County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Ross Common County Board of Commissioners meeting for August 26th at 9 a.m. Please stand for the pledge Roll call, please. Censored? Here. Milburn? Here.

Wolfson? Here. Morley? Here. Russo?

Approval of the agenda.

So moved, Madam Chair.

Do you have a second? I'll second. Any discussion? Roll call please. Morley yes. Melbourne yes. Wolfson yes. Yes. Approval of the consent agenda the items within are the meeting minutes from August 12 2026 board meeting in the lake level control structure special meeting correspondences a through C Which includes a letter from a low lion Township resident letter from Tammy Thompson regarding Lake Huron Regional Development Corporation in the Higgins Lake Foundation monthly department reports the administrator controller report Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda?

Second.

Roll call, please. Wilson. Yes. Morley. Yes. Spencer. Yes. Milburn.

Yes.

Public comment for agenda items only. Is there any public comment for agenda items? Any visitors? unfinished business lake level control structure operator interviews commissioner wilson and i met with two out of the four applicants based on the interviews i do believe that we have a gentleman that might be a good fit and i believe that we would like to offer him the job if i'm not mistaken commissioner wolfson The wage scale that was given to us Basic Was that a grade three? Starting at 19.21 an hour at step one and go all the way to 22.60 at a step seven. What we're trying to do is figure out that middle range with approximately how many hours on average over time. You might be out there every single day.

And I'm, man, you guys. Okay, I'm sure you can still hear me even if I don't have a microphone. Okay, so it's also kind of looking at what money we contribute into those funds going forward. What else, it's also not just that salary, but we're looking at how much we have in those different funds, those SADs as well, like on the ongoing, going down the road. We don't want to deplete everything and not have anything Yeah, and then you have to look at how many years and you have to figure those into future assessments and ongoing costs and things like that Yep Well the wage and salary committee putting kind of where it needs to go there. That's the good. That's a great start I

It's a lake operator. It's not a delegated authority. It's not a manager. It's strictly the operator So the job duties aren't quite as extensive what they were when chase had it and things like that Madam chair yes, um I realized funding is always an issue and

But the $10,000 this county committed to each of these lakes per year was not committed with a dedication for what it was to be used for. It was just $10,000 put into the SAD every year.

What was it intended for then? I'm sorry.

It just was $10,000 commitment. It was not tagged for this purpose or that purpose.

We just have to make sure that when we do future assessments, that everything is looked at and covered.

Correct.

And looked at.

Yep. I think we've kind of come up with a number.

I know we have talked about a couple different numbers, but I think until we really sit that down, I know at one point we talked about the 21,000 That was initial, but then when we went back and we looked at how many hours a week that would average out to, I think we kind of looked at some other things too.

21,000 was a maximum.

Right.

It would be good to be able to offer the job after today, so if we could settle on a number today.

Is that the request for today's meeting, that we do that today, Madam Chair?

I would like to have a ballpark like a wage in between this and this so that as Rex and I if we can You know So if you went by, when we sat down, we looked at roughly, I think it was an average of 10 hours a week, which then would equate to 520 hours out of the year, basically. At the low end, if you did that of the wage scale, you would be at $9,989.20. At the high end of that wage scale, you would be at $11,752.

You guys have looked at qualifications and checked all the boxes, so what's your recommendation in between that? Do you want low end? Do you want high end? What do you want us to vote on?

Well, you know, wages scale doesn't take into account this person is basically on call 24-7. I mean, every day he's on call. He doesn't know if tomorrow he has to go to the site or not. And there's a cost involved with putting someone on call every day. I would suggest around $11,000 figure. I think it was like $11,900. $750. $750 would be a fair price. because of being on call, and it coincides with wage and salary.

Starting at the top of the wage scale?

Yeah.

OK.

Yes? I recommend the $11,752 that you mentioned. It seems reasonable.

And he may not accept it. We don't know.

Correct.

We have to talk with him. The candidate we chose lives on the river over by the st. Helen Dam It's a big job. It's a big job just being Responsible every day. I mean, you know He's gonna we want to move to Operate in the lake levels at the average daily level which would mean that That information is yesterday. So he's going to get up in the morning, look at yesterday's level, and then that determines whether he has to respond or not.

And it is still the delegated authority to make that call? Or does he make the call based upon

He's going to have the ability to make the decisions.

Based upon manual or wherever it's supposed to be, the instructions for it. And our role will be to guide him in what way.

If he has a question.

Yeah.

If he has a question, then obviously Rex and I will also continue to keep an eye on the levels and make sure that it is being operated the way that it should be. And when we interviewed him, he understood that the final call relies with the board. And he was OK with that. He did own his own manufacturing company for 23 years. He also worked at Schoolcraft College in the manufacturing department. And he's just really looking, you know, one of the first questions I asked him was why he applied for the job. And he likes to keep busy. He's retired and he wants to keep busy. Right now he mows lawns part-time and things of that nature, but it's more or less just to keep busy, keep active.

I think this also frees up us putting that on our maintenance crew as an interim right now, because they're busy, especially with the projects that are going to be coming forward for capital projects, that they're not being pulled from their daily job to go do something. Sounds like, Mark, is that a motion on your end?

I'm fine with that.

There's an agreement until we if he accepts then obviously it'll come back for board final approval and stuff like that We will reach out to him and All right So we are at new business, which we don't have anything listed. And so now we are at our motions and resolutions. Whenever you are ready.

Motion 1, move to appoint William Mountain to the Roscommon County Veteran Affairs Committee for a four-year term beginning 8-6 of 2026 through 12-31 of 2030. So moved.

Second.

Any discussion?

Good candidate.

Yes, I would agree. Roll call, please. Morley? Yes.

Wolfson? Yes. Milburn?

Yes.

Spencer? Yes. Motion carried. Motion two, move to approve MDOT contract number 2026-0679, authorizing Airport manager, Eric Jurak, to acquire SRE and maintenance equipment, rotary cut, finished mower, box blade for the Roscommon County Blodgett Memorial Airport, whose associated city is Houghton Lake, Michigan, as outlined in the sponsor contract with a $0 county share match.

So moved. Second.

Any discussion? Roll call, please. Spencer? Yes. Morley? Yes. Wilson? Yes. Milburn? Yes. Motion carried. Number three, move to adopt resolution number 2026-08 0 1 authorizing chairperson Darlene sensor to sign sponsored contract on behalf of the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners Whereas the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners on behalf of Roscommon County Blodgett Memorial Airport enters into contracts grants and certificate certifications through federal and state programs and whereas the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners on elected darling sensor to serve as chairperson for fiscal years 2026 and 2027 and whereas it is the desire of the roscommon county board of commissioners to grant chairperson sensor the authority to execute airport sponsor contracts between roscommon county blodgett memorial airport and the state of michigan department of transportation office of aeronautics as approved by the board and Whereas, the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners does agree that if the designated signer changes Roscommon County and or Roscommon County Blodgett Memorial Airport will contact the State of Michigan Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics with the changes. Therefore, be it resolved that Darlene Sensor of the Roscommon County Board of Commissioners Chairperson be authorized and directed to execute airport sponsor contracts with the State of Michigan Department of Transportation, Office of Aeronautics on behalf of Roscommon County Blodgett Memorial Airport.

So moved, Madam Chair. Second.

Any discussion?

Yes, ma'am. I'd like to thank Ms. Giroux, our county controller, and our board chair for all the work they put into this. Thank you.

Thank you. Roll call, please. Marley. Yes. Wolfson. Yes.

Spencer. Yes. Milbourne.

Yes.

Resolution adopted.

Committee reports. Commissioner Morley. Yeah. Wow, that still sounds loud, doesn't it?

