Proposed Budget Dominates County Board Agenda

By JOHN HUGGINS | For The Prairie Advocate News

MOUNT CARROLL – The Carroll County board held its regular meeting on Thursday, September 19, 2013 in the county courthouse with all board members present except Shawn Picolotti.

The board passed the minutes from the previous meeting and bills. They also approved three fund transfers.

Senior Services

Butch Haas spoke to the board on behalf of the Carroll Co. Senior Services Organization. He said he would not go over all that the Senior Center does. He explained that all their activities could be found in the Grapevine in the Prairie Advocate each month.

Haas said that approximately $60,000 of their revenues came from the county board, under $20,000 came from the state, and $40,000 came from donations and sales proceeds.

Senior Services requested $67,000 to be placed in the 2014 county budget. The consensus of the board was to use that amount.

Carroll County Transportation (CCT) Coordinator Jim Mascal gave an overview of how the transit system is being utilized. He noted that the six CCT vehicles traveled a total of 184,936 miles last year. They provided 3,495 trips to seniors, 1,399 trips to disabled folks, and 2,068 trips to the general public.

The CCT can be taken throughout the county as well as to Freeport, Sterling, Rock Falls, and Clinton, Iowa. A complete list of fees can be found on the Senior Center website at www.ccseniorcenter.org.

Mascal said their future goals to increase revenues for the CCT include advertising, service contracts, packaged routes, tapping into Medicaid funds, and a growing ridership.

Proposed Budget Adjustments

A variety of adjustments to the draft proposed budget for 2014 were discussed throughout the meeting.

Sheriff Jeff Doran requested that the line item for a new squad car needed to be increased to $20,000 to align with the bid total received from the State.

A line item has been added to do a feasibility study on a possible public safety merger with neighboring counties. There was a discussion about doing a study to determine how to increase security at the courthouse.

State’s Attorney Scott Brinkmeier announced that his grant for Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grant has been approved, but it will be about 10 percent less than last year.

The consensus was to budget for a three percent raise to non-union employees to align with the union increases.

Highway Department

County Highway Engineer Kevin Vandendooren was on hand to give a report. He started off by commenting how well the shoulder conditioner equipment the department recently purchased is working. He had originally budgeted for $24,000 worth of shoulder stone. He believes he will not have to spend any of that.

He reported that the start date for Timber Lake Road has been pushed back until September 25.

The board approved the low bidder, Fischer Excavating at $59,816.11 for the Schuaman Road project. It also approved the low bidder, Curnyn Construction, at $205,527 for the Elm Road project.

Former Buck’s Barn Property

Quad Cities Land Development LLC had made a request to the Zoning Board of Appeals to divide the lot that the former Buck’s Barn sits on. They wanted the residency on the south side of the property to be split off and zoned R1. The board approved the request.

In Other Business, the board approved an amendment to the Whiteside Enterprise Zone, and approved a resolution for trustee sales.