room have participated for almost the last eight months or better on developing a plan for enhancing courthouse security. We're going to be redoing those steps. That many of you are probably tired of seeing that tape when you come up. We're going to be improving the pillars out there for the flag pools. But we're also going to be putting some enhanced security in next year. We had hoped to accomplish that at the beginning of the year, but bids came in so high and there's so much work going on in the community that we regrouped and we hope to get that done by next summer, summer of 18. So that's built into the budget. We're going to be building a new courthouse garage right here in the south, behind the building here because of the sale that the county board supported with Penn and Seventh for development opportunities and increasing our tax base and providing more apartments for the community. We're going to be buying new sheriff's department squads. The highway department. Funding to support the new emergency dispatch system. What a saga that was to ultimately combine the city and Sheboygan Dispatch Center into one. It took years to see that through. And ultimately we came together and we delivered. But what's most important and what makes me fiend with pride is our dispatchers. Folks like Christie de Blay and Jim Rousseau and the key dispatchers that are actually the ones fielding those calls and helping people in crisis. And as you know from the article that I just shared today, it was in the Monday paper I think and I want to thank the Sheboygan Press for that. Usually it's Emmett Feldner, we're always thanking for covering the county, but the Sheboygan Press had a really nice article on our emergency dispatchers and medical care kind of response they're now providing. And their training and dedication was so superb that within minutes of implementing it and perhaps hoping geez are we really going to be using this today. Within minutes they helped somebody who could have potentially fled to death. If you see one of our emergency responders or dispatchers say thank you because they have done a tremendous job. Funding will be in the 2018 budget to continue to support that. Rocky Knoll, I've talked about Rocky Knoll in the past and the tremendous job we've been doing out there. Rachelle Bolesky as you know has now retired. Kayla Clinton is our new administrator. She's hit the ground running. Our census is terrific out there. Good things are happening. We're collaborating with the new transportation complex on the tower and on waste and all that all is going to be working out there. But the bottom line is we're providing outstanding care to the residents who are funding in the budget to make some enhancements to that beautiful building. Beautiful building. And of course continued support for the Shevoi County Economic Development Corporation. There's been a long-term partnership between the city, the county and the private sector to support the Shevoi County Economic Development Corporation's efforts. And as you know if you follow their newsletters and information good things have happened county-wide because of their work. We have a culture here of collaboration and problem-solving and helping make good things happen. And I can't be more proud to work with the Shevoi County Board and work with so many strong managers to meet the needs of this community. Shevoi County is a tremendous place to live and raise a family in part because of the good work and the support of this county board and our team here. And I thank you for that and this budget really reflects that. In fact if you look at our track record, if you look at the last 10 years on average each year property taxes have gone up less than 1%. Less than 1%. Our payroll today is less than it was in 2008. Many of you know this but many people in the community don't. And that is a very impressive fiscal track record. And it shows how hard our management team and everyone has been working together to be creative, to streamline, to consolidate, to get more efficient. We should all take pride in that. So this evening I'm proud along with the finance committee, the executive committee, every liaison committee to present the 2018 budget because every one of us had an opportunity for input and to position the county board in our community for success. Started back in June already with our county board leadership forum, all the standing committees meeting, individual department meetings, and certainly the finance committee. Greg Wegeman and the finance committee deserve a lot of credit for the role they have in helping pull that all together. I'd certainly be remiss if I didn't mention Wendy Sharanin, the director and her team for their outstanding work pulling all the information together presenting it. Thank you, Wendy. The proposed budget consists of a total property tax level of $48.5 million. The total budget itself with all state, federal, private pay, all the dollars and grants that go into it is $149 million. This is a big operation. $149 million budget. We have a $3.5 million increase built in this year because of the sales tax revenue. And I did report on this in the past, but as you recall, we budgeted $6.75 million for 2017. We budgeted $9 million for 2018. We're on target to modestly receive more revenue than budgeted for this year, and we hope to be on track for a year ahead. So that has gone well in it, as I said. It's really helping with our transportation needs. The