August 14, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health, their personnel committee met. We looked over the climate survey for them, which there's been some improvement in the culture there this past year. On the 19th, we started our department head budget meetings. We have completed the airport animal control. IT, maintenance, and equalization in Spongy Moth on that day. On the 20th, Northern Lakes Community Mental Health Board meeting was up in Leelanau this time. Representative John Roth was there to speak about he is the chairperson for appropriations for DHHS. which impacts the money that Northern Lakes receives. So he talked about some of the things that they're working on, more equality within each of those regions where money in rural areas get better money versus just downstate big city. There's only three months left in this year before the new people might take place, so he doesn't know how much they'll get done. But he said since the director of DHHS has left, it seems like the staff have been more open about talking about different options on how to clean those up and kind of equalize out how we do mental health across the state. So we'll see. I wanted to note about their quality and compliance group because we all know that when we hear people in our county going through audits, this group One, they updated like nine policy and procedures in a month, and they did three random sample audits, three targeted audits. February, DHHS did their HSAG audit on them. In April, DHHS did their site review audit on them. And January, NMRE did their qualitative review, and then their CARF review, which gave them their three-year accreditation. That all happened in one year. That's a lot on people to get through, but they They did it so just shows the work that that group does behind the scenes finance reports looking good cash flow is better They're not having to get the money from NMRE first in order to pay their bills. So that's good, but definitely still working We will they are looking at trying to increase County contributions As I have shared with our chair. We've been pretty open about kind of our stance on giving those increases, you know, because it has not changed for decades. It's been the same dollar amount for I don't know how long. Controller, you might know. It's never changed since you've been here. Not a lot, but they're going to meet with us, the CEO and our controller and our chair will be meeting just to understand what that's like and what they're facing because of the Medicaid Reduction they won't be able to supply that and the state is not given any additional money for decades to mental health It's been the same value for a long time a little bit about that because I think it'll be helpful for all of us as commissioners when they do come before us You know We, I think we contribute about 57 a year, 57,000 maybe a year. And we serve about 300 on an average every month. And when you compare that to some of our local groups like Crawford, they only do about 190 people a month that they serve, and they pay way less than we do. They pay 35 a year. Misaki does 137 a month, and they're at about the same amount, 35 a year. Wexford does far more than us. They have over 500 people, almost 550 every month that they do, and they're paying 76,000. So just to give us all a ballpark of what we're getting for what we're spending today before that. Heads up, the public hearing for them is in Houghton Lake on September 10th. I know our controller and our chair have an invite. Our sheriffs, the school district superintendents are invited and things like that. So it is open to the public. August 21st, the budget meetings continued. Circuit court, central filing, district court, and probate family court, we did all that in that day. On the 24th, more budget group meetings with department heads, the clerk, the treasurer, the veterans office. And then on the 25th, I know they completed the sheriff's department. My apologies for not being able to get there due to somebody being in the hospital. So that's it. Thank you.

August 20th, I attended the community action meeting in Traverse City the big thing there They gave an annual report, but they talked about this new program called home sharing networking. They're doing is their Program that's gonna allow seniors to match with other seniors stay at homes Thank You madam chair

We had the interview of the lake level control structure operator applicants. We also had a Houghton Lake Improvement Board meeting where we learned of additional acres within Houghton Lake where milfoil has the first time sprung up in some different areas uh... board after a lengthy discussion did decide uh... to have uh... over eight acres additional acres sprayed uh... which was later in the season but it's still In the experts eyes hadn't gone to seed yet, so it was worth doing and I believe They did that yesterday. I know it was going to be sometime this week, but I think it did happen yesterday And then the budget and finance Department had budget proposal meetings We've had quite a few and I think our last grouping is September 4th that we will be meeting and finalizing or More on that in the budget and finance meeting. Commissioner Wolfson.

I attended the Northern Michigan Counties Association. They were talking about new dam safety rules coming down the line for mid to high hazard dams. It's going to become extremely expensive for maintaining dams. At this point it is for mid to high hazard. But don't be surprised if they threw some rules in there, new rules for low level like we have. Also they talked about revenue sharing in the next budget session. Don't expect an increase or decrease. But. When we change governorship, the new governor is going to walk in with about a billion dollar shortage. So I think down the line something's going to happen. Been working with Bacchus Township on the design of their recycling site. Work into our materials management plan. We met with a contractor. We met with a tree remover yesterday. So that's moving along. We think it's going to come within budget, which is good because at first it was going to be a shortfall there. But they were notified they did get the grant. They haven't got the signed contract yet, but they were notified they have the grant for this project. I attended the bid opening for the new boiler systems. Today we have interviews with three of the bid. There was, I think, six bidders. The three interviews we're having, the bids range from $560,424 to $690,000. And today we're having interviews with those. Those were the three lower bidders. We're having interviews with them. I guess that's it.

Thank you. Public comment? Any public comment? Yes.

So I know that I have emailed the board lots of information in the last week and a half in regards to this, but I just wanted to make a statement in a public meeting. We have had a change in our spongy moth surveying practices with some federal suits, some closures at a court of appeals level, at a state level, and then some new lawsuits that have been filed in regards to local government accessing private property. Those cases, while not specific to spongy moth surveying, have really emphasized the court's feelings on Fourth Amendment's right and access to property. We have always operated under the legal opinion that surveying was a right based on the millage. They always went to the doors and knocked to see if anybody was home. That will not change. But what will change is that if you are not home, The property will not be surveyed. So what we are putting into place is a process where residents can go online and do a quick form online at the spongy moth Roscommon County spongy mouth website that would authorize for that access for the spray year and Therefore if somebody's not home and we already have that authorization they can go ahead and proceed as is additionally if we knock and somebody answers and they provide that and Great. That's exactly what we're looking for. We have had it out on social media already. There are postcards going to 22,000 residents in Roscommon County that actually should be mailed tomorrow. The mailing date is for the 26th. But we will continue the processes. That big change is just going to be whether or not we have that authorization at the time. It's new. Greta has worked very hard to get the information to the townships. We're seeing some trickles in in the last week, six, seven people. with that online form that comes back to comes back to Greta and then copy to me, but it's you know kind of that slow upgrade and Some of the areas that are to me pretty important are those ones that are frequently sprayed if we don't have the data We can't spray So that's going to be that's going to be the biggest impact of that. So just continuing to communicate to hanging flyers up at the grocery stores, something with a QR code on it where somebody could stop, scan, and register right then before they grab their 2% milk.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Board comment. Commissioner Morley?

I know it's really not a comment, just a reminder. There is a flyer that FEMA can help with paying for repairs that were needed to make a person's home safe after the damage that we occurred to the flood. So those flyers are out there. I know our treasurer was also wanting us to continue to spread that word as well. I know our emergency manager as well, just to let people know that that's out there. We did qualify for that, so there's a way to go do that. And I think it was already mentioned about the collaborative group really wanted to, it was the letter that came from Tammy Thompson about collaborative opportunities from the Lake Huron group. So those were the only two things.

Mr. Bumper. I'll be working with the county controller in regard to the 25th anniversary of 9-11. Thank you, Madam Chair.

I did reach out to Tammy Thompson, and I told her that once we kind of got through some budget stuff that we would reach out That's been taken care of Marcy did want us to make everybody aware that FEMA will be on site at the Ross common village farmers markets this Saturday, August 29th, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. And information is available over on the table by the door for that. I also did forward this and ask it be dispersed to all the department heads, the Consumer Energy 2026 Community Impact Award application. So if you didn't get it, there is information about that that I can give to you. And that is all I really had. Wilson I'm good, okay We have to know further board comment this meeting is adjourned and our next work session meeting begins at 10 o'clock Oh, I was just gonna leave that for lake level discussion you need me there at 338 That's why we have our lake level meetings once a month. We just got the opinion yesterday from and the other We should be home by then and I can be there but Or move it to the south.

I got a call last night from my brother. He's got stage four cancer and two brain tumors. He's on. He works for the state. He said, well, I'm retiring tomorrow. I said, what do you mean you're retiring? He said, I can't drive because I have two brain tumors.

I think we need a meeting with Tom and Eric again in between to discuss what that looks like so that we can No But I don't think that with them per se that I mean that's really Yeah, we have to keep them informed and yes, they have to agree, but really that's something the lake level. Yeah, I but it still is and i have told in an email and i i cc'd you on the email that it i highly doubted that we would get and be able to acquire that property so yes there is there's way too much third party do you want to reach out to

With the caveat that, you know, we can re-look at...

