[0:28] e
[0:58] e
[1:28] e
[1:58] e
[2:28] e e
[3:08] had to hit it all
right welcome good morning everyone to
[3:12] the county advisory tax limitation
committee I am Kim Morris with the chief
[3:17] Deputy County clerk's office and I now
call this meeting to order let's start
[3:21] with roll call Dr Shawn Williams with
the Intermediate School District
[3:27] superintendent Robert Robinson County
treasure
[3:30] Here Blake Moulder Ways and Means
Committee chairperson here Roger eeken
[3:36] Board of Commissioners
appointment Michael Baker Probate Judge
[3:42] appointment ker sluter Township's
appointment okay now if you guys could
[3:48] please introduce yourself and say a few
things um about your background and why
[3:52] you're on this committee sure um I'm
Sean Williams I'm the
[3:57] superintendent um Prov services to our
sorry I have Sean Williams uh
[4:03] superintendent eat Resa we provide
services to our local school districts
[4:07] and Charter Schools um we we have three
different millages that come through uh
[4:13] through eaten County we have our general
education millage special education
[4:17] millage and CT millage and basically
we're flow through I mentioned earlier
[4:22] that uh our revenues and our expenses
are exactly the same we money comes in
[4:27] and goes right out to the local
districts and so I guess at we had our
[4:31] special education millage back in
November uh that was successful what
[4:35] that did is it limited uh the debt that
our districts were taken on to provide a
[4:40] unfunded mandate which is special
education in Michigan and so it took
[4:44] their uh debt from six million
collectively to 3 million um and so I
[4:49] think probably some of my perspective
might help this committee as we move
[4:55] forward hi uh I'm Bob Robinson I am the
very proud treasurer of Eden County uh I
[5:02] am statutorily required to participate
in the committee uh and as one can
[5:08] imagine uh as County Treasurer I I
probably have unique insights with
[5:13] respect to County finances that others
may not so I'm I'm uh glad to be here uh
[5:20] glad to be your Treasurer and looking
forward to conducting business this
[5:25] morning hi there I'm Blake Moulder I am
a chair of the Ways and Means Committee
[5:32] statutorily it's it says the finance
committee chair is supposed to be at
[5:36] this meeting um I have been on the
County board for 14 years I have watched
[5:43] the County Progress the ups and the
downs from the recession of 2008 to the
[5:48] current to the current um situation I'm
a member of the financial stability work
[5:53] Group which has gotten together and made
plans just some suggest questions to the
[6:00] full board as to how to keep this County
in uh good
[6:07] financial situation and quite honestly
uh we've been working on on looking at
[6:13] County finances in depth for several
years and it was the workg group that
[6:18] made the recommendation that this
committee be put together so thank
[6:25] you I'm Roger rein I was a commissioner
on the count board for a number of years
[6:31] and have been retired from that board
for a time but while I was on the board
[6:36] I was vice chairman of the board as well
as chairman of ways and means so I've
[6:41] got a historical background relative to
the what's going to be discussed today
[6:47] for the most part I'm going to be
listening I'm Mike Baker I'm retired the
[6:53] former assessor for the city of Eaton
Rapids I'm currently on the Planning
[6:58] Commission and the Zoning Board of
appeals
[7:02] there my name is curtain selector um I
am the uh supervisor at wsor Town woodor
[7:09] Charter
Township um the supervisors uh elected
[7:14] me to this
position um a few days ago and uh I hold
[7:20] maai
designation a master's degree in real
[7:23] estate appraisal so I think that I can
bring some perspective as to what the
[7:28] property owners are going to think about
[7:32] this
okay now on to the election of a
[7:36] chairperson nominations are now open for
the chairperson of the Eaton County
[7:40] advisory tax limitation
committee I nominate Blake
[7:47] Alder
[7:51] second are there any
others I move Blake is uh is put in that
[7:58] position by
[8:03] acclamation are there any
[8:06] others okay Blake Moulder has been
nominated for chairperson of this
[8:10] committee
yes oh sorry yes who would like to
[8:15] second no they didn't we did Sean did oh
[8:20] okay okay now on to roll call Dr sea
Williams
[8:27] here yes yes used to be that's
okay Robert Robinson yes Blake Moulder
[8:35] yes Roger eeken yes Michael Baker yes
Kern selector yes okay now yes you are
[8:46] taking over thank you
Kim Kim was uh impressed into this Duty
[8:52] on short notice she didn't realize she
had to do it until about a half an hour
[8:56] ago and uh and as always she does does a
great job so thank you thank
[9:02] you all right um we have an agenda
before us what are your
[9:08] wishes move the
agenda a second moved by Mr um Eon
[9:15] supported by um Mr Baker all those in
favor