budget supports 19 departments, 825 employees, and over 200 programs and services. There is a lot going on here. Always opportunities to learn. Always opportunities to problem solve. And always opportunities to help make good things happen in this community. So I wanted to end my presentation on the budget with a little fun because Chairman Wagner likes to introduce a little fun in his meetings. When possible. So Elaine, if you could please fire the slideshow. So during, I think, an agenda meeting last week, I said, jeez, it's going to be Halloween while we represent our budget. You think I care? Get all the department heads to dress up in Halloween outfits for the county board meeting, and Tom immediately looked at me and he said that is the worst idea I've ever heard. Are you kidding? Don't dare do that. And he was right. No, none of the department heads would have wanted to do that, that I'm aware of. But yesterday, as I was driving in, with 24 hours' notice, I sent a little note out to the department heads and I said, if you're so inclined, if you could please forward my assistant Elaine, a photo of you as a child, teenager, adult in a Halloween outfit. And I'm going to play a little bit Guess Who for the next two minutes. First slide, please. Guess Who. That would be our transportation director, Frank Schnell. A fine-looking pay one. Next slide, please. Guess Who. Mark of Courts, Melody Lorge. Guess Who. This one might be a little easier. Laura, thank you for sharing this effect. She was with a picture of all of her staff in this, and they all looked terrific. Next slide, please. Guess Who. This has got to be the most adorable picture. This is our newest department head working for Cheboyton County, Kayla Clinton. Next slide. Guess Who. Al Bosman, who is that? Lane. Looks familiar. That does look familiar. That is Elaine Bosman who, again, thank you for pulling this together for me. Next slide. Guess Who. A little bit of a haircut. That would be our finance director. Next slide. Guess Who. Aaron Brault, planning director, taking out his little boy. That certainly must look familiar. Gene Gallimore, HR director. The cat moment, I guess. There we have Tom Wager and his crew. Tom is just so good about morale opportunities at Health and Human Services. You think about what they deal with day in and day out. And Tom, how many years now has your department been doing Halloween dress-up? Is this recent or, well, it is fantastic to see the participation they get from staff and folks really have fun. And you can see some of the key managers up here with Tom. My credit to them for bringing a little fun in the office. We all need that. Next slide. Guess Who. That would be your Shipwagon County administrator. Supervisor Urena, notice I'm wearing a little devil's costume on. Thank you. My wife, it's great that they're finding that for me yesterday. So thank you. Next slide, please. And that's it. We ended with that. I wanted to end also with introducing one more department head. You recall with UW Extension, they had the regionalization. And they changed it from having every county having department head to having a regional person who would work with three, four, five different counties, rather. And I was a little leery about this because I'm so used to Jane Jensen and one of her staff coming to department head meetings. And they're so good to work with. And we have such a good UW Extension crew. And so Cindy, Sarcady, as I say, correct Cindy, could you please stand and be recognized. Cindy is the new department head for UW Extension. Her official title is UW Extension Area Director. She will service the department head for Shipwagon, Ozaki, Washington, and Fond du Lac. Her office is in Fort Washington, but she chose Shipwagon County to live in. And I now have had a couple of meetings with Cindy. And I'm just so pleased that she was hired. I think she's a breath of fresh air. I think she brings new ideas. And I think she'll be a real asset to our department head meetings. So welcome Cindy. And have a good discussion tonight on the county board. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Adam. And thank you for all your work on the budget and to all the supervisors, members of the liaison committees. Thank you for all your work on that. And especially to the finance committee who does a lot of heavy lifting. And also a thank you to the staff members, many of whom are here in the back there. Thank you for all your work you do for Shipwagon County. Next, I'd like to declare a public hearing. Propose 2018 budget. Is there anyone here who would like to speak in regards to the budget? John, do we ask them to give their name? Kind of vertically challenged. Good evening and happy Halloween. I'm Jody Scherner. I'm the CFO at Masters Gallery Foods. We have facilities in the city of Plymouth. The town of Linden and soon to be the village of Usberg. I was born and raised in Shipwagon County and currently live in the town of Plymouth with my husband and son. I am so proud of all the girls I've seen in this county over the years and hope to see even more in the future. It is truly a great place to find a good paying job and raise a family. I also serve as an officer on the board of the Shipwagon County Economic Development Corporation. Tonight I'm here speaking on behalf of the SCEDC board of directors and would like to thank Shipwagon County for your financial support of our growing organization that supports this whole county. We