Adjustments, Admonishments, and Apoplexy: Carroll County Finance Committee Notes

By Mick Parsons For The Prairie Advocate News

Mount Carroll – The 2011 Carroll County Finance Committee met in the first floor board room of the Court House, and the the tone was more or less optimistic. The budget falderal behind them, and with no entreaties for funds on the agenda for this meeting, the biggest issue in the first few minutes of the meeting was which end of the long table to sit at. New committee member Darrell Stitzel was made welcome with homemade cookies and fudge to round out the single party distribution of the Finance Committee.

Chairman Fritz was present, and made his report. He is going to Freeport this week to talk to Mayor George Gaulrapp about participating in receiving block grants. “He’s (Mayor Gaulrapp) got some plan,” Fritz commented, with what amounted to an eye roll and a shake of the head. The general mood of the committee was that Freeport is simply looking for a way to help pay for the expense of getting the grants in the first place. Block grants can be substantial; but in order for them to be awarded, the recipient must be a group of communities, counties, or organizations. This would suggest that there is some focal point, cause, or similarity in ideology binding the group together; but Fritz seemed suspicious of the entire process, in spite of agreeing to go anyway.

He also mentioned that he heard – either over the fence post or from Representative Jim Sacia – that Illinois House Majority Leader Madigan is planning on putting a bond issue before the state in order to solve the current fiscal crisis. Everyone agreed that this would work in the short term, since a bond issue is the governmental version of a payday loan.

The problem will be that the interest alone could amount to almost $3 million a year, and with no way to pay off the interest in the foreseeable future, the general consensus of the Finance Committee was a series of grumbles, groans, and head shakes. In relation to Representative Sacia, Fritz told the committee that, according to Sacia, Workman’s Compensation in the state of Illinois is higher than surrounding states. The reason for this is that in the state of Illinois, the burden of proof is on the employer rather than the employee; the logic there is that the employer probably has more lawyers, money, and time at its disposal than an injured employee does who is most likely living paycheck to paycheck. For his part, Fritz blames the lawyers and the inequity of state law that puts employers – one would assume, like him – on the defensive.

The Chairman closed out his report by talking about the possibility of a tourist route from Chicago to Kansas City becoming a reality; but since Carroll County would be well off the beaten path, it would be unlikely to offer any direct help in bolstering up local tourism.

He then briefly mentioned that the Port Authority monthly meetings would be taking place on the second Wednesday of the month in the first floor board room of the Court House, at 9 in morning. Some may recall that the County Board more or less left the Port Authority out to dry – or, more to reality, treated it like an unwanted step-child and passed off responsibility to TCEDA. No one, from Finance Committee Chair Kevin Reibel and Vice Chair Annette Rahn on down had any comment on the matter.

Then there was some discussion about the LRA, and the lack of general progress it demonstrates. The primary issue is that while the LRA operates a sewage and water treatment facility, residents who buy or build within its district are unaware that the LRA operates with a sunset board; that is, as of 2014, the LRA will cease to exist, and so will the water it currently provides. Paul Hartman, who is the Carroll County Board Representative to the LRA, reminded the board that he informed them last January of this issue, and that he gave them 18 months to develop a viable plan. “But,” Hartman admitted, “they’re no closer.”

When County Treasurer Diane Powers made her report, the singular issue that drew the most conversation was what to do about the impending leap year. Because of the leap year, every eleven years or so bi-weekly pay cycles – which divides an employee’s salary by 26 weeks – is thrown into an uproar because of what amounts to an extra pay period. During leap years, there are actually 27 pay periods. This means that salaried county workers either get what amounts to an extra bump – a partial check – once every eleven years, or the county has to divide their regular salaries by 27 instead of 26. The former is a budget drain and the latter is an accounting nightmare, when also taking into account taxes and IMRF.

Fritz recommend, as he did at the last Finance Committee meeting when the issue was discussed, moving the county to dual payrolls. Currently, salaried workers and hourly county workers are paid every two weeks. Switching to dual payroll – which would mean paying salaried employees on the first and fifteenth of the month while continuing to pay hourly workers every two weeks – seems like a tidy idea. But Powers pointed out switching to that would create an accounting nightmare because of the way taxes and IMRF are taken out of the checks.

Committee Chair Kevin Reibel also commented that it may cause problems with union contracts.

The aspect of this “paycheck adjustment” as Powers called it, that was not discussed is that while salaried county employees will be earning the same yearly salary, the check to check take home will be less, which might constitute a hardship for those living paycheck to paycheck. According to Powers, the auditors have recommended sticking with the 26 pay periods and eating the extra bump– which is what most bi-monthly payrolls do, since it only occurs once every eleven years. But Fritz and the Finance Committee, counting pennies as only they do, neither considered the possibility that a small check might impact people, even if they’re given prior notice, nor did they consider the possibility that the salaried workers – might actually deserve the small bump.