County makes another fund transfer for payroll

By Editor | May 11, 2011 |

With barely enough members on hand for a quorum, the Fayette County Board approved on Tuesday another fund transfer to ensure that the county could meet payroll.
Eight of the board’s 13 current members were present for the meeting, which included a transfer of $250,000 from the county’s capital improvement fund to the general fund.
“We don’t actually need it right now, but we’re close,” board Chairman Steve Knebel told board members.
“I thought we’d put this resolution out there just in case,” Knebel said.
This is the third transfer from the capital improvement fund, which was established in November 2007 with the roughly $5.5 million the county received for its coal rights. The other transfers were made in April and May of last year.
The county is needing to make the fund transfers due to the state’s failure to remain current on money owed to the county for such things as sales taxes and salary reimbursement for county officials.
Also at the meeting, the board approved the county’s GIS (geographic information system) policy, procedures and fee schedule as presented by county Supervisor of Assessments Cindi Lotz.
Lotz told board members that the county spent about $500,000 four or five years ago to obtain the GIS information, with the work being paid for through a GIS fee paid on every document filed at the county clerk’s office.
The GIS information, she said, “is a very valuable tool” that many entities may use, and that she currently gets four or five requests for this information each month. “I have five setting on my desk right now,” she said.
In drawing up Fayette County’s GIS document, Lotz “looked at several counties that are similar to us.”
She said the GIS data can be obtained only by contacting her office, and said that the information “can only be used for a specific purpose.” Those asking for the information will be required to state what they plan to do with the information.
The county’s goals for GIS, according to the document that Lotz has prepared, include:
• To provide a cost-effective means for coordinating, sharing and disseminating location-based information in an equitable manner.
• To enhance communication among local, regional, state and federal government agencies, as well as utilities, businesses and industries through cooperation and data integration.
• To promote increased awareness about GIS technology and applications to the public and private agencies.
• To coordinate the development of GIS databases within Fayette County in order to reduce redundancy and increase efficiency.
• To provide technical assistance for Fayette County GIS projects. To update and maintain Fayette County’s digital cadastral base map. To maintain the Fayette County digital orthophotos. To create and maintain GIS data standards for Fayette County.
• To assist with compiling and maintaining information (metadata) about Fayette County GIS data.
Lotz estimated that she has the authority to determine who can receive the information, and she estimated that the county will receive $30,000-$40,000 annually in GIS fees.
In other action:
• The board approved the low bid of $674,018.80 from Howell Asphalt Co. in Mattoon for the rehabilitation of the Ramsey-Fillmore Road.
The bid was accepted in a 7-1 vote, with Wade Wilhour casting the dissenting voice.
Wilhour asked County Engineer Michael Maxey to explain “the logic behind paving.
“I could see (doing this) if things were better (financially,” he said. “If we’re going to fix a road, this is one of the better roads.”
Maxey said the road is in need of rehabilitation. “If it was (one of the better roads), I wouldn’t be doing it. If we wait three, four, five years, it’s going to be worse.”
Maxey said that the project is being done with federal and state funds, and that those funds can only be used on roads that the federal government determines are eligible.
He said that he knows some county residents want the county to pave more roads, “but we have to take care of what we have before we add paved miles.”
Wilhour said he believes the county would be better off to “just maintain” the road instead of rehabilitating the entire stretch, and that officials in this and other counties should be turning down federal funds they don’t really need, to help address the federal debt.
That’s a good thought, Knebel said, “but it’s not going to happen.”
If Fayette County gives up the funds, he said, they will go to someone else.
“So, do we not take advantage of something given to us? If we do, somebody else gets it,” Knebel said. “I would hate to give it back, and three or four years from now, it’s not there.”
Maxey added, “They (the federal government) want every dollar spent. The federal government says, ‘If they’re not using the money, they must not need it.
“The one thing that has held up for us is the federal money,” he said.
While it continues to get federal dollars, the county is struggling to get all of its state Motor Fuel Tax funds.
“Instead of oiling 65 miles every year, we’re oiling 35 miles a year,” Maxey said.
• The county set the cost of a civil union license at $20, which is what the county charges for a marriage license.
The measure passed in a 5-3 vote, with Wilhour, Jeff Beckman and Troy Pattillo voting against it.
• The board approved the re-appointment of Harold Baumann of Vandalia to the Fayette County Board of Review and the appointment of Donna Chrisman of Vandalia to the board. Each will serve a two-year term that runs through May 31, 2013.
• The board approved the re-appointment of William Robison of rural Brownstown to the Brownstown Fire Protection District. His three-year term expires on the first Monday in May 2014.
• The board approved a preliminary engineering agreement with HLR Inc. of Springfield for a drainage improvement project from St. Peter to Shobonier.
• The board approved a $7,000 appropriation from the county bridge fund for the replacement of a culvert on County Road 2500 North in South Hurricane Township.
• The board approved a request from County Treasurer Rose Hoover to allow banks in the county to accept real estate and mineral taxes for her office.
The banks include First National Bank in Vandalia, Ramsey and Patoka; National Bank in Vandalia; Fayette County Bank in St. Elmo: Midland States Bank in Vandalia and Farina; First National Bank of Brownstown; and First State Bank of St. Peter.
• Fayette County Clerk and Recorder Terri Braun reported that the county had received $7,200 reimbursement for the April consolidated election. With the reimbursement, the county’s cost per voter dropped from $17.67 to $15.20 per voter.