feel it is appropriate to provide you with a brief update as to our actions and encourage your continued support. The SCEDC focus is on four main services for Shipwagon County. Businesses and communities. We focus on entrepreneurship, non-traditional financing, site selection, and workforce development. The staff at the SCEDC helps startups, helps existing businesses expand and assists newer companies by providing a business plan and marketing plan services in coordination with the Small Business Development Center out of UW-Green Bay. Startup services have been utilized by Compassionate Care Veterinary Clinic as well as Pathways, Detox, Facility, and Waldo. The SCEDC has helped to create expansion plans for Dura Trail in Shipwagon Falls and Wolf Motor Sports in Elkhart Lake. And we've assisted ownership transitions such as QQ in Plymouth and the Village at 178 Shipwagon Falls. The SCEDC has also assisted many firms with non-traditional loans and tax credits to ensure expansions in the area. The SCEDC has assisted with loan programs for Dutchland Plastics in Uspurt, the Osthof in Elkhart Lake, and the Hub Cafe in Plymouth. Even Master's Gallery food has benefited from services of the SCEDC. We contacted the SCEDC when we were going through site selection for our new cheese packaging facility to find out what was available in Shipwagon County. We also looked outside of the state of Wisconsin in many parts of the United States. Before Master's chose the location in Uspurt, the SCEDC team was instrumental in assisting to keep this expansion here in Shipwagon County. Their team introduced us to all available business parks in Plymouth, Shipwagon Falls, Shipwagon, Uspurt, and Random Lake, and each community was given equal consideration by the SCEDC who were simply providing options and introductions. The SCEDC also provided guidance to us when working with a WEDC regarding our new facility. These introductions for locations is a part of the SCEDC site selection service. The SCEDC has assisted with finding suitable area compatible with community's long range plans such as Badger-Tagan label who settled in the town of Sherman and numerous apartment developers who collectively are building or planning to build a thousand apartment units which are sorely needed given the fact that so many local people are looking for employees. The final service has been Workforce. This one is kind of near and dear to my heart. Through the creation of the Joseph Project, a countywide push for housing and the someplace better campaign, the SCEDC has been on the front line of trying to help firms solve our toughest challenge which is simply finding employees. The SCEDC has used someplace better travel job fairs for firms solving short-term needs. Just two just two weeks ago, both Bemis Manufacturing and Sheboygan Falls as well as Certainty and Plymouth hosted job fairs. Over 130 individuals showed up at the job fairs to fill 90 jobs. That need for employees is just from two companies. I'm sure that the job growth in this county helped to have Sheboygan listed one of the lowest poverty rates of any metro in the United States. In short, the accomplishments of the SCEDC are too numerous to go through in such a short time. We could talk about how we are instrumental in expanding the Sheboygan Falls Vision business heart, how the organization entered into a partnership with the town of Sheboygan to encourage large-scale retail development which is badly needed in this community and continuously trying to get out positive economic news stories about Sheboygan County to encourage others to invest here. We know from our data that even if we help a company create 100 jobs in Sheboygan Falls that Sheboygan Falls will only provide about 30 to 40% of them. The rest have to come from other places in the county. We are all in this together. From my time on the SCEDC one thing is clear. We as a team and board of directors care about a county-wide effort. We strongly feel that rising ties lift all votes. And the county needs a strong EDC that continuously champions for investments in our communities. When I talk with my CFO counterparts from across the country and in the states, no one has an EDC that does as much as ours to help local businesses expand, bring it new business and assist with workforce development. Finally, I would like to thank several previous and current board members including Roger Tostruti, Thomas Wagner and Adam Payne. Thank you all for your service. On behalf of the board of directors for the SCEDC we would like to thank the county board for your past and hopefully future support of the SCEDC. So thank you and have a good evening. Thank you Jerry. Is there anyone else who would like to speak on the 2018 budget? Is there anyone else who would like to speak on the 2018 budget? Is there anyone else who would like to speak on the 2018 budget? Seeing and hearing none I declare the public hearing closed. Next we'll have a review of the 2018 proposed budget and most of you have level 5. I think the finance members have them so level 5 is the one we go through here so that helps a lot. I remember from last year I was told to slow down a little bit so I will try to remember to do that. I'm not going fast on purpose. So Mr. Dolson if you want to start. Sure. In the budget index on page I building services page 35 to 37 it should be just one page into the budget. Everybody good? Then we'll go on to the next one. Clerk of Courts. Page 38 and 39. Okay next