[9:22] oppos opposed yes a motion we used to we
generally typically have discussion MH I
[9:29] heard no offer for discussion correct
okay I'm sorry U Mr
[9:35] sler questions or comments agenda calls
for limited public comment I think that
[9:40] uh before we approve this agenda we
ought to let the public know what the
[9:44] limitations are to that public
comment as the chair I will limit their
[9:50] comments to five minutes that worked for
you that works for me thank you sir
[9:57] okay any other
discussion now all those in favor I
[10:04] opposed thank you all
right
[10:11] um I think we're
all aware of what this committee has
[10:18] been called for but I'll just give us a
few points be quick I'd like to get to
[10:22] the public comment and we've got um some
input
[10:27] from from staff do we want to do that
now what is your what are your thoughts
[10:32] I don't on the
[10:36] agenda do
that you want to do it what we had
[10:40] intended was in item number seven that
there would be discussion on discussion
[10:45] the beginning of the
discussion okay thank you well thank you
[10:49] for all being here um this is as you
understand a committee that was put
[10:55] together by the Board of Commissioners
to discuss the allocations for the
[11:00] statutory allocations for the townships
the ISD and the
[11:05] county understanding that the purpose of
this committee is
[11:09] to um make recommendations to the full
Board of Commissioners who would in turn
[11:16] put this ballot language on the ballot
the timing is such
[11:23] that when the full Board gets our
recommendations the ballot um would be
[11:30] for November of this
year this
[11:34] point any recommendations that we meet
that we make here go to the go to the uh
[11:41] Board of Commissioners and
essentially these are the upper limits
[11:47] of the allegations the boards make their
own um uh boards will do what they're
[11:55] going to do with the suggestion but for
the most part they are um
[12:00] responsible for levying any of the taxes
that's not our job our job is to only
[12:05] make the
recommendations
[12:08] so okay let's go to some limited public
comment five minutes maximum
[12:21] please good morning everyone my name is
Doug Lloyd and I am your Eaton County
[12:27] prosecutor myself as well as judge
Cunningham and Sheriff Reich intend to
[12:32] speak this morning but this morning one
of my employees Terry Saddler who is a
[12:36] lifelong resident of Eaton County asked
uh came and spoke to me and asked if she
[12:41] could speak for a moment and the words
she expressed to me were something
[12:45] unique and and encouraging and so I
asked Terry to actually speak before me
[12:50] and then we'll speak after so I would
allow Eden County resident Terry Sadler
[12:54] to speak first thank you good morning as
Doug said I am a lifelong resident of
[12:59] eaten County as well as an eaten County
employee today I speak as a resident not
[13:04] as an employee as a resident I have seen
nothing but growth and development in
[13:08] Eaton County I have seen a significant
increase in population companies
[13:13] manufacturer jobs and in the housing
market while Eaton County is heading in
[13:17] the right direction of growth that
growth comes with costs these are costs
[13:22] that people incur every day they are not
only countywide but State and Nationwide
[13:28] and many people are feeling the stresses
of these costs this is something that I
[13:33] can understand but with the growth and
development of Eaton County we need to
[13:37] be able to financially keep up with that
as we stated in Prior meetings there's
[13:42] going to be a reduction in staff to the
citizens of Eaton County many people may
[13:48] not or do not think that these Cuts will
affect them those cuts will affect
[13:54] everybody in Eaton County if it is not
you then it is somebody that you love or
[13:59] lives in the county services that could
be infected include um veteran Services
[14:06] licensing like marriage cpls getting dog
licenses development zoning planning
[14:11] drain property Deeds um treasury parts
and wreck but most important the
[14:17] reduction in staff will affect Eaton
County's courts and law enforcement
[14:20] System including the prosecuting
attorney's office Sheriff's Office with
[14:25] 24-hour Road Patrol on the out County
into certain townships district courts
[14:30] trial courts for trials in granting
judgments and Clerks of the
[14:35] Court these are all essential functions
to keep to keep citizens of e County
[14:41] safe and give them the ability to access
the governmental functions that they are
[14:45] constitutionally have the right to have
I leave you with this analogies as I
[14:49] think about this as I have been watching
the meetings the the the Commissioners
[14:53] meetings the ways and means meetings as
a resident of Eaton County I look at it
[14:58] like this this you build a house in 1978
you want to put money and invest in that
[15:03] house to keep that house modern up to
date so when you get ready to pass down