I think you can offer him the job, but before he can actually accept, like, fully, he has to go through all that. Is there a way of getting an address for him so we can mail him a card or something? Sure.

Yeah. I'll try.

Okay. If we can. I'll make the attempt. We should do that too. Just because we didn't get to say goodbye to him.

I know. I heard that the other day. You should have been sitting in this whole time. Yes. Next.

Is that on our desk? Yes. My guess is, Kim, they're probably both. Or the same. Then I guess we go figure it out.

I'm not leaving it up to them to do that.

It's divide and conquer. You need me to call one, you call one, and start asking.

Because I want our surrounding drivable. I get that you're doing what's considered drivable, but I want drivable. Yeah, you need this because that's how you're going to get it.

But for me, if I'm going to do it, I think those are much more. I'm gonna look them over a little bit.

Jesus.

Roscommon County Board of Commissioners work session August 26, 2026 at 10 a.m. First, we have wage and salary committee recommendations. Our HR specialist, Noel Martin.

I brought my water in case I get thirsty. So nobody wanted to come up with me, which is OK. But we had a really great wage and salary committee again this year. And so I'm here on behalf of them. And I'm going to give you basically the overall synopsis of what our committee found through our annual wage analysis. I did give you a couple things. What I'm going to be reading from mostly is the little presentation document. So just to begin, the Wage and Salary Committee, just kind of a reminder of what it is, we serve as the advisory board for the Board of Commissioners. We're tasked with the annual review of current classification and compensation policy system that we use for our wages here. And we offer then the recommendation annually to the board while we are also considering the budget constraints that you guys are faced with. The annual survey of market comparable conditions with comparable counties is typically conducted in June and July and studied by the committee in July into August. And then numbers are put together then to bring to you. This year, with the budget starting a little bit earlier than typical has in the past, our system was kind of already in play and in the works. So it might seem, even though you guys have been doing, you know, budget meetings the last little while, we're not necessarily coming in and saying, hey, you should do this. You know, now it just happened to be the timing of everything. So the good news is that we're pretty much, I think, in alignment for where you guys started at the beginning of your budget process. The counties that are surveyed annually include Alpena County, Antrim County, Benzie County, Charlevoix County, Sheboygan, Clare, Crawford, Gladwin, Ayasco, Manistee, Misaki, Oceana, Ogema, Osceola, Otsego, and Wexford. And this year, we had all but two, I believe. We didn't get a Crawford County or a Misaki County, but we were able to get some or all wages for our positions from the rest of the county. So we had a fantastic turnout of wages, which, of course, always gives us the bigger picture than what we can ask for. The counties that are selected have been selected for market... market size budget demographics and comparable to Roscommon County and they've also Been able to help determine what our comparable job market is we've also used some counties in this to There's an active market for our the same level of talent that we have here and so some of the counties that were in here have been where we have lost employees to in the past and And so we added them in there and it actually kind of gave us a little bit more in the last few years has given us a better picture of what the market is really like. Before I continue, just on behalf of the 2025 committee members, our current wage and salary committee would really like to thank you guys as a board for your response and your regard of our recommendation for last year. It takes a lot of effort. A lot of time is spent gathering, reviewing the information, going through and trying to really pull together a comprehensive recommendation to give to you that Both serves your need as a board with needing to balance a budget, but also go along with what the trends are happening and really where the market is at for the positions that we have here. And so having this committee has really been able to create a bridge for better employee-employer relations. And last year, you guys heeding that recommendation really went a long way, not just with the committee, but with the employees and departments overall. So that was very much appreciated, and I wanted to make sure that we mentioned a thank you. So to get into the market comparison that we found, overall, the grades 1 through 10, our entirety of the non-union wage scale, was behind market average by a 1.5%. Truly, this is actually the lowest that we have seen in the past several years. i would say that it has to do with the awesome work that started in 2025 and then also continued in 2026 with attention to into the wage scale and making sure that we were trying to be competitive with the market last year we kind of discovered that grades one through six kind of fell into some cat a specific category and Grade 7 through 10 also kind of fell into their own. And just to refresh your memory, grades 1 through 6 are typically your hourly employees. Grade 7 through 10 are typically your salaried employees. So I also did put in the information that we found. If you're looking at just grades 1 through 6, We're about 2.5% behind the market average, and then grades 7 through 10 are about 2.76 behind the market average. But when you look at the entirety of 1 through 10, all of the positions, that's where we come up with the 1.5%. So despite all the amazing response that the board gave to our wage scale last year, we still sit, like I said, about a negative 1.5% behind. This probably most likely can be attributed to the fact that when we're doing our market analysis, we're doing it in the middle of a year, and everyone's fiscal year is a little bit different. And so when... Wage increases are going to be happening in the market. They are a little bit everywhere. So we're able to take what the data is at that time and apply that to our scale. And then, of course, try to use the best guesstimates that we can for the future. in order to be able to continue our budget process. Like I said, we are much closer than we have been in several years, which is awesome. So being behind is not necessarily, I think in this regard, a bad thing. I think it just has to do with our guesses and what the rest of our comparables are doing. A lot of their fiscal years don't start until They start in October, and so they may not be looking at those wages when we are, or maybe they've already looked at them, but they're not utilizing the same data that we are for our potential increases as well. So the cost of living history, that was a big discussion in the wage and salary group, and it always has been. But when I first started, I started in 2014. There had been a tracking since 2009 for the cost of living increase for the wages. Looking back at that, we also put in what the Social Security cost of living had been since 2009. And then also, I also tracked then what has been since 2020 when we implemented our wage system. And for the most part, during both of those periods, We have tracked just about at 50% of what Social Security cost of living has recommended. And of course, we don't necessarily have to meet Social Security, but that's a good benchmark to see where the markets are trending. And so that came into consideration for us with what our recommendation is. Not this last year, but trending, because we're trending in a positive direction. Something that we had mentioned last year, but we wanted to continue to mention, so that way we're not going in a negative direction. Recent years have shown uncharacteristic turnover in departments. So the committee wants to emphasize the benefit, of course, of longevity and motivating for talent. long-term costs associated with productivity. Obviously, you know, they will continue to be utilized towards rebuilding of departments instead of being able to invest that into your employees. The other thing that continues to weigh, excuse me, continues to weigh with the employees is their healthcare costs as they continue to adapt to finding extra dollars to put towards the building of their HSA accounts. to sustain those out-of-pocket costs that the 2025 health insurance change created. Of course, that did not exist prior to 2025. So we are still pretty close to that change. And it takes a while to build a few thousand dollars in an HSA account to be able to account for some of those expenses that you no longer had, which of course reset every year. So the recommendations that we came up with and the reasons that we would like to recommend, progress breeds opportunity. We want to continue the work initiated with the 2025 and 2026 wage scale adjustments. The history of the Wage and Salary Committee recommendations has stayed pretty much in line With the comparable job market values and cost of living adjustments even when we the board hasn't had the opportunity For our wage scale to do the same so Not so much to pat back of the committee, but it just shows that the committee is looking at the right numbers and trending in the right direction. So there is credibility there for you to be able to depend on. Stopping will essentially reset progress that the board has continued to invest the last few years. And it kind of moves into closing the gap. Since the last six years, we've trended about 50% of what the national cost of living adjustments have been. But progress in this continuing to bridge the gap aligns with the past committee recommendations. Like I said, the committee has been pretty much on par for the most part. and We have had two major Market adjustment periods within those cost of livings that have helped get us to where we are today So we're not you know 50% behind of the market in 2020. We had a major market adjustment with implementing the wage and salary committee and the wage system that we have today and And then there was a couple of rough years. 2023 was a really awful budget year. There were departments that were closed. There were people laid off. It was really, really hard. So obviously, you're not going to give people a raise when you're having to let people go. But that being said, there were several years that the board wasn't able to do any kind of cost-delivering adjustment. And so in 2025, that was the year that there was still a recommendation made from the wage and salary, but a total overhaul of the market analysis was done to our wage system. So those two things can contribute to the fact that we aren't 50% behind anymore. So the committee would recommend in totality of 4% cost of living adjustment For the entirety of the grade scale 1 through 10 this 4% does include the 3% that the Board of Commissioners already assumed to tell for Jody to put into the budgets for budget preparation so truly the recommendation is hey we agree with you and we think that 1% of in addition to that will help circumvent some of this or finding we're finding we're always trending just a little bit below average and I'm going to talk to that just a little bit more one of the things also that is super important to remember for the committee is that Funding for the HSA every year you guys have spoken a lot to Wanting to commit to being able to continue to do that and that's just also super important to the committee And would like if that ever changed the committee would like to be able to review and have a chance to be able to give a different recommendation So again like I said with consideration for the budget constraints the Recommended order is the three percent cost of living like you You guys have already implemented and told Jody and I to be able to go forward and put into Into the wages and the budgets for department heads to be able to present to you this reflects current market comparisons the trending cost of living and CPI reports and And concurrent and standing with other union contract negotiated increases for the fifth next fiscal year We do also of course Recommend the annual step increase this supports longevity and overall morale for the employees And then all the next would be that additional 1% cost of living to totality for 4% for the year of 2027. This just reflects the current market value, and without knowing how the market will increase, it helps to combat the trend of falling behind the cost of living average adjustments on a local and national scale. The financial page has some numbers about, OK, sure, this is great, but what does it actually cost? What does it mean? So the first line recommendation that you have there is the 1% adjustments of grades 1 through 10. Would do we have the first line is the 2027 current assumptions with just the three percent the wages are four million nine hundred and twelve dollars eighty four three eight hundred and forty three cents I'm sorry let me restart four million nine hundred and twelve dollars We go take a drink, thank you 2027 additional 1% scenario increases that to $4,960,746.39. So the difference between what you're currently looking at with the budget of the budget committee and doing a 1% additional would be $47,903.23 with the FICA total averaging about $3,664. What does this actually do to the general fund? Because that is all of the wages in totality across the board for all funds. The current 2026 wages for general funds sit at $3,054,602.75. The 2027 current budgeted wages, which is the 3%, is $3,193,890. I'm doing it again. $3,193,890.07. The 2027 additional 1% scenario makes that $3,232,244.31. So what all that means is the difference between 2026 wages to 2027 with the 3%, you're looking at $139,287.32 increase. That you're already seeing to the general fund with the budget presentations to add in an additional 1% for the general fund would be thirty eight thousand three hundred fifty four dollars and twenty four cents So you're told and then the bottom the one hundred seventy seven thousand six hundred forty one dollars and fifty six cents is the totality of a four percent recommendation for the general fund I Before I ask for questions, I just wanted to, not all of our members could come today, but we have a very good share of them. I will read, we have Sarah Briggs from Circuit Court, Keely Darcelle from Probate and Family Court, Kim Kersey from the Prosecutor's Office, Ginger Major from the Veterans Office, Will Tarrant from Animal Control, Amanda Turner from Central Dispatch, Shannon Chaganoff from the Jail, and then myself as an advisory. And I just wanted to be able to put the names to the work that you see in here And and if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer them When we look at comparables we compare benefit packages we do not We can it's just not us. It is not something that the wage and salary committee is tasked with We did try that once it The wage and salary right now is not built to do that. It's not something that can't be looked at. It's just not what's built for.

