Will County Board Finance Committee met July 5.
Here is the agenda provided by the committee:
I. CALL TO ORDER
II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
Ms. Venture led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. ROLL CALL
Chair Jacqueline Traynere called the meeting to order at 12:20 PM
| Attendee Name | Title | Status | Arrived |
| Jacqueline Traynere | Chair | Present | |
| Margaret Tyson | Vice Chair | Present | |
| Mike Fricilone | Member | Present | |
| Saud Gazanfer | Member | Absent | |
| Tyler Marcum | Member | Absent | |
| Jim Moustis | Member | Present | |
| Judy Ogalla | Member | Present | |
| Frankie Pretzel | Member | Present | |
| Rachel Ventura | Member | Present |
Present from the State's Attorney's Office: M. Tatroe.
IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. WC Finance Committee - Regular Meeting - May 3, 2022 11:00 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Frankie Pretzel, Member SECONDER: Margaret Tyson, Vice Chair AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Gazanfer, Marcum, Moustis, Ogalla, Pretzel, Ventura |
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Margaret Tyson, Vice Chair SECONDER: Jim Moustis, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Moustis, Ogalla, Pretzel, Ventura ABSENT: Gazanfer, Marcum |
1. Monthly Summary - Sales Tax and Cannabis Tax Collections
(Karen Hennessy)
Ms. Hennessy reviewed the Corporate Fund - Select Sales Tax update through May 31, 2022.
Mr. Moustis stated the RTA Tax, Motor Fuel Tax, and the County Optional Motor Fuel Tax, they are all gas taxes, correct? The County Optional Motor Tax is that $0.04 tax?
Mr. Hennessy replied yes.
Mr. Moustis asked then on top of this there is the sales tax that is part of the general sales tax. You still pay sales tax on top of this for gas, correct?
Ms. Hennessy replied yes.
Mr. Moustis stated whatever our portion is, 1% sales tax, so we get another $0.05 on a $5.00 gallon of gas.
Ms. Ventura asked if we get a portion from the State, I don’t think so.
Mr. Fricilone replied we get a portion of all sales tax. That figure would show up in our sales tax report.
Ms. Ventura stated but the State is pausing that; the sales one.
Mr. Fricilone stated they are pausing the inflationary increase; all they are pausing is putting that into effect, nothing has come down on gas taxes, they just haven’t put in the increase that would have gone into effect on July 1, 2022.
Ms. Venture said so they are pausing the increase, so we don’t expect our budget to change.
Mr. Moustis stated of course the State collects another $0.30 in sales tax that they don’t reflect in the gas taxes.
Ms. Traynere said, and it did eliminate 1%, or the whole amount of grocery taxes.
Mr. Fricilone advised 1% in grocery tax from July 1, 2022, until July 1, 2023.
Ms. Ventura asked will that impact our sales tax, or because we get such a small percentage of their small percentage it’s negligible.
Ms. Hennessy stated we will see what happens, I don’t have an easy way to estimate that.
Ms. Traynere stated but they are paying their bills on time, the Comptroller announced that bills are being paid immediately, that has got to help a lot of businesses and people who do business with the State are not waiting six months for payments.
Ms. Berkowicz stated the CED recently said that they saw retail sectors doing well and strong. I think they said they had a 33% growth, is that reflective of the figures that we are seeing here?
Ms. Hennessy said part of the difficulty in answering that with any confidence is the timing. This is two months behind; if they are saying that they had that great showing in June we haven’t collected taxes for June yet. Based on what is happening so far it seems very similar to what we have collected in the prior year. Although we did exceed Sales Tax Budget last year by $2 million. While we think things are going to be slow, I think they are better, but I don’t know that I can tell you that for this year. We’ve collected half of what we budgeted, and we are halfway through the year. I do not see a huge spike there, but we will see what the summer looks like once we collect those dollars.