[15:08] that house to a loved one or to sell
that house you're going to get the rate
[15:12] of return
back this is what eaten County needs to
[15:16] do to be able to address the current
issue for the growth of the future the
[15:19] tax limitation would be an investment
for the benefits of all citizens in
[15:23] eaten County thank
you thank you Terry as I said I thought
[15:30] those were poignant words so I'll keep
my words short today I've been with this
[15:35] County for almost 25 years during this
time it's been no secret that this
[15:40] county has struggled financially you've
all read the reports you've seen the
[15:44] numbers and understand the dire
situation the County's faced with I
[15:48] don't need to add to that you know where
we stand all 15 board members Democrats
[15:55] and Republicans voted unanimously to
form the committee to begin this process
[16:01] and the county has gone above and beyond
to get out in front of the people the
[16:05] residents to explain our
troubles that is that is no easy work
[16:10] but it's necessary work for the county
for our staff and for the services we
[16:15] provide without additional Revenue I can
almost guarantee that there will be
[16:20] drastic changes as what services we can
provide specifically in public safety
[16:27] whether my grow office grows even more
short staffed and has to limit the cases
[16:31] that we take on or the sheriff's office
has to eliminate a non-constitutional
[16:36] mandated service or the courts have to
just close up because they don't have
[16:41] the Personnel to actually be here every
day that's what is at
[16:47] risk the county has 400 employees who
serve our residence and they're the
[16:53] backbone of the county and they are our
most valuable assets the turnover of of
[16:59] employees in every office in the last
two years has taken extensive
[17:05] institutional knowledge that impacts
services and I can tell you because for
[17:10] some of you you've listened to it for
years Mr Ean you've listened to it a
[17:16] long time
ago I'm going to tell you that every
[17:20] office in this county has the same story
that's why I'm here to support this
[17:26] proposal I want to thank all of you for
serving on this committee friend for
[17:30] evaluating the financial needs of the
counties the townships and
[17:42] ISD good morning I'm Tom Reich I'm your
Sheriff here in Eaton County I want to
[17:47] thank you for participating in this
committee what can I say I mean the
[17:52] county has in dire need of additional
Revenue right now I feel that at the
[17:58] Sheriff's Office uh with vacancies that
I can't fill due to the fact that I'm
[18:06] competing with other agencies who make
more money for their
[18:10] officers I've also lost numerous people
to other agencies who pay more so it's a
[18:16] continuous battle for me right now we
have 14 POS
[18:20] vacancies uh it was up to 18 it's going
to be 18 again when I have some more
[18:24] retirements this
year this County I'm very proud of I
[18:30] think everybody in this who are
employees have done a great job my staff
[18:35] at the Sheriff's Office have done a
great job we are
[18:39] leaders in Sheriff's departments across
the state we've made Leaps and Bounds
[18:44] with technology and
training but I'm
[18:48] fearful and I hope you support
[18:53] this limitation tax
limitation it's going to be well worth
[18:59] it uh the Sheriff's Office uh several
months ago came up with an idea of doing
[19:04] a deputy Paramedic
program I seen the need of it right now
[19:10] we have Eaton area EMS Delta Township
has their own through the fire
[19:14] department wsor Township has their own I
believe Benton Township has their own
[19:18] but I think the out count residents
deserve a faster
[19:22] response with medical
assistance I can't tell you how much I'm
[19:28] very proud of this County I think uh
county soie has done a great job as a
[19:34] controller I think our commissioners
have done a great job they seen that we
[19:40] are need of additional revenue and I
believe this if supported will go into
[19:47] the November ballot and uh hopefully get
passed by the public so thank you again
[19:54] and move move forward
[20:01] good morning uh my name is Jan
Cunningham and I'm a circuit court judge
[20:06] but I am also the chief judge of the
trial courts and I don't usually come
[20:10] and speak before the board and uh
mislaid and uh prosecutor Lloyd and the
[20:16] sheriff have uh echoed the sentiments
that I have but I would like to share
[20:21] with you specifically as it relates to
the courts that we have made Cuts over
[20:25] the last several years and we have
consolid ated functions to try to adjust
[20:31] to the financial struggles that Eaton
County has faced at this time there are
[20:36] no further adjustments that we can make
we struggle to provide the necessary
[20:41] level of service to the public one
struggle is being made difficult because
[20:47] additional requirements are placed on
the court by the Michigan Supreme Court