one John. Corporation Council. Page 40 and 41. Okay next. That one. That was a side comment. County Administrator page 42 and 43. Next. I'm concerned about the County Administrator's budget and the character of the 6% change. I thought we were trying to hold everybody below a certain amount and that one. Thank you. Do you want to the Executive Committee and HR Committee approved an equity adjustment for me last year that will take effect in 2018 so that's part of it and also the Assistant to the Administrator also received an equity adjustment so there were adjustments made in the salary area. Thank you. Subraiser Damper. The amount under wages does that include all of your wage and your assistance wage or are those divided between your department and the County Board Department? Is the combination of my full wage and half of my assistance wage the other half of her wage is covered in the County Board budget. Thank you Subraiser Damper. We'll move on to the next one. The County Board Page 44. Subraiser Damper. Under the wages we see the other half of your assistance and what about the benefits? What are the benefits there? Are there was half? Yes. Thank you. Welcome. We run. John. County Clerk Page 45 and 46. Next. District Attorney. Page 49 and 50. Next. Employee Benefits and Insurance. Page 51 and 52. Subraiser Arena. We're charging. Yes, Out of Insurance. Am I correct? Yes. The Insurance Reserve. Yes. You're welcome. Next. Health and Human Services. Page is 58. Sorry 55 through 58. Next. Human Resources. Page is 59 and 60. Next. Information Technology. Page is 61 and 62. Next. Medical Examiner. Page 63. Subraiser Damper. Page is 59 and 60. Subraiser Damper. Page is 59 and 60. Subraiser Damper. I thought we had an answer that night. You might not have done it. My mother would really be upset if she knew I said yep first of all. So I hope I didn't say that. But if I did, I accept that. You agreed that. You should get it. Yeah, obviously you didn't. I thought it was discussed. I can wait until after the meeting. But I would like to know what it paid for me. I apologize. I was missing. And Elaine, would you please make note of that? So I... Okay. Next. Non-departmental. Page is 64 and 65. Subraiser Hoffman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I move to cut $100,000 from the grants line by 33910 which has a total amount of $1,477,115 dollars. And that cut us to be made from the Sheboygan County Economic Commission. SDECD. I'm elected to this position by the voters of the town of Sheboygan Ward 10. Just a minute. Are you wishing me to... Second or... Second, Brian, first. Then I'll recognize you. Subraiser Arena. That's fine. Thank you, Subraiser Arena. Second. Now I'll go back to Subraiser Hoffman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You're welcome. I'm elected to this position by the voters of the town of Sheboygan Ward 10, the village of Kohler and the town of Wilson Ward 3 and 4. The reason I am asking to cut $100,000 from the Sheboygan County Economic Commission is because I believe this commission has promoted the city of Sheboygan at the expense of towns and villages, especially towns. Dane Chikolinski speaking in front of the city council on the annexation issue, which affected the town of Wilson, let the definite idea that the town of Wilson land would be better off being in the city. I am not the only county board supervisor that represents a rural area that thinks his presentation was a bit over the top. After Dane's presentation I ask administrator Adam Payne to speak to Dane to reel it in a bit. Adam spoke to him. Dane did not reel it in. The next time he spoke to the city council he was even more emphatic that the city should pass the annexation. After this time another well respected county board supervisor directly said to Adam in my presence after Adam asked his opinion that Dane was wrong to say what he did. This county supervisor said that to Adam. Adam will remember this very well. In the ensuing weeks several other county board members have agreed with me. After all this Adam suggested I talk to the chairman of the board of the SCEDC. I did so and really got nowhere. The bottom line is that we here in the towns and villages also pay taxes. We do not appreciate our money used to support the city's position over the towns. The SCEDC should be neutral. It should not drive a wedge between cities and the rural areas. The real bottom line is that the town of Wilson was hurt by the SCEDC. The 100,000 that I'm proposing could probably be used in a more better way. That's probably the wrong English. I have no argument with a lot of what the commission does. They do a lot of good things and this is a shot over the bow to have them rethink what they are doing. Work with the towns. Ask the towns what they think. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. Any other discussion on that? Surveys are you ready? We have a lot of support. I don't know if we call them. They are an independent corporation that receives our support. I'm on their board. Roger was on before me. We have a revolving loan committee which a number of us are on. That's what kind of Jody was talking about. The different loans that have gone out to different places, whether it be Masters Gallery. They are a separate entity. I know the city of Plymouth used them. There are a lot of things that are people used to this. Let me continue my question. Go ahead. I think they are a good thing. I do see them as more of a part of our county. They are in our administrative building. Aren't they located here? Beyond our support, which I was going to ask, is that 100,000 the county pays and I know the city pays and I think different municipalities also pay. I think that's the government. If you want me to answer. It's a private public partnership. We give 100,000. The city of Sheboygan does different entities. They raise money from the private sector too. I don't know the exact numbers. I realize I contributed to it over the cap. We got the I think the primary support is our government. So thank you. 100,000 plus we also provide the county facilities for the group to be housed here. Office space, that is great. Office space and equipment too? I'm not sure about the equipment. I don't think so. I was just curious. I was trying to understand how that all fits together then. It's its own separate entity, however it is. There's bylaws. So I know some communities it is actually part of the county. Right. Finally county for one, I believe. So when we established I believe that came out of the county isn't that correct? Carol, you want to answer? It's a completely separate entity. It is not controlled by the county nor was it originated by the county. It is not a county entity. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just feel the need to speak tonight because I'm also a town chairman and chairman of the town of Sherman and also for the last 23 years have been the county unit the chair person for the group of all of the towns the 15 towns in Sherbrooke County. While I will not be supporting supervisor the supervisor's motion tonight and what he has said into three with a lot of what he said. This $100,000 is counting dollars. The SDVC should not be picking winners and losers and as I read the article in the Sherbrooke County press they were picking winners. Thank you. Thank you, supervisor Gary. Anyone else? Anyone else want to speak at it? If not, then there's a motion on the floor. Does the board support supervisor Hoffman to remove the $100,000 support of SDVC and no means that stays in the budget? Yes or no? Thank you. We'll move on for the next one then if there are any other questions on that one? Planning and conservation pages 66-69 Surveys if you're under it. I did have a question the non-department, it's okay to go back. Go ahead, I heard a peep, but there was no green light. Yeah, I heard a peep, but still. So the question I have related to the non-department is my understanding, if we ever have extra funds in our capital fund, sometimes as has happened in 2016, I think so, we can funnel those funds for expenses such as the radio program. And I was wondering, do we keep kind of a history of those funds from bonding that we used to purchase capital that we budgeted, but then not used for that budget purpose? Perhaps a finance director question. Yeah, either Adam or finance director. We have that question, Wendy. I think I understand that as, she's wondering if we're tracking, making sure that when we're needing to use fund balance in coordination with the capital projects funds that we're tracking this appropriately, and that if the fund balance is, I think that's a question, and if the fund balance isn't completely used, that we're able to see that fall into the back to the general fund, is that a question? So let me, I'm sorry, I did explain it in a complicated, so I was using a specific example in 2016, we did have budgeted the radios in the non-department, however there was extra bonding money, so we used the bonding money instead of several million dollars for the radio project. So then that created a positive million dollar fund balance. So I guess my question is, when that occurs, is that something we can see somewhere that we are moving, we're not really taking it, we're leaving it in a budget, but we're using money from a different pocket? In the 2016 for the radio project, the funding was necessary because we were short and we weren't able to cover the radio to subscribe the radios. What occurred was the savings and the bonding, we did allocate some of the bonded funds to assist in paying for the radios, but we still needed to request by resolution 1.8 million to finish off the subscriber radio project. That project has not closed yet and we have final payments still yet this year we're anticipating at the end of November. The way the project currently is showing we do have savings throughout the entire project at this time. Thank you Wendy. I'll follow up on that question, thank you. Thank you. Okay, John, where are we? We're on planning conservation pages 66 through 69. Thank you. Next. Property and liability insurance page 70. Next. Webster of Deeds pages 71 and 72. Next. Rocking old pages 73 through 75. Surveys are out. I just wanted the county board to understand what the amount that would be asked for in the tax legging. And last year it was 844,577. It's down to 670,883. This was accomplished through a lot of effort and part of the shell and the whole staff out there and the job. So I think it should be noted because it wasn't one goal that we were all well over a million dollars. So I just wanted to be comfortable to recognize that. Thank you, Surveys are out. Next. Sheriff pages 76 through 79. Surveys are out. Just a quick question to the sheriff's department. I understand that Ford has been having some troubles with their explorers in that several departments now are not even going to buy them because of the