Mr. Fricilone said there is going to be this sales tax holiday, which will affect what we get as well. It is going to be a two-week period of no sales tax on all kinds of things for kids to go to school. Also, we need to be cognizant of this when the budget is being prepared because they are already talking about the fall off in consumer and retail spending. Everyone is spending money now, but they anticipate that to start falling off. While we have been doing this in the last year or two, we may get back to normal levels. We can’t just use this figure for next year and add a couple of percentages, it’s not going to happen.
Mrs. Ogalla stated the State is holding back on the increase in the Motor Fuel Tax, are we still going to increase ours by whatever ours is.
Ms. Ventura stated we don’t increase ours; it is a 4% flat rate.
Mrs. Ogalla replied no it isn’t.
Mr. Moustis added it escalates to inflation every year.
Ms. Ventura stated I thought it was $0.04, it’s more than that?
Mr. Moustis stated it goes up every year, it’s indexed, it starts at $0.04. Mr. Palmer stated it is $0.04 to $0.08 and we started at $0.04.
Ms. Ventura asked did we vote to have it indexed or was that a State Law. Ms. Ogalla stated it is a State Law to index it.
Ms. Ventura replied so we vote to index our gas tax but not our wedges. Is that problematic with anyone else.
Mr. Pretzel stated I didn’t know that, but I voted not to raise the tax.
Ms. Ogalla, Mr. Fricilone, Mr. Moustis all stated that they all voted no as well.
2. Monthly Corporate Fund Budget to Actual Report for June 30, 2022 (ReShawn Howard)
Ms. Howard gave a high-level overview of Corporate Fund Budget vs. Actual Report for June.
Ms. Ventura said some of these like the Restore or Invest is that a grant or we haven’t used that money.
Ms. Howard stated that is a grant; we received the grant last year and we are expending most of those dollars now. You may notice a few departments that are slightly over that 58%; they are just expending some of those grant dollars now.
Ms. Ventura stated then you have the Sheriff's Department, is that because the State took on his salary, that is a huge amount.
Ms. Howard stated the Sheriff's Roll up, they are at 58% so they are meeting; But that is all the Sheriff's Departments. They may have had expenses that they have expended now; then also costs for things have gone up, that is the difference between year over year.
Ms. Ventura said I guess when we see things like that what are we doing to make sure that they are not at the end of the year over budget?
Ms. Howard replied we continue to monitor, and their staff continues to monitor it themselves too. The majority would be their salary, they can’t go over any other lines such as commodities, contractual services, they have to say within their budget. The majority is their overtime.
Ms. Ventura said other departments that are on the other side of that like the
State’s Attorney’s or Juvenile Detention.
Ms. Howard replied for the State’s Attorney’s office and Sunny Hill Nursing Home, it could be because they are understaffed. When you look at the other departments, the overall rollup of the expenditures. Many of the departments are being very frugal in their spending in compared to last year; we also had some of the dollars that we were expending from the left-over CARES dollars.
Mr. Moustis said when we de-federalized, we did keep some priorities there we just didn’t have time to do the funding under the CARES time restraints. I don’t know if we are still going forward with some of the CARES initiatives.
Ms. Howard stated the last initiative is for the Morgue; those funds have already been moved to the Capital Fund.
Mr. Moustis asked how much defederalized money did the County keep. Ms. Howard said I don’t have that number off the top of my head.
Mr. Moustis stated we have this new law that is going to take effect on January 1, 2023, no bail, no bond, it is either detain or not detain. A lot of people may think you are going to have less population in the jail. I am thinking it might be more of a population in the jail. I also think it may have an impact on the budget.
Mrs. Tatroe stated I think it is going to be less population in the jail, because there are special hearings that must be held, and levels of proof that need to be shown to hold anyone. If you want a thorough discussion of this law, I will bring in someone from our Criminal Division. I am involved in some of the conversations, it is our position that we are going to have very few people in the jail as of January 1st.
Ms. Traynere asked isn’t that a judicial decision, aren’t the judges making that decision.
Mrs. Tatroe said it is going to be by operation of law in many cases; you will not be able to hold anyone in jail on bond. I think the maximin we can hold anyone is ninety days, if we don’t go to trial in 90 days the person gets out irregardless. As my understanding of it there will be fewer population in jail. If you want someone from the criminal side to come in and give you more information.