And we don't look at days off with pay in either of them?

Not in the wage and salary committee, no.

And then at the bottom, where it says, like, the total, the $177,641.56, and then next to it is the total FICA. Is that $13,589.58 in addition to the $177,000, or is that already in there?

No, it would be in addition to. Oh, okay. I just want to make sure. Yep, that would be the total FICA, yep.

That's OK. Sorry to do. Do you remember on this comparison, on page three or whatever, what were we at last time?

We were about 4% behind last year.

In the total grades? In total grades, yep. It was about four?

OK. We were more behind in the grades one through six than we were in the seven through 10.

Which is, I think that there was Correct. Correct. To refresh your memory. So last year the recommendation was to do a 4% increase to grades 1 through 6 and then a 3% 1 through 10 cost of living.

Yes, I'd like to see some care parables on benefits and days off of pay Because for a long time you always said people took this job because we're offered such a good benefit package That's changed over the years mm-hmm. I'd like to see some information on that

So we did do last year going into negotiations for the unions. We took all of those comparables. And I had all of that data as of October of last year. So that's something that you and I can just verify if it's accurate or not and just update that spreadsheet for.

Any other questions for Noelle?

So starting off thinking the 3%, you're wanting an additional one to help us not be trending below. So if we did that, the report next year would say we're not below.

Hopefully, yes. That is the intent of the additional 1% recommendation. And we took that 1% from the fact that we were about 1.5% behind. So thinking that trending right now, as of last night, the social security right now is trending around 3%. The consumer price index is about the same.

Yes. I'm in favor of 3% of the 1%. I'm going to work for that. I'm going to listen very closely to the county controller and the recommendation. Right now we have a 22% fund balance. It's important to realize that it's the folks that work in the county that put that together. At the same time, I want to make sure the future is healthy. So if we can get more of an increase, I don't want to do this next year that we're 2% or 3% behind. I'll listen very closely to the county controller. Thank you for your work. You're welcome.

Thank you. It just depends I think no they never responded which sometimes that can just be they were busy You know and just weren't able to maybe meet the timeline of when we needed the information I do also after I reach out I try extensively to do research and see if I can find and The information I'll look through board minutes. I'll look you know look through committee meeting You know minutes and things like that trying to figure out and some places will post it and some won't So I don't yeah I don't really think that it has anything to do so much Crawford has responded in the past and Misaki has also responded in the past so I We had some this year. We had some that we've never had respond to us, and they responded this year. So, and it's been awesome. And in fact, we, now that we've done this for, this is our, well, six, two, six. Yeah, this is our, technically, I guess, going into our seventh recommendation. Counties have continued to, reach out. I always offer to send it and I'll send it to anybody who responds. Last year, I did have people ask who didn't respond and apologize for not being able to, you know, give timely response to it, but still wanted our information. So I do think that the work that we're doing is not only helpful for us, but has actually been helpful for our other counties.

Sitting in on a lot of the different budget meetings and stuff I think that currently with what we have I think we have to see how that plays out With because we're still waiting on some numbers. We're waiting on insurance numbers Those are projected, but we don't have the hard numbers yet. We're also waiting on the information from equalization to give us that final text and Collection and things like that before we can really make any final decisions that would be my thought process on that but I

I really do appreciate the committee looking at all the counties. The ones that I would really want to have in there are the ones who didn't. Those are right next door. But it's helpful. That's the goal. We've got to gauge longevity down the way, not just this year's budget. What can we sustain?

Yeah, absolutely. And like I kind of said, we're here to advise you in making your decisions. So that way you have the current and most accurate as possible information to be able to make your decisions. Very, very. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you.

Next we have capital improvements building grounds director of maintenance just a man We have

We're looking at a total completion

Chair yes, I'd like to mention that Justin's done a lot of work on this and done a very good job Thank you Okay, nice job Thank You Justin

Next we have capital improvement IT our Andy couldn't be here today, so Our controller is going to give us this update so I will preface with we did go over this in Andy's presentation budget presentation so Commissioner sensor and Commissioner Morley are also already privy to all of this information and So last year, we had put into this budget year a new server project. And essentially what this would do is this new server would allow for you to log in from anywhere in the county, and your stuff is there. So instead of each individual computer being assigned to a person, all of your data is with your login. The best way that I can explain why this is better is just in a common day-to-day operation. For instance, I can take a sergeant desk that Sergeant Darso could log in, and any documents information that he has are at whatever computer he's able to access for that point. The other bonus to that is right now, every time we get 25 to 30 new computers annually for our staff to rotate in, each of those computers has to be built for that specific individual. We are a one and a half IT department for what should probably be a two and a half person IT department. The amount of time, I mean months and months once we get those computers in, to have those rebuilt and specifications for that person. By changing to this new server, that goes away. They log in, their stuff's there. So it's a set up and press the button and go. So there's zero downtime when the computer goes down as well because we can just switch that user to a new computer. The other portion of that is it really cuts down the actual cost of procuring your computer. So this is a long-term investment as well. So you're going to have less computers that you have to purchase because you don't need multiple computers at a station assigned to specific users for specific functions. Those specific users, again, if you're thinking of it like treasurer front desk, for PRE, Treasurer Front Desk 4, you can log in under you and perform all those same functions. When we initially quoted this for this budget year, it was roughly $58,000 that was put in for. It has almost doubled already when he went to order it. So we're at the point now where it was roughly $110,000 to get this project done. That being said, we will have a conversation about allocation of capital projects funding during our budget presentation. So we are looking to request that that additional money be allocated now so that we can get this project up and running because we know as of January 1 that we're anticipated to increase costs related to IT by about another 25%.

