BOARD OF ISLAND COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MINUTES OF MEETING
SPECIAL SESSION OCTOBER 27, 2004 – BUDGET WORKSHOP
The Board of Island County Commissioners met in
Special Session on October 27, 2004 at
1:30 p.m. to conduct a budget workshop on the preliminary 2005 budget
including: Superior Court/Law Library;
Coroner; 2:30 Prosecuting Attorney;
Juvenile Court Services/CASA; and County Clerk. The special session was held in the Board of County Commissioners Hearing Room
(Room # 102B) Island County Courthouse Annex located at 1 NE 6th
Street, Coupeville, WA. Commissioners
William J. Byrd Chairman; Mike
Shelton, Member, and Wm. L. McDowell, Member attended. Elaine Marlow, Budget Director, also
attended the session. Press represented
by Eric Berto, Whidbey News Times.
The proposed budget and supplemental requests are taken under advisement by the Board; no final decisions expected as a result of budget workshops. Hand-outs and budget materials are on file with the Clerk of the Board.
Presentation
by: Sherry
Cameron
Ruth
Culbertson
Superior
Court: Budget Notebook beginning page 241 –
248; Budget Memo 248
Hand-outs: Cases Filed In the Year 2002, 2003
and 2004 (to September, 2004) Island
County and
San Juan County
Court Proceedings 2002, 2003, and 2004 (to September,
2004) Island County and San Juan County
Reviewed some of the cost-saving policies Superior Court put in place, such as appointing judge pro tems rather than pro tem commissioners, saving $3,234; record hearings when a court reporter is not available instead of hiring a pro tem court reporter saving some $2,000+ a year.
Hand-outs indicate the increased cases filed and court proceedings, in summary for both counties:
2002 2003 2004 [year to date - September]
Cases
Filed 2,852 2,974 2,307
Court
Proceedings 5,311 6,027 4,511
The only request for 2005 is that the judicial assistant position be increased from 20 to 30 hours per week. Staffing has remained the same for about 20 years yet the work load has increased and continues to be more phone interruptions and public assistance needed at the front counter. Superior Court budget provided for $3,000 for additional hours and will cut that by $2,000 to partly off-set costs to fund the additional hours per week, for a net cost of $11,000+/-.
Law
Library: Budget Notebook page 283
Island County Law Library is open to the public 15 hours a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. See no huge changes in expenses in the foreseeable future; the budget for 2005 basically replicated on this year’s budget on the assumption filings will remain about the same. Even
though library open hours have been cut back, public use is up almost 65% over the prior year. The Bar Association has been quite generous this year and paid for the majority of a desk book set.
Presentation
by: Robert Bishop
S/W/B same as last year with appropriate current 2005 figures as provided by the Budget Director. Revenue projected to be about the same. State grant reimburses the county 40% of autopsy costs. Basically everything done by the Coroner is mandated.
The Coroner’s vehicle through the motor pool will be ten years old in 2005; has 100,000 miles on it, some leaks, already
been towed once this summer; again in the shop now with the repair bill
probably in the vicinity of
$500. Request new van for Coroner’s
use, and use the current van as a secondary vehicle [instead of using station
wagon] and as a secondary van probably could last another five or six years.
Follow-up.
Budget Director will look into where replacement now occurs for the Coroner’s vehicle on the motor pool
schedule.
Prosecuting
Attorney Budget Notebook page 202-213.
Presentation
by Greg Banks
Budget
presentation provided via a power-point presentation [complete copy placed on file with the Clerk of the Board]
covering:
Mandated and Non-Mandated functions
Update on case loads and trends
Felony Prosecution
Trends
2004 felony filings- YTD [1/1/04 -
9/30/04] 211
RALJ Appeals 4
Total Superior Court
Cases 215
Juvenile Prosecution
Trends
2004 Filed Juvenile Offenses YTD (1/1/04 – 9/30/04] 190
Misdemeanor/Traffic
Trends
YTD Misdemeanors and infractions 1029
Summary
of budget changes/request for 2005:
New Revenue $12,800 [municipal
prosecution contracts]
M & O Increase $1,800
[printing costs – Island County
Code]
Restore ½ time legal asst.