Ms. Traynere state I think we are going to need that; I heard a little bit from the State’s Attorney Glasgow last week at a chamber luncheon; there was no opportunity to ask questions at this forum. I didn’t realize that it was an automatic out, I thought there would be some traditional oversight.
Mrs. Tatroe stated initially when they are first arrested, yes there must be a hearing and I believe it is within 48 to 96 hours, but a short period of time. There must be a hearing on whether they get out our whether they are sent to jail. The State must bear its burden, which is much higher than the previous probable cause, it must be clear and convincing plus to keep them in. Which is an extremely high standard considering we don’t have labs from the State back or anything at that point. Those additional hearings will have to be held and that will be a determination of whether to keep them in jail at that point. Then there will be conditions of release; it’s not going to be cash bail. There will be ankle bracelets I imagine; so, you’re going to need more probationary people I expect; that is typically the State and what the State is doing I don’t really know. Then there will be no contact orders and things like that, that you typically see. In addition to that there is a provision that we must take them to trial within 90 days, again often we don’t have labs within 90 days. There are going to be people without any changes to this law that are going to be released.
Ms. Traynere stated that was the big concern of the State’s Attorney at his luncheon; and there was a State Legislator taking notes.
Mrs. Tatroe said they have had these conversations for well over a year with the State Legislature, they know these issues, they have been aware of them and have been for a long time. One of the ways that fees and fines are collected is by ceasing those bails once they are paid; if nobody is paying any cash bail whether they pay their fines and court fees then we are going to have to actively go out and collect.
Ms. Ventura inquired have we looked at how much we collect in bail currently? Will there be a charge to them for ankle bracelets, or other charges and fees that the County maybe taken in, and have we offset them with the bail coast?
Mrs. Tatroe replied we comprehensively went over the fees and fines when those reforms went into place. How it is going to be impacted we are not sure.
Mr. Moustis said it is going to be a factor in the budget. It could be shifting resources; it could be several things; Mrs. Tatroe mentioned bonds. The Circuit Clerk keeps 5% of the bond, it is going to impact the budget. On the other hand, we have a jail that is built for 900, and then you’re going to have a jail that maybe has 150 people in it; so, what are the plans for the Sheriff to start shutting down the jail.
Ms. Traynere added and laying people off, because we are going to have all these deputies that we won’t need.
Ms. Howard said to answer a lot of your questions, we wrapped up our FY2023 Budget meetings at the second to last week of June. A lot of these issues have come up, we’ve had these discussions in our budget meetings. I’ve met with the Circuit Clerk’s office, and they talked about the impact that this new bill could have, and the revenue; if there is no cash bail you will see a decline in revenue that they collect. I’ve also met with the State’s Attorney’s office, and they have discussed the impact to their office which could require additional staff. I’ve also met with the Probation Department for electronic monitoring, because if there is no cash bail and these people are not detained that could mean that they be placed on electronic monitoring which there could be an increase there. So, there could be some additional staff needs for the Probation Department office as well as far as Probation Officers. I have also met with the Circuit Court and the Chief Judge who explained what the impact that this bill would have; they are not sure that it would have a financial impact for their office. We also sat on a conference call with ISACo who had other county agencies countywide to see what other county agencies are doing, what the impact this bill will have. Because this bill will come effective January 1st a lot of the different counties don’t know what the impact would be, and they are trying to figure out what their needs would be; they are currently having staffing shortages already. They know they could have potential additional needs, but what those needs are they don’t know. Would there be an impact to the Sheriff’s Office; yes, maybe. We can plan for this and plan for some of these things; but until it happens, and we see the actual result once we get into next year maybe halfway through the year, we will see what the real impact will be. But yes, we have begun those discussions.
Mr. Ventura said so we don’t have any estimated numbers.
Ms. Howard stated no, not yet.