And if I'm not mistaken, when we asked Andy what he believed was the cost factor and why it jumped so much, He basically referenced the data centers and all the parts that are being used, and they're in short supply. So the quote that I know that he gave us is good through sometime in September. So that's why we want to allocate it now from the capital improvement fund versus waiting till after the first of the year where you're going to look at another substantial jump. And it would be nice just for any of our employees, you know, even the courts to be able to log in. If a computer goes down, they're not without, I mean, their information, police department, even our controller, that information can be accessed from any computer as long as they're logging into it. And if a hard drive fails, then they don't lose all their data as well.

That has happened.

That has happened. As much as I didn't have a lot on my computer, what I did have on my computer is gone from here.

So whatever we can do to improve the efficiency, it's going to double in price anyway.

Any other questions for Jody on this? With nothing further on the work session, then this meeting is adjourned and our budget and finance meeting starts at 11 o'clock.

Thank you. Okay.

But that just kind of shows you how things are coming in right now, people wanting to pay taxes. Our state reimbursements for our judicial salaries, which is roughly $90,000 right now, our court costs and our sting are also not yet received as of 7-31-26. And those all had happened last year at this point in time. On a positive note, our percent of expenses compared to this time last year, is 5.34% below our 2025 budget. That being said, the numbers are the same for we have 15 of 26 pay periods in 2026, 7 of 12 monthly retirement payments, and 8 of 12 monthly benefit premium payments made. And those are actually the same where we were at this time last year as well. So it is just a general expense downturn right now with our departments just doing a fabulous job of managing their budgets.

Madam Chair? Yes. The state not coughing up their money, is that of a concern? I mean, is there something going on at the state level that