7/1/05 $15,200 -
offset by projected revenues from
City of Langley and Town
of Coupeville and increased collection
delinquent legal financial
obligations – bring the cost down to
$7,600
Juvenile
Court Services/CASA. Budget Notebook page 126 – 142
Presentation
by: Michael Merringer
There
are eleven separate revenue sources
[see chart on page 138 for complete revenue source breakdown].
Salaries/Wages/Benefits
are funded:
Grant-funded 48% $257,553
County-funded 52%
283,349
Not asking for any increases, basically hold the
line where possible. On track now to
meet M&O but could be about $1,000 in the hole because of increase in fuel
costs. Reality is just trying to
maintain and keep programs running at the same rate. Detention transportation – additional $2,000 for a total
$20,000; also included interfund transfer of $5,000 to go to Sheriff’s fuel and
maintenance cost of the vehicles and reserves. Currently considering MOU for
2005 that keeps the same hourly rate; to be reviewed at a future staff session
with the Board.
There are two programs that he is uncomfortable with as far as funding: Juvenile Accountability Block Grant
[JABG] alternative to detention work
crew and drug court because there have been substantial cuts in the Federal
grant. The regular allocation has been
reduced to $10,000. Successful in competitive bids for the last two years, this
will be the third. There has been a change in Administration and a
delay with the award coming out of Olympia; received unofficial word that out of the $43,683 requested probably
will realize only about $32,000 of that, which means funding until about June
of 2005.
Working on promotional video to take around to
various service groups to demonstrate the benefit of the program and see if that generates some revenue
within the community. Beyond that as
far as JABG predict the county will continue to receive the same type of
reductions for 2006. Unsuccessful with
Federal drug court program grant; the
only program in the State that was successful was King County. By using some CDDA (chemical dependency
disposition alternative) and some Case Management money not expended during the
year and some funds within the old settlement to fund the program for 2005
($17,305 within that account). Without
some private funding or support from
Current Expense 2005 will be it.
Juvenile Court
Administrators took a look at the funding formula in the State of
Washington based upon how the money is split between the counties. The bulk amount of money is allocated through the State, and juvenile court administrators select how
much money goes to each jurisdiction; Island County fairs very well with
that. Agreed to base the allocation on
new criteria and with that Island County will have an increase for CDDA and
CJAA by 4% each year which is good news because what has happened is that the
grants have not kept up with increases in
benefits for employees.
Believe will bring in about $14,500 revenue between public defender
costs and diversion fees.
Will
meet with the County Clerk to talk about having her Collections Clerk
track/collect for restitution as well as attorney fees.
CASA
Program – page 271 – 273
Lost the Stuart grant, and asking for a bit of a shift in money in CASA. Asking S/W/B $37,427. Reducing M&O request from $8,610 to
$6,410, for total request of $43,837 –
actually a little less than last year but keeping the position full time. There are between 25-27 volunteers which
equals almost 100% representation for the kids that need a CASA and imperative
the position continue full time.
COUNTY CLERK Budget Notebook Page
36 - 41
Presentation
by: Sharon Franzen
Hand
Out: Memorandum dated 10/27/04 – 2005
Budget
Major area of concern is shortage of staff
and not being able to keep up with mandated responsibilities.
Adding a Collections Clerk this past year allowed building a collections program from the ground up but did nothing to alleviate the flow of office work and backlog. Today’s memo provided statistics and reasons illustrating need for additional staffing. Pointed out that clerks’ offices in other counties with similar populations have almost double the staff of the Island County Clerk’s Office.
Request for 2005: reinstate part time clerk to full time – which will serve to improve morale, reduce the occurrence of errors and aid the office in its endeavor to meet statutory mandates. Cost equals about $23,000 S/W/B to bring the position to full time.
Following
up with the item from Juvenile Court,
noted that just in the past day
discovered there is a way for the Collections Clerk to set up program to
collect on parent-attorney fees and costs so at some point in the near future
it is something that can be established.
Meeting adjourned at 2:58 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
ISLAND COUNTY, WASHINGTON
______________________________
William J. Byrd, Chairman
_____________________________
Mike Shelton, Member
_____________________________
Wm. L. McDowell, Member
ATTEST: _______________________
Elaine Marlow, Clerk of the Board