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County hikes fees

Upon receiving the results of a cost study recommending that the county increase many of its fees, the Fayette County Board approved those increases.
The board also approved an agreement to have the firm that performed that cost analysis to serve as an operations consultant to the county.
Bruce DeLashmit of the Bloomington-based Bellwether LLC told board members that the cost study of the county clerk and sheriff offices showed that fee increases are needed.
“We’re finding that Fayette County has gotten way behind on the fees they charge for the services rendered,” DeLashmit said.
In presenting ordinances calling for the fee increases, board Chairman Jeff Beckman said that the information in the cost study report contains “some of the issues we’ve been uncovering as far as the budget goes.”
The board agreed at its June meeting to pay Bellwether $12,000 for that cost study. On Tuesday, it agreed to have the firm continue working with the county on an ongoing basis to assist with operations.
DeLashmit said that Fayette County is not the only one in Illinois with financial struggles, and that his firm can help the county deal with its issues.
“A little more than 50 counties (out of 102) are in the same financial circumstances,” DeLashmit said.
In the cost study, he said, he “looked at the actual costs of the services” provided by the county clerk and sheriff offices.
The fee increases approved through two ordinances are:
• Land records – $42 to $62.
• Non-land records – $40 to $52.
• Condo/plat documents – $80 to $90.
• Birth certified – $7 to $15.
• Death certified – $9 to $19.
• Marriage – $35 to $50.
• Certified copy-marriage – $7 to $15.
• Additional certified copies-marriage – $4 to $6.
• Additional certified copies-birth – $4 to $6.
• Additional certified copies-death – $6 to $10.
• Business, assumed name – $5 to $30.
• Business, changed name – $1.50 to $30.
• Notary, in person – $10 to $17.
• Notary, by mail – $5 to $17.
• Tax redemption – $5 to $89.
• Other copies – $2.
• Search fee – $10.
DeLashmit estimates that with the increases, the new fee revenue will be about $93,000.
In presenting the fee increases, DeLashmit said that by statute, counties are allowed to charge fees to cover their costs to provide services, and not anything beyond that.
In recent years, he said, the county has not been charging fees that reflect their costs.
For example, “Historically, you have been subsidizing the expense of somebody bonding out of jail,” he said.
In his proposal for a contract, DeLashmit said that with the cost study completed, he would continue working with the county on other ways to address financial issues.
“Our goal is to have a budget by Dec. 1 … and a financial model for 2018, 2019 and 2020,” he said.
“We are proposing to work with every department throughout the year in a budget-constrained environment,” he said.
“We uncover everything … we ask questions about everything,” DeLashmit said, referring to his firm’s work on helping the county offices to operate within a budget.
“The key is … we manage it (budget) every single month,” he said.
“We don’t take the place of the treasurer or committees or department heads – but we track it (the budget) on a monthly basis,” DeLashmit said.
He said that his work would include getting with department heads to reduce the time cycle for the first tax distribution and “initiate labor-based reviews to indentify practices that result in unnecessary labor costs, including overtime and equipment.”
In trying to deal with its financial issues, he said, the county has “probably done all of the easy things.”
Now, DeLashmit said, it’s time to do an analysis into “staffing, negotiations … literally every operating concern in the county.”
When a county is having trouble with its finances, he said, “Counties instinctively go, ‘Oh, we’ve got to lay people off.
“You can’t try and lay off your way out of it.”
The employees who would be laid off, he said, “are the least expensive labor you’ve got, and in the first year, you will pay unemployment and collect about 40 cents on the dollar for your labor costs.”
DeLashmit asked that as a consultant, he be a non-voting member sitting with the board at meetings to answer questions and provide input.
As far as assistance with negotiations, DeLashmit said Bellwether will “at a moment’s notice, tell you the cost of any decision you make.”
The contract with Bellwether calls for the firm to begin working with the county on Aug. 1, but DeLashmit said the Bellwether preferred to begin working with the county right away.
That was the case, as DeLashmit, as well as county department heads, joined board members in a 25-minute closed session to discuss negotiations matters.
Later in the meeting, talking about having Bellwether work with the county, Beckman said, “I think we took a big step in the right direction.”
Beckman thanked County Clerk and Recorder Vicky Conder for doing research on the issue and getting in touch with DeLashmit.
Also at Tuesday’s meeting:
• The board also approved an increase in the court security fund, from $25 to $75, as recommended through the recent cost study.
• County Treasurer Rose Hoover told board members that she has used $245,000 of the $400,000 transferred from the capital improvement fund to the general fund last month.
Hoover said that the county ended June with a deficit of $70,000 in the general fund, but that she cashed in a certificate of deposit for $150,000, giving that fund a positive balance of $80,000.
She said that her office had received the state income tax for April from the state, $146,350, but no other monies due from the state since getting those for March.
• Hoover reported that her office will be sending out tax bills this Friday. The first tax installment will be due on Aug. 15 and the second on Sept. 15.
• The board approved the low bid of $599,888 from Depew and Owen Builders of Centralia for the replacement of a bridge three miles east of Farina on the Iola Road.
 

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