Ms. Ventura asked would it be possible closer to when we pass the budget that we at least identify how much we bring in on cash bail, identify currently what we spend on monitoring ankle bracelets and stuff. I would like to see what it would cost for training to transfer Correctional Officers into Probation Officers; if that’s what we feel the need is going to be; that there will be a lack of Probation Officers but maybe too many Correctional Officers in the jail. We don’t want people to lose their jobs, what we want to do is to make sure we are adapting to the needs of the County. If there is an additional cost for training these officers so that we can keep jobs in our county I think we should include that in the budget. I don’t know what those jobs entail, so maybe there is not training needed.
Mr. Moustis advised probation is funded by the State.
Mrs. Traynere said the biggest issue isn’t necessarily money, I think it is going to be bodies; and having the right bodies, we see that everywhere right now with the staffing shortages in so many different places. Even that sounds simple, you say training, who is going to give that training, do they have staff to give the training. It is a big domino effect that is going to affect everything including our budget.
Ms. Ventura said if we know it is a staffing shortage that overlap, we should get a jump on it as opposed to waiting for them to lose their job and then they are unemployed, and maybe they go elsewhere.
Ms. Traynere stated that is up to the Sheriff, they would have to come to us and say they need the funding.
Mr. Moustis stated certainly they would do a hiring freeze for Correctional Officers, because I do think as sworn officers, we set that number. My point is we staffed the jail for 900 detainees. They closed the pod, and I assume that number went down. So, they reduced the Correctional Officers, and they will continue to have to do that. I am not so sure that Correction Officers switch over from what they are doing now, because there is a lot involved.
Mrs. Ogalla stated I know a while back when we talked about HB-3653 and the different things that would impact us. Undersheriff Conser, had prepared an entire document with additional costs that they see. That is something we could ask them for. I know there was additional training that they need, maybe that is something we should revisit and have a better understanding where we are going.
Ms. Traynere asked Mr. Palmer to ask the Sheriff to come to our next meeting? Mr. Palmer replied yes.
Mr. Fricilone said I am looking at the Corporate Fund Cash Reserves; it is showing at $62 million, and we are at 24.94% what is in that $62 million right now; is the $10 million from ARP in that money.
Ms. Howard replied no, this is just a snapshot of our Corporate Fund Cash Reserves so on 06/30/22 our cash reserves were at $62.6 million, and I put the percentage there, so we are at our targeted range.
Ms. Ventura stated last year we put more money into the vote-by-mail machines; we were told that there was a savings in the Clerk’s Office, can we look to see if there is a savings there and what needs to happen so that we can recoup some of those costs; if it is not this year what are the projected costs of those savings. I would say the impact of employment is another area, this is both shortage and overage were we know we are going to be short, and we are not getting people to apply. Where can we move some of those dollars or cut them versus if there is a place, we need to be spending more money. At the end of the day the labor shortage might need some consolidation. We also need technology changes such as online versus paper has any of that happened in the last year that we can look at. Also, is there an increase in IT needs, I know that we have had some hacks and we increased our IT. We spent a lot of money on a new IT system, is there any saving there going forward. To Mr. Pretzel’s point I did not realize there was an index on the Gas Tax; if we were to pause that; I know we bring in about a million dollars, but what does that increase look like if we paused that. This is an area that Mr. Ronaldson could maybe come in and tell us what projects would be delayed and how much money we would be looking at. At some point we may need to make sure that our constituents don’t feel the constant increase by every level of government.
Mrs. Ogalla said you can say there is an increase in our budget with the CPI (Consumer Price Index), but that budget is up to us. We decide how much we would take of new construction and of CPI. There doesn’t have to be an increase of the CPI if we don’t include it in the budget.
Ms. Traynere stated we do make that decision but the cost of everything has gone up from last year.
Ms. Ventura said first we need to decrease the budget, then we can talk about cutting all the other things, not taking as much CPI, and increasing revenues elsewhere and decreasing property taxes.
VI. OTHER OLD BUSINESS
VII. NEW BUSINESS
1. Authorizing a Loan to the Renewable Natural Gas Facility Operations Fund from the County Corporate Fund
(Discussion)
Mr. Moustis asked how much Bond Money is left; and is this really an item for the 2023 Budget? If you are not going to expend these funds or need these funds over the next few months; this is a budget discussion.