[20:51] over which we have no control and we are
required to meet this is especially in
[20:56] the area of technology and diversion
and as our employees struggle to meet
[21:01] these demands they are doing it in
crowded inadequate workspace I too am
[21:07] proud of Eaton County and I know that
Eaton County is a great place to work we
[21:11] have wonderful employees they understand
the importance of what they do every day
[21:17] and how that directly impacts the lives
of the Eaton County residents that come
[21:22] to use our
courts and even though it is a great
[21:25] place to work we struggle to maintain
employees
[21:29] because we are not competitive in our
wages and our benefits that struggle
[21:34] becomes even more difficult as we try to
hire people when other employees leave
[21:39] for reasons of retirement or going to
the county next door inam with which we
[21:45] directly compete with and pay better
wages my request to you today is simple
[21:53] I'm asking you to help us provide a
working environment with competitive way
[21:59] so that we can continue to deliver the
quality of services that the Eaton
[22:04] County residents have come to expect and
they deserve I thank you for your time
[22:10] and I thank you for serving on this
committee I know it's very difficult
[22:15] thank you
[22:29] hello everyone I just I'll be brief I
want to thank you for uh being here and
[22:33] serving um as you know uh uh Blake
mentioned earlier that we had a
[22:40] financial stability work group that's
been working on this for a while and we
[22:44] uh came to the conclusion that we needed
to get to this point um just because of
[22:50] uh the situation you've heard
earlier before this um meeting and
[22:56] building up to this we had a several
town halls and in those Town Halls we
[23:01] had uh uh some internal town halls with
employees and employee after employees
[23:07] said they like working here but the pay
is not competitive with other counties
[23:13] and so they they want to stay but uh
financial reasons often takes them
[23:19] elsewhere um we had some uh town halls
with the um Township officials uh they
[23:27] came here and uh
that was very good we uh got to hear uh
[23:32] from their perspective and it was a it
was a good meeting the first time we
[23:37] ever got all the townships together but
I want to say one thing and that is we
[23:44] have a lot of good talented people that
work here and we want to keep them um as
[23:49] Sheriff said I'm also fearful of what
would happen if we could not keep those
[23:55] people um and and and
people to replace them it' be very
[24:01] difficult um but with that also there
was a lot of work that went into place
[24:07] uh that took place throughout this last
year and without controller syby and her
[24:13] staff um this really wouldn't happen
because it took a lot of work a lot of
[24:17] time and they are also under staff so
thank you but uh again thank you for
[24:23] being here and thank you for serving
[24:34] anyone
else there will be another opportunity
[24:38] at the end of the agenda for public
comment thank you let's go on to some
[24:46] discussion about the current tax
allocation and some input from staff and
[24:52] some uh Mr Dawson has some information
uh I think we have generally had a lot
[25:01] of uh the financial stability work
groups information has gone to the
[25:05] public it's been available on the
website we've passed it out to everyone
[25:10] that was interested um a lot of work has
gone into it the financial stability
[25:15] work group actually started when Mr ekon
was on the board some years ago
[25:21] and you know we've we've been looking at
this we've looked at our at our
[25:26] possibilities and uh
um at this point we finally reached the
[25:33] point where action is necessary so Mr
[25:40] Dawson okay um so do we want to start
off just every uh member of this
[25:48] committee you have a packet it has a
copy of a presentation that the Count's
[25:52] prepared to summarize a report which was
much more lengthy so we're endeavoring
[25:57] to leave the time today for you all to
have discussions and questions um on
[26:01] this there's also a blank action item so
if anybody wants to make a motion that's
[26:06] the statutory framework that uh that
would look like uh we included a few
[26:11] page summary of our Capital Improvement
plan we didn't print the whole thing but
[26:15] if any members of this committee want
the whole Capital Improvement plan uh we
[26:18] can produce that for the infrastructure
needs of the county and then there copy
[26:22] of the full May report which was 30
pages and a copy of a 2018 uh analysis
[26:28] that was done previously prior to covid
when uh Financial stability work group
[26:33] at that time had analyzed the needs of
the county so before we get to the
[26:38] county presentation I think this was an
opportunity to see if townships uh
[26:43] wanted to come up and and do a
presentation or have discussions uh so