It is not. To me, personally, I do it just as like people that don't come and pay their taxes on their house until the very last day, they're going to keep all the money they can until they absolutely can't keep it anymore. So my thought process is that we will probably see more of this come in in October when our new fiscal year starts, once they have to clean out those buckets in September. If it would have been our revenue sharing, I might be a little bit more concerned, but that is on par. I wanted to just start with now that we have all of our audit adjustments and final entries in with those beginning fund balances for 2026 and we do have this on for a further discussion. What's the presentations done? Just as a as a rehash our beginning fund balance as of 2025 was 2 million 167 I'M DOING A NOEL, $2,167,309.19. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR COLLECTED 2020, I SHOULD SAY 2026, OR 2025 REVENUES AND OUR 2025 EXPENDITURES LEFT US WITH A FUND BALANCE AS OF JANUARY 1, 2026, OF $2,948,782.19. Our 18% fund balance goal, so 18% of our total general fund expenses that have been budgeted, is $2,148,635.04. For the fund balance policy that was approved by the Board of Commissioners, that under or over goal would need to be assessed and reallocated and re-looked at. Obviously, if we were in the negative, we would be reviewing our budget. to look to see how to meet that and Because we are in the positive at six point seven percent over the fund balance goal This board will have an opportunity to make decisions about allocations to capital improvements Some of the other things that you've talked about health care savings accounts set aside funds those type of things So it's a it's a great pace to be So for fun Just because I like to make you read little print our 2026 beginning fund balances for post audit for some of our other funds I will just hit on some of the ones that I think of as highlights our sheriff road patrol fund is still sitting above the 25% that we like to see as far as making sure that they have enough to to run for an ample amount of time and They're at thirty four point thirty four percent at the beginning of this year I will caveat that sheriff has asked to be on the agenda for a budget adjustment at the next work session So we will probably see that dip at the end of this year again our animal shelter donations which are explicitly used for animal care the vet bills that come in and routine vets non routine vets Those are all paid out of that shelter donation program. It's very good. One of the areas that is of concern, and this is solely based on that huge project they had to do last year, is the animal control program fund itself. So our actual millage collections that operates both our animal control and our shelter. They ended the year with a 5.52% fund balance. So there is work to do and our director is Very aware of that and continues to pinch pennies. I will be I will be completely honest 43,000 is about 40,000 more than we initially thought we were going to end up when this project came out so That is due to good good management over at the shelter of being able to just cut things back a little bit more as we go emergency management is sitting below that 25%. They're at $35,712.48, but it is a new millage. So hopeful with this year's budget and next year's budget, we will be able to put additional funding set aside for that. We have some funds that we traditionally do not carry high fund balances in just because of the allocations that come from the general fund to that. We do like to have a little bit over Just in case there is some billings at the end that would be front of the court It's one of those that we like to keep just a little bit of money in there in case there's some bills or the state Doesn't pay us in a timely manner To be allocated for that so then we're not sending general fund money that way out of the fund balance for the year The other one that we do not keep a lot of money in is the indigent defense fund They actually they being the state actually will take any money we have left over at the end of each of their fiscal years and count that against what they pay us. So keeping money in there does us no good. What you save is used against you. So we are also looking at a pretty healthy E911 central dispatch fund balance. This, again, I will add that our director of E911 is ready to proceed with the tower booster program that we've been talking about for a year and a half now. With the passage of the millage, we feel a lot better about spending such a large chunk of money on a project. So we will see this also drop as well as it moves forward. The child care fund, we have tried to put a little bit of money into that the last couple of years to create actually a fund balance for the child care fund. As a reminder, One child with advanced care needs could set us back anywhere from $250,000 to $500,000 in a fiscal year. It has happened. It is scary. And that money comes directly from the general fund fund balance if it happens. So that being said, as we're trying to continue to build this over time, that fund balance becomes important. and helping us maintain our general fund balance as well for a long term. Spongy Moth is healthy. We didn't spray last year. We have that collection at a higher millage rate now. So that is important. Our Veterans Affairs Fund remains healthy. They have been working at a continued spend down of their fund balance to utilize that money in the bank to improve some of the annual events and some of the relationships that we have. For instance, the sheriff's representative that they assist with to have that direct link between veterans who may be incarcerated or arrested and in need of some veterans' legal, counsel, housing, medical, those types of things. One of our largest ones for fund balance is the animal shelter special projects fund. And to touch on that, that special project fund is money that has been donated to the animal shelter but has strings attached. So they have said, I am donating my estate to the animal shelter. However, I only want it to be used for dog adoptions. Or I only want it to be used to improve the environment that felines who are in the animal shelter live in. So it's very specific about what we can utilize that for. So as we get those donations, and we have some extremely generous people with some very strong passions for certain animals, that is that specific fund that it goes into. So we can make sure that those are managed the way that they're who have been managed to honor those wishes. Some of the other funds that we have are, we don't really have a lot, but just to kind of show you where your fund balances are for the SADs as of January 1 for Higgins, Houghton, and Lake St. Helens are listed at the bottom. Higgins was at 26,116.34. That actually includes the $160,000 that we allocated over. So obviously, if that allocation from the general fund fund balance had not been made in 2025, we would be at a negative, which we're not allowed to be at. So the Holton Lake one was at $658,516.26. and Lake St. Helen, 249, 597, 74. So both of those are right on par with those projects and the timing of getting into bidding for building those structures. 2026, revenues to date for our funds. I divided them into two categories. Funds 101, general fund, through 272, which is the juvenile justice fund. As you can see, still a little low on 101, and we will see that within the next few months as those taxes start building up for the ad valorem. We will see that come come to fruition, 207, 214. So those are special millage funds for both the sheriff and emergency management, nearly 100% for those. 274 through 861. 861 is our last St. Helens. like level control structure. So again, you see those special funds as they come through that are really doing a good job with the collection of the millages, 298, which is your Veterans Affairs as well. Overall, our fund revenues to date are comparable to where they always have been. There are really few that are lower. EDC special projects, obviously that will remain low because we're not doing anything with that. So there's no money coming in. So that is why you're going to see revenues low to that area as well. We have not received any allocations for the CPE training fund yet this year. We'll just say state. But there are still funds available for that training as they move forward that are actually in the fund balance for that. The law library, we just haven't allocated all the money yet. So that one will come to be 100% by the end of the year. With our EDC revolving loan fund, that's another one that we just didn't loan anything, so we're not bringing anything back in. And we won't be doing that this year unless there's some other project that comes about and is presented to the board for that money to be utilized for. We are doing the program income fund, which is what we're collecting to Divi back out for those projects those repairs In the houses has actually exceeded our expectations It has been a good year for projects and then collecting monies that is owed to us for that the county housing administrative fund we have paid out a portion of what is owed to the Crawford County Housing Administration What they have done for us this year so far And that is money that has been allocated through our actual program income funds because we exceeded the dollar amount that the state says we have to reach so Commission on aging they are still 100% allocated and the only other one is your airport fund, but the portion of that is is That 883 347 and revenues that will include the audit adjustments will do at the end of 2026 for that state and federal money That comes in and out When we're looking at where we're at for expenses to date for all of our funds across the board We are right on par at the 50% mark across the board. We have some that are lower 202 is the road repair millage So those bills have not come into us yet to be reimbursed to the Road Commission, because obviously those projects are all done July, August, early September. So when those comes in, you'll see those buckets have emptied out, so those expenses will even out as well. We also are looking at some of the smaller funds, 217, 222. Those ones are ones that we don't normally expend out of anyhow, because they're 25 cents on every tax or something that goes into a welfare fraud account or something of that nature that we don't really expend out of. So as far as funds 274 through 861, you'll see again 283 is your commission on aging. So that's an in and out account. 292 is child care. So that's kind of in a graph format. It's really nice to look at that those expenses are being managed well. So there is some of that caveat in there for if there is an off off chance of something being expended as well Really as far as looking at those different funds with their expenses to date the biggest ones that have jumped out at me while I was while I was analyzing brownfield redevelopment and that is actually simply they hired a contractor this year we will need to eventually do a budget adjustment to match out to what they're paying so that is simply a matter of the budget was put in at 1500 then they hired somebody and actually have projects going on so an unanticipated expense but plenty of money to cover that as well the edc special projects that is the transfer out create our fresh water trails fund so the allocation already happened to create that new fund in there and that's what pushes that a little bit higher correction training fund is those new new officers that are sent to correction training we have had some turnover we have a year to get a new hire as a corrections officer sent to the Corrections Academy So we have had several this year Again EDC there's no money being spent In the revolving loan funds for that and you can see the positive the same positives for the program income fund and Or the materials management plan Which is at a hundred percent, but? So we're doing doing pretty well in those areas as well as they come in our Lake st. Helen Holton Lake Higgins Lake Holton Lake Lake st. Helen Those again are shots in the dark of how much we thought we were going to spend But if you look at the total to date at least it can show you where we're at you're to date for that as well, so the other portion of that to kind of be considerate and to draw to your attention is your last two, which are really important to us, 860 and 861. So that is your debit service for Holton Lake and Lake St. Helens bonds. So we want those to be fully expended, because that means our bond payments have been paid. Lake St. Helens was paid in full this year, and Holton Lake will have one year left to pay. So a general fund. all of our major activities, our department fund-to-date revenues. 000 was our main collection for the general fund that has your ad valorem taxes, your revenues, your court cost allocations, cost allocations from non-primary departments. So we're getting there slowly but surely. We still have about 75% to collect, but considering that More than half of that revenue that comes in is tax-based. And we know that our taxes aren't fully collected. That makes sense. For Departments 284 through 918, we are doing actually fairly well across the board for all of those in expenses. We don't have anybody traditionally that's really high or really low as far as revenue is being collected. You can see that that primary, the 2026 budgeted to the revenues to date, you can see that is really where you have that change in those major collection areas, not having collected our full allocation for the ad valorem tax yet. So that's at 18.8%. Board of Commissioners, you don't collect a lot of revenues, but I want you to be proud of yourself because you're at 64.62%. That is your... Those of you that attend meetings where there's a per diem, that is you attending your meetings, because the county then gets those per diems back. So if a commissioner in years where you might go back and see we didn't collect those per diems, that's because nobody went in person to those meetings. So therefore, we did not collect a per diem. So that's kind of like your little report card right there. So good job. Thank you. A jury commission, that is the reimbursement that we get from the state based on how much they decide they want to give us. They have a bucket of money. Every year they decide how much each county is going to get reimbursed up to a certain percentage. So that is what we budget for traditionally is $2,500, because it can be a shot in the dark as we move forward. For me, I just had FOIA fees. So anytime there's a big FOIA, it makes me happy. Some of the other areas to kind of note on our elections that is a reimbursement That has come back into us from township for and school districts for special elections That offsets the expenses that were incurred for that as well Our courts are actually right where our courts normally are at this at this time of year central services The 50% of our total expenses are reimbursed by Ogamaw County So we're right on par for that the same is for the district services fund 287 That is the reimbursement for expenses that we get for our shared district services as well Friend of the court there's a certain percentage of money that front of the court collects that is returned to the general fund this year those boxes that have to be checked are For us to get that money have all been checked and it has been a great year in that category as well our prosecuting attorney's office has received allocations for certain representations as far as where we sit for Reimbursements for certain services that are performed. So that's one to be proud of They're also going to be one that's going to be lower in their expenses because of the turnover we had at the beginning of the year So another area, courthouse security, we have exceeded that budgeted revenue as well. That is reimbursements for transfer of our federal inmates. So that is a great, great thing. And while I'm continuing on that, because these are both Lieutenant Beck and Sheriff's budgets, so they'll go kind of hand in hand for me as an attaboy, our corrections department, 351, is already at 76.89% of their projected. Again, that is in large part due to those federal inmates and in a portion to the Oscoda County inmates as well. But obviously, for us to be that on par and that over, that means that the billings are happening and being done in a timely manner. So that makes me happy. So as we look at our expenses to date for the general fund, you can see that 50% of central services have expended, which goes with that reimbursement. Looking forward, buildings and grounds is a little high. Justin's been very busy fixing things around here. But they're within his budget, so we will give him that. A lot of things happen in the summer around here and then slow down again in the winter for that. in our departments overall. Obviously, for the most part, things are on par. I'm still a little high. We have all of our longevity that's been spent, so I apologize for that. But we will even out and not be over budget this year. We're a little high in MIS, but that is all those computers that get purchased at the beginning of the year. And I know this sounds really silly. So the mailroom expenses are actually a little bit higher. And one of the areas that affects our mailroom greatly is the amount of jury service notices we have to send out. So the more jury trials we have predicted, the more jury trial service forms that the clerk's office has to send out, the more postage we spend. It all goes together in the long run. We are also doing really well in most areas for expenses. As you look across the board, buildings and grounds, as I mentioned, just slightly high, but still on track to be on budget. This is the next, 286 through 648. 286 is the district court, 287 district shared services. 648 is the medical examiner. Of all of these, the ones to kind of look at across the board, looking at the jail and where the jail actually lies. So they are currently at 61% of their total expenses. Percentage-wide expenses to revenues, they are doing much better than they normally do. So I'm still giving them a gold star for now. Some of the other areas that we've been looking at ORV patrol Some of those come in at the beginning of the spring and as we we move forward with that You'll see the rest of that be expended out here as ORV season hits a little bit harder in the fall as well So that will probably be fully expended by November would be my guess The good news with that one is the grant that we have been awarded is a hundred percent reimbursement so if we go over we get what we go over back as well. So that's a happy thought. We're a little bit higher on our medical examiner than I would like to be. I mean, just slightly for 58%. And that is due to having six unclaimed bodies so far this year. And just a little 649 to 990, which is our mental health. That includes transports on behalf of mental health and then the appropriation to the Northern Lakes community mental health as well for that. So that's right about 50%, which sits well. The employee's hospital insurance, that will actually represent, has a little bit in there that is leftover expenses for retirees that were on the HSA, or I'm sorry, HRA. So that trends up a little bit higher as it does as well. In regards to some of the ones, I want to point out 992, which is the unit's Work Comp. That is our Work Comp Fund. So we pay the Work Comp Fund in two increments, at the beginning of the fiscal year and at the middle of the fiscal year. And as soon as I receive our audit back that tells me how much each department and fund costs for workers' compensation, I go through and I do the allocation through the budget. So right now, it's at a negative, because that allocation's already been put in. But I have a bill sitting on my desk to pay. So you will actually see that go back up again. And it normally just about evens out, depending on how that audit comes out. We still have transfers out obviously for MIDC and landfills that are that are available Looking at our child care fund we'll have additional transfers out for that and then that transfers out liquor tax is Taking money and sending that out to an MRE when they bill us as well, so we essentially pay that as they bill us and So for our payrolls by fund to date, we are right on trend with where we always hope to be at this time of year. General fund is at 55.62%. Really the only departments that we have that are slightly higher than what we had actually budgeted. Juvenile justice is a little bit over, but there were Looking at that, the amount of payments we learned when we were looking at budget versus what was being billed through for payroll did not line up based on a change. So we'll have that completely corrected for 2027. And Jake and I spent lots of quality time together making sure that the percentages line up with the dollar amounts for moving forward. Basically, it represents one additional payroll. And then our largest overage is simply because we had no idea what we were looking at with the special assessment districts and a lake manager. Those obviously are above budget for what we would want at this time of year for that as well. But again, that was a shot in the dark type of budget as we moved forward. Benefits by fund to date. We obviously are one month ahead in our payments of all of our benefits And your benefits includes not only health care But obviously your dental your vision It also includes payments for short-term disability as they come through as well So anything that falls into that category is lumped up into the benefits for that It also includes workers compensation payments so as the departments work billed by me for workers' compensation, that of course increases their benefits by fund to date. So the overall, the ones that you're going to look at and go, oh my gosh. So Sheriff Road Patrol, animal control, emergency management, specialty courts, opiate settlement funds, anything basically that is over budget for benefits by fund is directly related to the amount that was charged for workers' compensation. And that is because when they do the audit and they're looking at a historical pattern, that ratio that they use to charge them based on our total payroll gets adjusted up if there's more incidents. My sheriff department and our animal control program have been champions of Small incidents, nothing major, nothing big, but a cat bite, a dog bite, a slip and fall, those type of things. Those all go into those work and compensations buckets and send us up. Historically, those are our two highest. Anyhow, this year we just have had a couple years of bad luck as it runs through that. So emergency management was a new department, so we took a guess at what their percentage would be for this. They are going to be a higher rate comparable to a sheriff's road patrol So if somebody that could potentially be in a direct line as that moves forward opiate settlements the same thing we took a direct Yes Of what that was going to be at and I anticipated that they would rate that position similar to like an administrative position, but because it's housed in the jail and deals directly with inmates and it pushed that rate up to more close to road patrol corrections type of. Just to keep us up as a slide, because I know we talk a lot about our HSA, and so I thought it would be good for everybody to see. The pretty green color is the percentage of our HSA as the total cost to our benefits. So just an idea of When we're allocating that money, when we're saying that we're willing to put forward x amount towards the deductible for our employees, what does that look like out of that total benefit cost for us? And broken down by fund, it averages about 16% across the board for all of the funds, some higher than others just depending on usages. We have younger people in our Sheriff Road Patrol fund. There are more single plans. So as those come out, you can see. But the general average is about 16% of what we pay for benefits for our employees is HSA. Retirement to date, again, we are doing really well on where we're trending across the board. Payments are all up to date in all of our categories. We have the back payments for making that changeover for 261. So there was a jump in between last quarter and this quarter because we had to do catch up as far as once that new plan, that hybrid plan went into play, they did a big billing, basically, is the best way I can think of to explain to it. But overall, we are doing fairly well with where our retirement by fund to date is. We do have Central dispatch obviously we had that large kind of upfront that had to go in so that increased that number we will eventually as Jessica moves forward Getting some some things settled we're going to go through and we will do a budget adjustment for that retirement the original budget we didn't have those final figures for hybrid to be approved because of all of our timing with the contract last year and But her budget is able to sustain that change, so that will work well. And that is all I have for the actual presentation. Anybody have any questions?