fact that their officers are getting sick from the exhaust fumes emitted by the vehicle. Are we aware of that? And are we purchasing Fords? And are they explorers? And just a question, I'm kind of curious about it because I am concerned about the safety of our officers. As we all are, thank you. And Inspector Rizu, would you mind? Thank you, Inspector. Anything else on that one? We'll go on. Next, John. Transportation, airport division, pages 83-82. Next. Transportation, highway division, pages 83-3 to 6. Surveys, are you ready? Do the sales tax then? Is that going into the Department of Revenues? Where is that coming in? And since we budgeted 9 million for sales tax for 18, where would the other 2 million be? Thank you. Wendy, you want to? The sales tax, as we recorded in the transportation is capital projects fund on page 29. And then it's not recorded in the highways operations. It is a capital projects fund and it's on page 29. Okay, thank you. Surveys, you're right on it. I know this. Then anything over the 6 million that we planned to work for the transportation highway department is that then going to, it says just transfer outward, where is the remaining fund score? Wendy? Of the 9 million, we have 1.5 being allocated to the other municipalities in the county. And we have 1 million going to direct property tax relief through assisting in the debt service obligation. Which wasn't the original resolution that we passed. Thank you. Okay, John, you want to go on? Treasurer pages 87 and 88. Bless you. Next. I got the extension, pages 89 and 90. Next. You've got to go again, page 91. Next. Veterans commission, page 92. And next. Veterans service, page 93. Okay, that concludes the budget review. You have a question, Senator Bonner? I think we did that, John. I think we did that, John. I think we did that because it's good for us. So, Reza, you're ready? Well, there are general questions on the introduction of the information. We're not going to waste time for that. Go ahead. I'm showing that we had contributed over 2 million for sales tax from, from Fort Debt Service Relief. But I wouldn't know it's the debt service page. I have a three debt service operating transfers of 1 million from the general fund and 1 million from the transportation fund for tax relief. So, my question is, is it sales tax revenues that are reducing the debt service or is it according to the footnotes on page five of the general fund and the transportation fund balance? Either Adam or Wendy, you've been up to bed a few times. Fine, take your time. I still can't believe I said, yep, but if I did, I'm going to have to worry about it. It's really bothering me. Introductory member of the county administrator at Paine. In the second paragraph, I believe you're referring to this statement saying that the debt service levy decrease was accomplished due to the constitution of 2 million, 35,406 from sales tax revenue and redirected highway department levy to offset the burden. That redirection from a highway is the general fund contribution of the 1 million through 35 plus the 1 million from the transportation. Thank you, Wendy. So, my thing that I have is, I know we do get the 2007 to 2016, I believe that's the 2018 budget comparisons and I just, there was a large increase for 2017 over 13% with the sales tax. So, there are two questions I have related to that. One was asked at least three times and just haven't gotten an answer to that. What is the actual documents that we provided to the newspapers? I don't subscribe to the Plymouth Reviews, so I do not see that. Emmett just made a face back there, but don't go ahead. I'm sorry, Emmett, for the past few years. Yes, I get both of them. Go ahead. So, is that one, the only one document or are there others that are part of that? I know Administrator Payne, I had emailed you a number of times and you suggested I talk with Emmett, but I respectfully decided that should be something I should be able to see. I realized I asked other supervisors who don't know that answer either, so it's rather helpful to know what we are providing to the public, so I can answer my neighbor supportingly as well, you know, what goes through my needs. Adam, you wanna? Sure, thank you Supervisor Urana for the question. By state law, we have to provide certain notification of the budget increase, decrease in history and that's part of the packet that's the same information that the Plymouth Review receives, which is generally, I think, a one-page summary. It's a very high-end summary, again, that's in your packet, I'm pretty certain. If I went back and looked at the emails, you did get a response on that, but perhaps Emmett Feldner could give you a copy of it or share it with you a little bit more, but it's the same document that we've used as long as I can remember. I think it's page two and three, page two and three. What page? Page two and three. Page two and three, it's the same document that we've used historically to provide to the press who then shares that with the public. Basically, two pages then, and then is this also the graphs going to the paper? Are there three pages, or? I may not be sure. The graphs we have shared with the press over the years, sometimes as part of a news release, which I sent to the press through my assistant Elaine just before the meeting today and presenting the budget, giving a high-end picture. We've used those graphs to give presentations to rotary clubs and others so they can get a big picture. And