Ms. Hennessy stated the resolution lays out what is necessary for 2022 and what is probable for 2023 budget: not a decision here. It is just included in the resolution.
Ms. Hennessy reviewed the resolution authorizing a loan to the Renewable Natural Gas Facility Operations Fund from the County Corporate Fund. The resolution is asking that additional construction costs, FY2023 debit service for the RNG Bonds which must be transferred in 2022; and facility operational expenses not to exceed $21.2 million be available as needed to pay those additional bills.
Ms. Traynere asked when do those bills have to be paid.
Ms. Hennessy stated the construction bills which we’re estimating an additional $9.2 million would be needed for that, and likely be paid before the end of the year. The plant is scheduled to be operational sometime in August. The construction cost will have to be paid between now and November. That we need the budget amended because there was no consideration given in the 2022 Budget for those additional construction costs.
Ms. Traynere stated you are also asking for another $12 million; what is that for.
Ms. Hennessy stated for FY2022 operational expenditures; $4.6 million is for Debt Service. It is not paid until 2023 but it must be moved into the Debt Service fund in September so the property tax can be abated. The rest of it; about $2 million is for utilities, training, our penalty with US Ventures for not opening July 1, 2022, some hauling and disposal, and permitting, that is a little over $7 million; that is already budgeted in the RNG Facility but there is no cash there because we are not operating and generating any revenue. We just need that to pay those bills until we start getting revenue, we can’t collect revenue until we can sell gas.
Mr. Moustis asked if all the bond money is gone.
Ms. Hennessy stated not yet.
Ms. Ventura asked if the $7million is in the budget for 2023.
Ms. Hennessy stated for 2022 it has already been budgeted, the 2023 budget is under development. If we still aren’t receiving revenue as we enter the 2023 budget, we will budget for the expenses, we will need the cash to use to pay bills and then we will reimburse the corporate fund for all of this as we collect revenue.
Mr. Fricilone asked why do we have to vote on taking money from reserves for next year now? Wouldn’t that be during budget time?
Ms. Hennessy stated if you want to reduce the not to exceed; it’s not that we are going to take this on day one, it is as necessary. We are certainly going to have to pay the $9.2 million for construction, and we are certainly going to have to probably incur the $7 million in operational costs because we are not going to be getting revenue for at least the first quarter. The $23 million if you want to deal with that separately, we can separate that. The $21 million includes all of that. We are not asking for that money, we are not asking for it to be moved, we just want a dollar amount not to exceed. If you need us to sperate it we can do that, and then it will be built into the budget. I thought this would be more transparent.
Ms. Traynere stated it is very clear from what I am hearing, and we want it built into the budget.
Ms. Ventura added the $7 million especially should be built into the budget.
Ms. Hennessy replied FY2023 is $4.8 million, not $7 million. The $7 million is operations from July 1, 2022, through November 30, 2022. That is already budgeted; so, all we need to do is move the cash from the Corporate Fund to the RNG operation fund.
Ms. Traynere said so you don’t need to borrow it.
Ms. Hennessy advise we will be borrowing it and we will be paying it back.
Ms. Ventura stated that amount, I think could be budgeted into 2023. You are budgeting here that we need to put those dollars in; but then as the revenue comes in it pays back. I don’t think we should put that as a loan now because it is not even going to impact until 2023.
Ms. Hennessy explained there is no action taken for the loan; all this committee would do is recommend to the Executive Committee, or maybe it goes to the full Board a not to exceed amount. How the loan happens when they get invoices, they contact the Finance Department and Ms. Howard and I move the from the Corporate Fund into that Operational Fund, and we keep track of it. We are not moving anything until they have invoices to pay. The items that are listed here for FY2022 will happen in FY2022 so we can’t budget them in 2023; we can repay it in FY2023. A loan between funds is not a revenue earn expense, so it is not budgeted.
Ms. Ventura asked if this includes the $700,000 in changes orders they presented.
Ms. Hennessy advised yes, if you want to finish going through this you have all that information here.
Ms. Hennessy proceeded to review the information that was included in the agenda packet.
