County commissioners approve $4 million budget in final meeting of the year
Members of the Presque Isle County Board of Commissioners approved the 2003 budget at their final meeting of 2002. With a transfer of $470,000 from the county reserve, cuts in many department offices, and Gov. John Engler?s reduction in revenue sharing, the commissioners passed a balanced budget of $4,028,629. The vote was 6-2, with commissioners Gary Nowak and Wayne Vermilya, two of the three commissioners representing their county constituents in their respective districts for the last time, voting ?no.?
Vermilya vowed to vote ?no? at the beginning of the budget process if funds were allocated to fund a fulltime assistant prosecutor, and he didn?t back down from that stance when the roll call vote was tallied.
?WE ENDED up with a balanced budget using funds that were created by taxes that the county has already received,? said commissioner Don Field, who also was the 2002 finance committee chairman. ?It was designed to be used for the reason that we are using it for.? Field said no money had to be borrowed to balance the budget and the county wasn?t going to ask taxpayers for any more money.
?It was an agonizing experience, and we spent a lot of time at it, but I think we are in a position where we still have $1.8 million in cash, ready cash available, so we?re not in bad shape, by any means,? added Field. ?We just moved money from the savings account to the checking account, that?s basically what we did.?
Commissioner Gary Wozniak believes the cuts didn?t go far enough. ?I don?t think we made the cuts we should have made,? said Wozniak following the meeting. He said some of the original cuts would have been tougher to accept for some departments, but he believes commissioners softened on a number of issues. Field called it compromises: ?We didn?t really make a lot of big cuts.? ?I think that eventually we are going to have to make some real hard cuts, and I think we should make them gradually instead of making really big cuts at one time,? said Wozniak. ?Some of them (board members) feel that we shouldn?t make any cuts, that we should keep transferring money, but eventually the money will run out.?
A contingency fund of $80,000 was set just prior to the budget being approved, which commissioner Bob Schell felt was a little low. ?We have the rainy day fund, and I guess we?re going to use it. That?s what it?s there for and hopefully we can get by without cutting any services, or any more people from the county,? said Schell.
BUT THERE is one major unknown as 2003 begins, and that?s court reorganization. On April 1, Presque Isle County is to be moved from the 26th Circuit into the 53rd Circuit with Cheboygan County, and that?s going to be a financial burden, Field said. ?Time will tell in the next three months, where we are going to be as far as court reorganization is concerned,? said Field, who believes there could be developments as early as this week. But until the many issues surrounding court reorganization are dealt with, it?s going to leave a dark cloud of uncertainty over Probate Judge Ken Radzibon?s office. The commissioners removed $10,000 from the clerk?s wages which will affect Mary Hiat, a worker in the probate judge?s office, to the point that Hiat may leave and services to the office could be cut, Radzibon said. Radzibon appeared before the commissioners to ask that they restore the $10,000.
?I will literally have to close the office every time we are in court, unless I can be lucky enough to find somebody just to want to come in and work on the days we?re in court, but that?s doubtful,? said Radzibon.
PROBATE REGISTRAR Ann Madsen serves as Radzibon?s court reporter, even when he?s conducting a mental health hearing in Alpena. Radzibon also was concerned with losing two years of training Hiat has received. ?In all likelihood we?ll lose this fine person. She?s looking for fulltime work,? said Radzibon. The judge said there are many line items that make the county better, but are not constitutionally mandated by the state.
?I?m not picking on any particular appropriation but I understand there is funding for a bike trail,? Radzibon said. ?There are other appropriations for good programs, again, that make us a good county, but you have to understand something, they are not constitutionally mandated. ?When you go ahead and fund programs and departments that are not constitutionally mandated at the expense of those that are, then that?s a sad state of policy,? he continued. ?We?re looking at the grant money that?s coming in for that, and that?s a one time cost to us. To hire an employee, that?s $25,000 to $30,000 with benefits, and that?s a rising cost every year,? said Wozniak. After further discussion, the board reached a consensus to continue with the way things are until the court reorganization issue is resolved, and then review the probate office situation.
SHERIFF TERRY FLEWELLING also was concerned that service from the sheriff?s department could be reduced with the cut of $40,000 his department has to absorb. ?I know you are going to cut a guy from the budget. I too am going to have to cut services to the people of Presque Isle County. Even though it
The commissioners also decided to change health care coverage from Blue Cross/Blue Shield back to the family plan for elected and appointed officials, after changing it to the two-person plan December 23.