also, it was a number of years ago, and I recall Dick Biedmus in particular being complimentary of it. I worked with Laura Henning Lorenz in the Treasurer's office, and we added that to the tax bill. And the reason we did that is everyone receives their tax bill, and sometimes it's a little hard to follow exactly how their county dollars are being spent. So we added those charts and graphs, which again are very high-end, but they give you a quick snapshot of our performance, where the dollars are being spent. I assume that the two pages that attorney Bessie pointed out, two and three, are the two that will go to the newspaper at each time. That would be a safe assumption. And it's not summarized differently. It's exactly this. If I could. The statute requires the county to purchase a newspaper, essentially advertisement. It requires minimum submissions, which are all incorporated into what you see as pages two and three. Now, that is what the county purchases. Above and beyond that, the county makes available to all news media everything, which is a matter of public record, including this stuff, and newspapers can pick and choose what they want to include at their coverage. But everything is made available to them, but by statute, we are required to purchase a two-page ad, essentially denotifying the public of the public hearing tonight, and to include some of the summary information. Thank you, Carol. Vacation, these are not the documents that are going in the main program. We're summarizing that for them. Two pages, the advertisement that the county purchases. Everything is made accessible and available to the news media by way of the online submissions, which incorporate the two pages, and any other resources that are created become public documents available to the news media. Thank you, and one more thing, please. You said that last time. You did. Go ahead. I pointed out, we do see that the budget history, and I pointed out a few times, it would really be helpful to see a history of our actual activity. This is the only organization I've ever been involved with that shows the 10-year budget history and not really the actual activity that occurred. No criticism there, just a point of reference. And with that, we do see we actually, our actual increase in 2017 ended up being over 14% based upon our new sales tax revenue coming in for 17 at 7.4 million versus the 6 million. The other piece that I know I've asked for, it's great that we are in a wonderful county with great cost-effective government. I have taxpayers that have told me they have homes in other parts of our state, and they're paying a significant amount less in taxes. So the other piece, and many of you also, we have family, friends, and relatives throughout different parts of the United States, that we compare tax rates, which we accountants like to do. It's just something that we do for fun. There's a big difference, and what I've seen is other counties, Eau Claire and La Crosse, provide a cost per capita of what it's costing with both sales tax and with the tax levy to determine what that rate is in comparison to other counties. And I still have, over the last four years, encouraged we do the same to really have an accurate picture of what our cost structure is in comparison with others so we can probably say, are we in that same category, or are we not, and we don't have to match costs because there's other great things, I understand that, but I think it would be a good metric for our county to have and encourage it, and we'll continue each year to encourage we have those type of metrics to really measure how great we are, and if that's how we wanna put it, I guess, against our peer counties. Thank you. Thank you. Supervisor Atman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would like to reference page 13. Okay, page 13. I have a question in regards to the building service. Coral House and Agents grant, what does the other source represent in the rate? Our finance director is off the bat again. Wendy? We're looking at 255,673,000 that is coming from the fund balance, but it is what is remaining from, if you recall, the sale of the properties on Pennsylvania to initiate the purchases. We would be punished a general fund, and this is what we're getting off those proceeds, and it's gonna be channeled towards this construction of the new garage. So does it represent what we were paid for the property? That's what you're saying? It represents what we received for the property, a portion of what we received. First, we replenished the initial purchase of properties, and on this purchase then we're going to use the remaining proceeds we're gonna receive from the sale towards the reconstruction of the garage. So we're receiving 255,673,000 in the architect that has estimated we're gonna pay 367,000 dollars for the garage, is that correct? I believe that's correct. Adam, do you wanna talk to that? That's a good question, and this was an area where we weren't pleasantly surprised. I think originally we had an architect say that building could be about 250,000, and the cost came in closer to 300 or better. So obviously we're looking at Aaron Braul, Jim Tedes, they're working with the architects to see if we can bring that down. But at the same time, keep in mind that the sale of Pen and Seventh not only took care of a blighted area and underutilized parking lot, but it's gonna create a wonderful resource for the community departments, underground parking, as