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Will County Gazette

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Will County Finance Committee met March 6.

Meeting 07

Will County Finance Committee met March 6.

Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:

I. Call To Order / Roll Call

Chair Mike Fricilone called the meeting to order at 10:05 am

Attendee Name; Title; Status; Arrived:

Mike Fricilone Chair Present

Ray Tuminello Vice-Chair Present

Steve Balich Member Present

Darren Bennefield Member Present

Gloria Dollinger Member Present

Kenneth E. Harris Member Absent

Cory Singer Member Present

Lauren Staley-Ferry Member Present

Jacqueline Traynere Member Present

Also Present: J. Moustis, H. Brooks, R. Freitag and M. Johannsen.

Present from State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.

II. Pledge Of Allegiance To The Flag

Mrs. Traynere led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

III. Approval Of Minutes

1. WC Finance Committee - Regular Meeting - Feb 6, 2018 10:00 am

Result: Approved [Unanimous]

Mover: Gloria Dollinger, Member

Ayes: Fricilone, Tuminello, Balich, Bennefield, Dollinger, Singer, Staley-Ferry, Traynere

Absent: Harris

IV. Old Business

Mr. Fricilone stated last year we talked about shutting down the PBC. There is some work remaining on the trust, there is money at the PBC that needs to be moved as well as personnel. We need to start moving over the functions. County Board staff can handle the minimal functions of the PBC. Mrs. Johannsen and Mrs. Tatroe were asked to start the process to shut down the PBC. We need to eliminate the staff, move funds and we need to start now. We cannot continue to incur costs when there is no function.

Mr. Moustis stated because we still have an agreement with Kankakee and issues are being resolved, we kept our money at the PBC although the County is doing the maintenance work. Mrs. Johannsen was asked to determine the amount of excess money they hold. Then we will tell the PBC we want it back as excess of funds. Because of the split between Kankakee and Will County, perhaps we should leave $500,000 in the account, so proportionally our funds will run out at the same time as Kankakee’s if we do not come to an agreement. All the major repairs have been done and should last another 15 years. We should determine if we will put replacement money in a reserve fund. The PBC is not meeting regularly, the next meeting is April 11th, that gives us time to get the numbers together. I suggest you talk with the PBC Chairman and give him a heads up. There is no function for the PBC at this time; they are only sending our money back to us for maintenance.

A discussion of PBC staffing took place.

Mr. Brooks asked does the City of Joliet have any funds at PBC?

Mrs. Johannsen replied they have no funds. They have two appointments on the Board.

Mr. Moustis stated there is a County vacancy at this time. If we have problems, we may ask the County Executive to bring a name forward.

Mr. Fricilone stated this needs to be cleaned up before the new budget process beings in May.

V. New Business

1. Discussion Re: IGA with City of Joliet - Courthouse

(Discussion)

Mr. Fricilone reviewed the IGA with the City of Joliet. Thirty days after construction begins Joliet is to send their first payment and it will be due annually on that date. The date construction begins is defined as the inspection and approval of the foundation.

Mr. Tkac indicated the some of the footing should be put in this week.

2. Transferring Appropriations within Special Funds for the Sheriff's Department

(Robert Contro / Vicki Hayes)

Result: Moved Forward [Unanimous]

To: Will County Board

Mover: Darren Bennefield, Member

Seconder: Ray Tuminello, Vice-Chair

Ayes: Fricilone, Tuminello, Balich, Bennefield, Dollinger, Singer, Staley-Ferry, Traynere

Absent: Harris

3. Transferring Appropriations between Funds and Budgeting Funds on Hand for Sheriff's Department

(Robert Contro / Vicki Hayes)

Mr. Fricilone asked for clarification of the Resolution.

Ms. Hennessy stated the state statute indicate once an appropriation is set for the County, we cannot increase our budget. The Sheriff has excess cash in this fund, they have enough money to meet their budget for the year and they need to purchase vehicles from the cash on hand. The only way we can find to increase their budget is to pull some of the anticipated revenue and anticipated expense from corporate, move it to this budget and appropriate it. We are not increasing the overall budget. We budget an anticipated revenue amount of $1.5 million for things we are unaware of.

Mr. Balich asked if this money could be used for salaries.

Ms. Hennessy replied no, the anticipated revenue and expense is similar to contingency. We budget for all the revenue and all the expenses we are aware of; this is used for grants and things that happen outside of what we are aware of. Once approved, we cannot increase the overall budget. We estimate so we have flexibility. This line item cannot be used for anything except changes to the budget.

Mr. Moustis asked was there cash on hand at the end of last year or is this money they did not anticipate?

Ms. Hennessy stated their cash on hand at the end of last year was not budgeted for because they were not sure they needed to spend it. This is one of the Sheriff's forfeiture funds.

Mr. Moustis stated the Sheriff's Department decided not to appropriate it for new vehicles. Now we are few months into the budget and they want to appropriate it. Why was it not appropriated in the first place.

Ms. Hennessy stated it is not easy to determine you cash balance at the end of the year when the budget is done months before.

Lt. Dan Jungles stated we are using funds for vehicles for our gang unit.

Mr. Moustis stated my questions is why didn’t you appropriate it in the first place? You could have done this during the budget process. This is early in the budget year and I am not in favor or doing different appropriations.