[26:48] I'll defer to um their representative to
see if that's something they'd like to
[26:56] do um I have sent uh emails out to the
other supervisors um and I've gotten no
[27:04] comment or response from them so I guess
the the townships at this point are
[27:10] going to remain
[27:14] silent thank you thank you uh thank you
for your leadership in that role as well
[27:20] uh so then next is an opportunity for
the istd as well so Sean I welcome you
[27:24] to uh speak to the needs of the um of
your
[27:28] of your
District thank you yeah I can think what
[27:33] I would like to do just kind of
highlight a few things so that point2
[27:37] Mills represents the general education
uh budget for eat and Risa sorry excuse
[27:43] me and you know just to kind of how ISD
budgets work it really is our District's
[27:49] budgets they they own those funds they
they have complete input on how those
[27:54] funds are dispensed and each one of our
local school boards vote on how the
[27:59] funds are dispersed and so the the big
items that come out of that fund are
[28:05] school safety uh general education
supports which are math English science
[28:09] and social studies uh School
substitutes um adult uh Ed education and
[28:16] treny are the big ones and I have to say
on on the macro level you know we have
[28:21] been thoroughly you know um pleased with
the amount of support that we get from E
[28:26] County government um we have have a
great relationship with the sheriff's
[28:30] department the prosecutor's office
Treasury and just very helpful people um
[28:36] I have to say that we are really
concerned um about Public Safety uh
[28:41] given the light that we've had in the
environment and
[28:44] education um we 100% rely on the
sheriff's department to keep our schools
[28:50] safe and that is first and foremost our
biggest responsibility as Educators they
[28:57] coordinate all first responses to our
local districts and unfortunately the
[29:03] word is out on the street that coverage
at certain points of the day are not as
[29:08] heavy as we would prefer especially when
you figure from the north to the South
[29:12] borders of the county is pretty large
and so that concerns me because in my
[29:16] experiences Bad actors quickly figure
out where there is lack of supervision
[29:22] they also know where lack of prosecution
is so uh we're definitely uh concerned
[29:28] and I think I can speak for all of this
superintendent e County that we really
[29:32] need your support around Public
[29:38] Safety thank you thank you um and before
we move into the county piece um I did
[29:44] just want to state so everybody knows
the Mills that are listed on the agenda
[29:48] are the original ones that were set in
1978 um so both all groups the townships
[29:55] the Intermediate School District and uh
Eaton County has been subject to Headly
[29:59] rollbacks uh so the amount that were
allowed to Levy at this moment uh was
[30:03] diminished by three roll backs that took
place um and was outlined in the report
[30:09] uh for that as we transition to the
county I'll open it for controller soie
[30:14] to do an
opening I I just wanted to thank on
[30:19] behalf of the county all of you for
being here for years this County and
[30:22] I've been here for 36 years has worked
to balance its budget we have done so on
[30:28] open positions on the backs of employees
who have taken less pay to come here and
[30:33] do appreciate um the opportunity to work
here um we're now at the point that we
[30:38] have to seek additional Revenue we've
done a significant amount of analysis um
[30:44] we've continued to do that over the last
several several years I've also ban a
[30:48] part of that Financial stability work
group um so I've seen where we've gone
[30:53] the revenues are decreasing um and the
expenses are going to continue to go up
[30:58] that's a fact of life so the outline
that you received from the financial
[31:03] stability work group was a detailed
report um we tried to do that as a group
[31:09] um and staff did work really hard thank
you all um that resulted in the board to
[31:16] form this committee which is significant
to us as staff that they took a a
[31:21] detailed look at this um and realize the
need so I do want to turn it over to Ben
[31:27] again so they he can go through a brief
PowerPoint um and we'd like for you to
[31:31] hold your questions until the end um but
we do welcome questions the difficult
[31:36] ones as well thank you very
much okay thank you so the presentation
[31:44] on screen for those that are in the
audience on either TV and then for those
[31:47] at home you can see it right there uh so
we thank you for being here and uh for
[31:52] your considerations of the County's
financial needs we can move to the
[31:56] overview
[31:59] Logan is it moving oh great all right so
the outline of this is going to be
[32:05] pretty brief like we said we we did a
lot of the work on the front end the May
[32:09] 10th report came out and hopefully
everybody here has had a chance to read