I understand the proposal, and tax-based for years to come that will more than replenish any offset with building the new maintenance garage that really Jim Tedes and his staff need. The other thing I wanted to quickly touch on when Supervisor Iraner raised a good point, that we always wanna compare ourselves to other counties and see how we're doing and improve, and that's why I'm so proud to work for this organization, because everyone here wants to continuously improve. Our recently, and I don't think most board members are aware of this, but the executive committee is. Recently, issue Boyden County was asked to give a presentation on our leadership forum, because as far as I know, I think we're one of the only counties in the state that has an annual county board leadership forum. We put out all of our fiscal information, we look at our track record from the past year, our fiscal performance, and we look at our fiscal outlook. And as part of that, as you all well know, we do do some comparing and contrasting with other counties. No doubt we can further improve that process, all was room for improvement, but the reason we were asked to present to a number of other county chairs and representatives from across the state was they really liked what Boyden County's been doing to be transparent and share information about our fiscal performance and outlook. So it's a credit to our team here. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Adam. Roger, did you have a follow-up on that? Well, the only thing I'm concerned about is that we have put in this $367,000. Is that higher than we really expect to pay? Is that what you're saying? I mean, it sounds like an awful lot of garage. I don't disagree, that's a lot of money for a garage. This is not a typical garage that we and I are pulling our cars into, as you know, it's gonna be a tremendous investment for our county and our building services staff. This was discussed, as you recall, during the five-year capital plan development, which you adopted at the last board meeting or the board meeting before. So it's built in, supervisor Rod and I agree. It's pricier than we had hoped. I know that we're working to streamline that cost yet, but ultimately we wanna build a garage that's gonna reflect on the courthouse, provide a key area of support for building services and be there for probably the next 100 years. So we wanna do it right. It's kinda like the front entrance of the steps. I mentioned about that with the security enhancement. We did the bid and it came in far higher than we thought to do the steps, to repair the steps. And it really was not good news, even though the architect that we relied on and hired said this is what we thought it would cost. The bids came in much higher, so we're regrouping. But at the end of the day, do we build steps that don't match the courthouse seed, that don't make a favorable first impression? We wanna do it right because this courthouse is a grand facility and anything we do to it, we want it to be an attractive investment for the community. Thank you, Ed. So, Reiser Nelson, who's been waiting very patiently. Thank you, Chairman Weigel. I just wanted to, with respect to information to the public, those of us that still listen to WHP, those of us that still listen to WHP, we get a good common sense summary of the economics of the county by county administrator Payne and I wanna thank him for that. So, we don't get it through the press, if we don't get it through the public news, we still can get it done there. Surprise wrapping. Thank you, Chairman Weigel. I'd like to bring your attention and we've gone over it before Health and Human Services budget. As I look at it, it says that something required, a percent change from the 2017 budget is 2.7 and the total on previous page, total expense is 95. Considering that Health and Human Services budget is one of the biggest budgets there are for their county, I wish to commend highly Tom Eggebrecht and his team for turning in a budget that he has turned in that we're considering here. I think he did an excellent job in considering all the problems that their department has to work with. I highly commend him and wish him well and keep up the good work, thank you. Thank you, Supervisor Epping. Before I recognize Supervisor Beemus, I have one quick announcement. We're going to be putting in a new system for voting. Remember I mentioned that I think last month because we believe this system is on its last legs. So as part of it, it'll take place in January at our January meeting but our IT department needs our iPads and they need all our iPads at once. I know. So what you need to do is bring your iPad to the next meeting on November 7th. They're going to collect them and you will get it back and they will put the software in it and they need all of them at once and then you'll get them back I think beginning after November 13th. We will send you other information on this and email out just to be fine but I wanted to let you know. It's something we just have to do if we're going to do this forward so. Oh and I also, yes, and this is why Carl is here. The budget will be sent back to the Finance Committee automatically for its final recommendation that will come at the November 7th meeting so we don't need a motion on that. So thank you very much everybody and Supervisor Beves. I hope we enjoyed it. Thank you Supervisor Beves, Supervisor Winkle. Thank you Supervisor Winkle, please push your I button.