Result: Moved Forward [Unanimous]

To: Will County Board

Mover: Ray Tuminello, Darren Bennefield

Ayes: Fricilone, Tuminello, Balich, Bennefield, Dollinger, Singer, Staley-Ferry, Traynere

Absent: Harris

4. Appropriating Safe Passage Donation from Joliet Township

(Kathleen Burke)

Mr. Fricilone stated this was moved to a discussion item, because it is an unrestricted donation. We would like to see a plan on how the money will be spent.

Dr. Burke stated it is a restricted grant. The donation will be spent on; treatment and to pay for a social worker. The remaining money will be used for other expenses; a speaker for the HERO Helps event. It may look unrestricted, but for my purposes it is restricted.

Mr. Moustis stated since Joliet Township did not put any restrictions on the funds, I would like to see this go into a special fund. When the fund is depleted, the programs established with this money will go away, including any hiring done under this grant. We would not be establishing this fund for this grant, there may be other grants that could be received and go into the programs.

Ms. Hennessy stated we could set up a new fund for this and any other grants for safe passage or prevention programs can go into this fund.

Mr. Moustis stated we would not establish anything permanently, the funding comes from grants.

Ms. Cathy Pleasant stated I would suggest doing a project code. Funds can be tracked through the project code; you can tell how much money came in through the project code and how much money is spent. I don’t think this is a special fund situation.

Mr. Moustis stated I want to make sure the grant money is being tracked as grant money.

Ms. Hennessy stated another option is setting up a sub-department in the corporate fund just for this. Then the expenditures are separate. We talked about doing that with the new budget, but we can do it now. We could use a project code, it will be separate in the budget and have this safe passage terminology on it. It will be more transparent.

Mr. Balich stated we do a lot of prevention, but what about grants to go after the sellers.

Mr. Moustis stated those grants go to the Sheriff’s Department.

Dr. Burke stated we spend a lot of money on the supply side and we spend very little on the demand side. My job is about the demand side; treatment, prevention and harm reduction.

Mr. Moustis stated you mentioned you restrict the funds internally, it should be in a format anyone can look at. You make them as restrictive or liberal as you like. Certain grants are for restricted purposes also. We should have a policy of saying here is how the grant funds are being used and that can fluctuate based on demand.

5. Transferring and Increasing Appropriations in Various County Budgets to Fund Year End Shortfalls - Attachment Added

(ReShawn Howard)

Ms. Howard stated this is the second round of clean-up. We are moving funds from within department budgets, moving money from available line items to those over budget. I anticipate one more. A brief explanation of reclassification was given.

Result: Moved Forward [Unanimous]

To: Will County Board

Mover: Darren Bennefield, Member

Seconder: Jacqueline Traynere, Member

Ayes: Fricilone, Tuminello, Balich, Bennefield, Dollinger, Singer, Staley-Ferry, Traynere

Absent: Harris

6. Monthly Corporate Fund Budget to Actual Report for November 30, 2017 – Attachment Added

(ReShawn Howard)

Ms. Howard reviewed the handout in the packet.

Mr. Tuminello thanked everyone for a great job. When you look at the budget side, anticipate an adopted budget and your actual budget comes within.3% of 1%; that is an extremely difficult thing to hit on a large budget.

Mr. Moustis stated I am always concerned when we go over on salaries and fringes. I do understand fringes, but how do people overspend on salaries?

Ms. Howard stated most of the overage was in fringes. Anything in salaries we were able to clean up in the salary line of budget.

Mr. Fricilone asked is there anything we should watch closer for the next budget?

Ms. Howard replied the only thing is fringes, but that varies from year to year. We implemented the new insurance plan so we need to see how it plays out with the 2018 budget.

Mr. Moustis stated we are self-insured and don't know how many dollars will be spent each quarter. Should we put another factor into the number? Should we figure it at 110%? I would rather be more conservative with the numbers, rather than do a clean-up at the end of the year.

Ms. Howard added a part of the fringes is the accelerated IMRF payment. That was not budgeted for in the past, but is in the FY2018 budget. We are now showing the liability.

Mr. Moustis stated with health insurance I still believe it should be at 105% to 110%. We could see how we have trended over the past five years and how close we were.

Mr. Fricilone stated everyone did an awesome job. When we bring the budget forward at the very end, we are getting to the point where everything lines up. I hope to continue this trend.

7. Authorizing County Executive to Execute Necessary Documents for Delinquent Tax Program

(Julie Shetina)

Result: Moved Forward [Unanimous]

To: Will County Board

Mover: Darren Bennefield, Member

Seconder: Steve Balich, Member

Ayes: Fricilone, Tuminello, Balich, Bennefield, Dollinger, Singer, Staley-Ferry, Traynere

Absent: Harris

VI. Other New Business

VII. Public Comment

VIII. Chairman's Report / Announcements

IX. Executive Session

X. Adjournment

1. Motion to Adjourn at 10:37 am

Result: Approved [Unanimous]

Mover: Ray Tuminello, Vice-Chair

Seconder: Darren Bennefield, Member

Ayes: Fricilone, Tuminello, Balich, Bennefield, Dollinger, Singer, Staley-Ferry, Traynere

Absent: Harris

Next Meeting - April 3, 2018

https://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=15&ID=2925&Inline=True

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