Madam Chair?

Yes.

Survey and remodulation. only spent three point nine six percent is that a seasonal issue or It's not gonna hit budget this year.

Nope. They will so that is a that is the grant from the state of Michigan for doing all those corners and What they do traditionally is they'll work on it those contractors for surveying will work on that throughout the summer months and then turn in one big bill to us and The amount that was allotted to them so it goes from absolutely nothing except for the teeny bit that we pay to the survey remand person To everything being spent all at once. Oh They're by the end of September because they they'll have to have it all spent by then to get reimbursed by the state Any other questions

Next we have the allocation of fund balance overage for 2025 So I touched on at the very beginning of this that our

Fund balance policy for the county of Roscommon with the general fund That if we were sitting at that over under the assessment in the decision-making by the Board of Commissioners the initial the initial amount that we have is eight hundred thousand one hundred forty seven dollars and fifteen cents that the board has to make a determination of appropriate allocations and The policy is that the first priority is allocation to our capital projects fund. And that is to make sure that we're never in the position that we're in now, where we had to wait seven years to replace a boiler and a boiler system. I'm sure that's probably in the long run cost us more money with inefficiency. So me, I'm hopeful. to seeing that continue to grow. So based on that figure, we have had conversations throughout the meetings for the individual budgets. Additionally, there have been conversations in these board meetings of a few costs that would be looked at as far as Expenditures from capital projects in the next two years that have come to board Put it big so you can see that Obviously our largest one is that boiler replacement? That is I put 640 in Commissioner Wolfson I know that we don't know exactly what the bid is, but I believe that was the highest of those three lowest and I know that the low ones are We also have the costs associated with putting everybody on that same system to manage in there as well. So I know that that may be something that gets adjusted as the committee looks at that for moving forward. The very first one, which is the BS&A Cloud. We are going to the BS&A Cloud. Whether we wanted to go to the BS&A Cloud or not, That is where we are going to have to go. BS&A is the software company that runs a lot of our major think stuff for day-to-day operations in the county administrative side. That is our treasurer's office. That is equalization. That is cash receding. That is the general ledger activity. That is our animal control for licensing issuance. that is the fun thing online that everybody can go and look up what everybody else pays for their property taxes and who owns what property. That is our accounts payable software, and to all of our employees, that is our payroll. So they are moving, BSNA is moving to the cloud, and either we have to find a different software, which I'll be honest, neither myself nor Marcy nor our equalization director are able to find anything comparable that we're interested in or that where each module works for the three different offices. They have given us a cost breakdown of what that looks like for us. The initial cost to put that into play, which would actually need to be paid this year in order for us to be able to have The project set where we could be active on the cloud in 2028, they would need us to pay that by the end of September. So that initial down payment is $24,890. My request would be that we utilize the capital projects to put into that. That way, there is not any change in overages in the general fund budget for that. We can look at that as a benefit to everybody Especially when you throw payroll in there And it is kind of a drop in the bucket I will say that there are two other payments that will come but those are not out of capital projects There is a second payment that will be invoiced in 2027 or I'm sorry in 2028 and once the subscription starts, once we're active. But that is actually the new annual implementation. And we don't need to talk about right now because it gets a little scary when you start looking at how much that costs. But it will be something that happens. And then the other one will be in 2028 as well to be invoiced upon completion of training. But we can budget into 2028 for that based on what we've been forecasting out so far. The second portion of this is our airport internet project. Our airport is not manned by our IT department. They are separate. They have no connection to the county as far as IT and IT support. It leaves us in a couple different precarious situations. We can't hook up any type of camera system over there. Obviously, just being able to have that access and improved internet as well is a benefit to anyone who comes to our airport. The total cost of that project is $17,500. That timeline is October 26th. Boiler replacement is obviously our largest project. And obviously, that is something that we have already, this board has already made the decision that this will we'll move forward out of capital projects. It is, for the most part, what we have in our fund balance for capital projects covers the actual boiler replacement with the estimate of 640. We discussed the server replacement a little earlier, looking at about 110,000. We have, hopefully, a sidewalk replacement for the rest of the building to be budgeted in for 2027. Roughly 32,000 world will be doing about double the work that is going to happen Begin in the next couple weeks on the sheriff's side of the building And then potentially if we can't fit it into the budget the BS&A cloud change over on December 27th So that's just my little head. So that total is 878 540 With that There was one that I know and this one well I

You had to leave when we talked with Jamie. She's getting a quote for equalization. OK. And I don't, we don't have that yet.