Mr. Fricilone said I have two things; this document is still wrong. You have that Area Project Cost; the project is not $57 million; it is $60 million. Just because we paid costs already doesn’t mean that it isn’t part of the project cost. It doesn’t change the $21 million that you want to borrow from reserves. We must get this document right, that is what I have been asking from day one. What is this costing us, it isn’t costing us $57 million, it is costing us $60 million just because you paid something already it doesn’t mean it is part of the cost. When it comes to the resolution, while we are saying that the cash reserves will be repaid from the sale of Renewable Natural Gas, we don’t really lay that out, after what, after we pay all the expenses, and something has been used for something else. I think we need to more definitive there; maybe another paragraph that says after expenses and debt services, and all additional proceeds until paid off will go to Cash Reserves so that we don’t use one dime for anything else, just as a clarification.
Ms. Traynere added I appreciate that; I like that a lot.
Ms. Ventura stated I understand that a loan isn’t budgeted in, we put in line items and hold money; I guess I don’t understand why that is not a part of the 2023 budget.
Ms. Hennessy stated all this does is give us the permission to transfer funds if it is necessary.
Ms. Ventura stated I would rather cross that bridge we get to it. Ms. Hennessy said then we will be coming back with another resolution.
Ms. Ventura stated when you come back then we will have a new updated document that shows all the correct numbers.
Ms. Hennessy stated okay, we can make that change. We can change this to $16.4 million, and we will add the explanation of the costs that Mr. Fricilone spoke about.
Ms. Traynere stated I would like that; I agree with Ms. Ventura.
Mr. Moustis said on the revenue side once the off taker starts receiving gas, and we are hoping for maybe September; at what point do they have to start paying; will it be 30 to 60 days?
Mr. Hartke stated they have 30 to 35 days to pay us. For all the REM revenue they have 90 days; we also have some gas storage costs that we will have to pay, that may be removed from the revenue.
Mr. Fricilone asked can they take our penalty from the first revenue; we must pay them the penalty.
Mr. Schaben stated they will invoice us for that, so it is sort of separate.
Mr. Moustis stated to get a little bit off the subject, I think we should have a discussion on what the RNG revenue should be used for. It should be on the agenda at some point, I personally think it should go towards capital projects. I realize it first goes to pay off the debt.
Ms. Ventura stated I think it should go to pay it off first, then the next thing I would like to see those dollars be a revenue stream for the county and then you can decrease your property taxes. However, we don’t even know what that revenue is going to be; we don’t know how many years we will have to pay off that bond.
Mr. Moustis stated that is not how bond issues work.
Ms. Hennessy state you can’t prepay a bond. We have a fixed amount that we pay every year, it will be paid off in 12 years.
A motion was made by Mr. Moustis and seconded by Mr. Fricilone to amend the Resolution, not to exceed $16.4 million, with changes to the language.
All in favor. Motion Carries
Ms. Traynere asked for a motion to approve as amended, motion by Mr. Moustis and seconded my Ms. Ventura.
Motion passed unanimously.
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS]
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Mike Fricilone, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Moustis, Ogalla, Pretzel, Ventura |
(Tim Brophy)
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS] Next: 7/20/2022 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Mike Fricilone, Member SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Moustis, Ogalla, Pretzel, Ventura |
(Jen Alberico /Julie Shentina/Kelly Gaffney)
| RESULT: MOVED FORWARD [UNANIMOUS] Next: 7/20/2022 9:30 AM
TO: Will County Board MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Judy Ogalla, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Moustis, Ogalla, Pretzel, Ventura |
IX. PUBLIC COMMENT
X. ANNOUNCEMENTS/REPORTS BY CHAIR
XI. EXECUTIVE SESSION
XII. ADJOURNMENT
1. Motion to Adjourn @ 9:53 AM
| RESULT: APPROVED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Jim Moustis, Member SECONDER: Frankie Pretzel, Member AYES: Traynere, Tyson, Fricilone, Moustis, Ogalla, Pretzel, Ventura |
https://willcountyil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=12&ID=4343&Inline=True
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