[32:13] it uh know it was provided upon uh folks
appointments or the formation of this
[32:17] committee so we're going to talk about
financial projections we're going to
[32:21] take a look at expense growth compared
to inflation expenditures and revenue uh
[32:26] have a discussion about arpa funding
which America rescue plan act funding
[32:30] that was Co dollars that were provided
by the federal government and that
[32:33] relationship to the county fund balance
which is the equivalent of the general
[32:38] fund money that carries over season to
season and allows the board to make
[32:41] funding decisions uh as they evaluate
influences on Revenue Headley and prop a
[32:48] uh service levels and expense by
function so we'll just dive on
[32:52] in so Financial projections this was out
of the executive summary uh County does
[32:58] not have the revenue to maintain current
service levels uh currently the
[33:01] projected shortfalls to be over 1.3
million shorten the next budget um I
[33:07] will say we're building that budget now
and it will potentially be more and
[33:11] those will be discussions Ways and Means
as we move forward but this was just an
[33:15] initial projection based on historic
we're building the actual detailed
[33:18] budget as we speak uh this shortfall
will continue to compound year after
[33:23] year if more revenue is not identified
uh without additional Revenue cuts and
[33:27] service and Staffing will be necessary
I'll speak on this in one way if we lose
[33:33] institutional knowledge if we have to
make cuts and later got the revenue it
[33:37] will take a long time to rebuild back
the quality character um and we would
[33:41] almost have like an apprenticeship model
where we would have to get people with
[33:44] no experience and build it back and for
Specialties like law enforcement the
[33:48] prosecutor's office attorneys that is a
very heavy lift and so a lot of us have
[33:53] already been wrangling that the last two
years next slide
[33:59] this next one is just to illustrate uh
expense growth for the County compared
[34:03] to inflation we chose three categories
that tend to beat or uh sometimes exceed
[34:09] inflation so as you can tell had these
expenses grown over this 10year period
[34:14] at the rate of inflation they would have
been less than 12 million but in
[34:18] actuality they're closer to 16 million
and so while we all struggle with the
[34:23] the bite of inflation this is just
showing that this is what the county has
[34:27] had to navigate previously when they've
made Cuts uh deferred maintenance and
[34:30] infrastructure that are critical to the
safety and the ability for staff to
[34:35] continue to Pride provide services next
slide uh next is uh expenditures and
[34:41] revenues this one is um kind of outlines
exactly where our revenue and expenses
[34:47] are um we took into account there are
gasby changes which are the accounting
[34:51] rules so the those are marked out so you
can tell what's actual Cash Flow versus
[34:56] what's book keeping uh type of piece but
as you can see uh the trend is is that
[35:02] expenses continue to outpace revenue um
and we show in the blue what Revenue
[35:07] would have been without pandemic relief
funds uh there's an arpa slide but we
[35:11] would not have been able to make it to
this meeting if we did not have uh lost
[35:16] Revenue that we could rely on in the
prior three budget Cycles um so that
[35:20] kind of bought us time to assess what
was the best path forward next
[35:25] line This is the graph was telling you
about as you can see of the arpa funds
[35:31] that were allocated to the county this
was the distribution of how they were
[35:34] spent the green is that Revenue
replacement that's the Lost Revenue I
[35:38] referenced um and there's a direct
relationship as you can see to the
[35:41] county fund balance um and what we're
projected to look at uh in the coming
[35:46] two fiscal years without any additional
[35:50] Revenue so I'm going to spend a little
more time on this because the table
[35:54] that's listed there wasn't in the May
report it took took us some time to put
[35:58] this together uh but generally headle
rollbacks and proposal a um are things
[36:04] that govern what property value uh local
units of government are allowed to Levy
[36:09] um and when prop a took effect it
created a state equalized value and then
[36:15] it created um it created a taxable value
so originally SCV the equalized value
[36:22] used to be what you were able to Levy up
to since
[36:25] 1994 uh that Gap has led to a 23.2
million Revenue loss for the county
[36:31] that's cumulative uh and the gap between
taxable value and the equalized value is
[36:36] currently sitting at
31.7% so what that means is as the
[36:40] market appreciates in value 31 almost
32% of that is not taxable value that
[36:46] makes it to the county to townships or
to the ISD because of how that law Works
[36:52] uh the loss of revenue for the County
due to tiffa districts which are tax