OK. Is that for the total flyover remapping? Is that, OK. My guess is that'll be probably anywhere between $10,000 and $20,000 just based on when we did it five years ago and what that cost was.

Yeah, I don't know, because she talked about something about six-inch imaging, then down to three-inch. And so she was going to get some proposals on what that looked like.

Yep, she copied me on request for that. And as soon as they have it, we'll bring that in. So thank you for that. I will add that with question marks to our list. Your fund balance for your capital improvement fund as of January 1 was $547,823.04. if that kind of helps you in your mind with your total bucket of where you go. Plus then you've got another $800,000 that you could do. So some of the other things, not talking about capital projects, that have been discussed by this board that I just wanted to bring forward. One of them is we have had the conversation of doing a set aside for HSA funding. There has been a very passionate commitment by this board to try to continue to fund that for as long as possible for our employees. We are looking at roughly right now, for 2027, 270,000. That's without knowing exactly where we can, as we get a little closer to open enrollment and we know who has what, that's based on what people currently have as active benefit types right now. We have also additionally discussed continuing to build that child care fund to cover any of those unforeseen costs. We've had the conversation of, hey, if we could even get $250,000 in the bank to cover one bad kid, that would be great. We're at $102,000 right now. I'm not saying or suggesting in any way, shape, or form. I'm just saying those are kind of max numbers of what we would be looking for for that. My thought was that you guys might want to put this on like a work session for discussion moving forward. I think we do need a work session.

I know that during the different budget stuff that we've discussed and stuff like that, knowing what capital improvements are, One of the things I'll bring up is because especially like the boilers, the BSNA, the server, those, and even whatever equalization ends up being too, they benefit the county, obviously, and the employees as a whole. So I think we need to add to the capital improvement fund. But I also believe that for future, I believe in 2027, we've kind of figured in the HSA. So this bucket would be for maybe a year where the funds aren't available based on future county needs. So I think A couple hundred thousand to go into that just to set aside and then maybe the rest into the child care fund to still put money in there and not just leave it out altogether. But that's just my, because the boiler project alone would wipe out what we have in capital improvements.

When you look at the new sidewalk, the building was built in 2007. It's 20 years old, I think. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you said $27,000. It's just needed for...

Correct. So I don't know. I threw round numbers of like maybe putting $50,000 into child care fund, $200,000 into HSA, and $550,000 into capital improvements.

One more time, sorry.

Like $50,000 into child care, $200,000 into the HSA, and the rest, the remaining, because there's some change in there, into capital improvements.

It's a good start.

But just think about it so that on a work session we can.

As Judy mentioned earlier, half a million dollars from . We might even want to be more aggressive than that .

I think it just kind of depends too on where some of our capital improvements come in at. Because we definitely don't want to be bonding. for any capital improvements. Those are just my thoughts on it. Anybody else's thoughts? Speak up.

The boiler we were talking about for seven years, eight years? Yeah. It was way back. We were talking about that. It needs to be done quickly. Let us finally see a question. Okay.

I really loved seeing this PowerPoint, you know, where you kind of wrote down what the balance was and all the details. If I could take that. this information and put it onto one so we can go, all right, if you've already said yay to both, I mean, there's certain things, if we don't say the now, it's gotta be spent. September, October's around the corner, and we've gotta get those people in line, correct? There's certain things that, quick.

Yeah, IT stuff, he's on a timeline, I know. BS&A, for sure, is on a timeline.

Almost automatically go, they've got to go. Where are they going and now what do we have left that we can continue to keep funds good, you know, longevity and not spending it all at once and going now we don't have any fund balance to work with, you know. So I think putting those key pieces together would help in a work session and then I think we can give approval quick on the things that they need.

Dragging that out too long so that we have a higher bid going forward Yeah, cuz when did Andy need a Cuz I know his was Lunchtime I was into September Okay I just wasn't sure if the second work session was gonna work for him to approve it or if it was gonna have to be the first one before the bid was Possibly no longer valid I will double-check the date and let you know.

I don't like adding more, necessarily, but these key things with this number, just a one-pager that put it all in one, here's what we need, and that way, if we can look at that in advance, have a one-pager, we've all heard it, seen it, asked questions, and then... Because I know the boiler needs to come up, too.

Yep, because they'll meet today, they'll make their decision... And then we need to be able to approve that for them to get going on it.

Yeah. I don't want to hold those up.

And I know BS&A was the same way.

In order to get on the books, we needed- Can we make sure that those, Jody, are the ones that were pretty much guaranteed ? Right.

Because the boiler's obviously priority. Yes. We have to have hot water, and we have to have heat, especially coming into the seasons. And we definitely can't leave the jail without heat and hot water.

At that point, we might even get whatever from equalization so that we could prioritize. What can we fit in in 27? Go ahead and try to make somewhat of a commitment for 28. Like, OK, these were still high priority. Where are they going to fit? And at least if it's not in 27. whomever is needing that knows that it could be there for that next year. I don't know. I don't know if all of it, if it all can fit and we still got money, I'm good doing it all because they're all needed. It's just a matter of can we do that.

Right.

I'm just not quick enough today to put those numbers together.

Yeah. Nor do I expect you to be. Yep.

Madam Chair, I know at one point we talked about updating our personnel handbook. And then we also transitioned into talking about hiring a company for our policies. How do those fit into the budget?

So the hiring of that company, which we are going to get back to now, because I think they're finally to a point where their number is below what I was budgeted for, we do have $10,000 budgeted into the Board of Commissioners budget this year for that expenditure. But it would be for one year. And that is one of my issues, is in order to keep that up, then I've got to budget into 27, 28, 29. as well. So that's where I've been working with them to move forward. And since all of my conversations, now my Sheriff's Department and 911 have chosen not to use that company and moved to a different company now.

Well, the problem with that is we have a need for it this year.

Yes.

Next year, we might not have any need for the service. Correct.

And I will get with Marcy and verify the actual cash in the bank with the interest that she's accrued to date and

To make sure you've got that total number of this is the actual cash in. Yep. Because there have been interest allocations as well.

Can we do that at that September work session? Are we going to need to put it quickly on for a vote?

Seems like it. We'll have to find out when they have to. If we have to call a meeting, we'll have to call a meeting.

Okay with that. I just don't want to keep them on hold.

Right. Yeah, that was my thought. I'm not a big fan of special meetings.

If we need one to get things approved so that people can get going.

Once we know we've discussed it and we see all those numbers, we can move forward and then we'll not have to just do a special to make the motions to approve it. Because it's easy for that to get put. I mean, it's so easy. Between a work session and everything that people need on the agenda. Sometimes it just pushes it out. I don't want them to be behind on getting those bids.

Any other questions or comments? So we'll have to figure out, too, with that manual. That's all that. Okay Next we have motions and resolutions which there are none public comment any public comment Board comment Anybody okay we have no further comment this meeting is adjourned. Thank you

Yeah, that is a lot.

Yes.