[36:57] incre financing districts you know them
as downtown um development authorities
[37:02] um Corridor authorities uh we have a
number of them in Eaton County uh for
[37:06] 209 since 2019 that's been a $3.8
million loss for the county what that
[37:13] means is when a mill is levied before
anything reaches the county there are a
[37:17] number of uh groups that get funded
first off of the top um and those tiffa
[37:23] districts are funded before anything
comes to the county so again talking
[37:27] about that development you see this
battery plant in Delta you see these
[37:31] different things that doesn't translate
to funding to the county to continue to
[37:36] provide expanded services to meet that
growth uh the Lost Revenue due to County
[37:41] exemption since 2019 it estimated at 1
million and will continue to grow uh
[37:46] every commissioner is is supportive of
taking care of our veterans they're
[37:52] heroic and their service and very
supportive of the intent of this law the
[37:57] problem being this was an unfunded
mandate that was placed on us by the
[38:00] state of Michigan so similar to how
chief judge had talked about there are
[38:04] things that occur at the state level
that we don't have control over but has
[38:09] a direct impact on our ability to
provide services that number will
[38:13] continue to grow uh as as you see has as
it has since uh
[38:18] 2019 uh the next is lost Revenue due to
a Renaissance Zone Renaissance zones are
[38:23] like a tax increment District but they
can formed by the State uh and that
[38:28] battery plant in Delta is one that's
going to be in place for 18 years um
[38:34] this year it was
221,000 lost revenue for the county uh
[38:39] that will double when the facility is
complete and it Brees its full maturity
[38:43] for market value um and you could just
see in a six-year period these four
[38:48] categories alone have cost the county
$12.3
[38:51] million so it's all just to have the
discussion that what's brought us here
[38:56] today is largely being played out all
across the state of Michigan there are a
[39:01] number of counties that are struggling
in similar positions and a lot of it is
[39:05] framework that's been put in place at
the state level that we all have to work
[39:09] uh work through next
slide service levels by function uh
[39:15] Public Safety represents 35.1% of the
County's expenses um we continue to
[39:21] experience those hiring and retention
difficulties and that has led to the
[39:24] reduction in shift coverage for large
portions of the county um as well as
[39:29] increased overtime costs to try to
continue to provide coverage with the
[39:32] Staffing that we have uh retirement
costs alone have increased 4.3 million
[39:37] in the past 5 years which represents
[39:46] 135.243 um and that's been a significant
burden on all localities um and that's
[39:53] what's driving that we've actually
reduced our pension benefit we've
[39:56] eliminated our retirees Health we've
gone through the responsible process to
[40:01] take care of it but when a deadline of
20 years is set every year that goes by
[40:06] the obligation on the county grows of
what we have to put in to meet that 100%
[40:11] by that year uh county has contributed
42.9 million to Ms um in the last 10
[40:18] years and um of that close to 3 to 4
million it was additional contributions
[40:24] above the minimum required contribution
County sits currently at 62% funded
[40:30] again that mandate from the state of
Michigan and uh Market forces we are
[40:34] currently at 62 but we were at 70%
funded in
[40:41] 1996 next this is a service levels and
10year snapshot of expenses uh this is
[40:47] to give you kind of an idea what the
budget looked like in fiscal year 2014
[40:52] and what it was in 2023 we had 3742
total uh full-time equivalent
[40:59] FTE um with 279 of them uh being
supported by general fund snap forward
[41:06] to today it's 384.94
[41:27] here and that has not translated to a
savings expense categories across the
[41:33] board as you can see over there by the
percentiles have increased uh over that
[41:37] period of time so while the expenses
have grown substantially the county has
[41:42] not increase staff due to constraints on
the general
[41:50] fund so summary County's projected to be
1.3 shortfall in the uh upcoming fiscal
[41:56] year which which would be compounded to
23.4 um in the next two fiscal years so
[42:03] without additional Revenue the county
will be forced to reduce level uh levels
[42:07] of service it provides to address these
shortfalls reductions could eliminate
[42:11] vacant positions employee layoffs
reduction in hours of operation
[42:16] reduction in hours for staff uh and or
the sale of assets uh we do have some
[42:21] buildings and we may get to the point
where the board has to make the decision
[42:25] to start selling them off
um apart from securing additional
[42:29] Revenue the only path forward is a
significant reduction in County staff
[42:33] and services which will impact all
residents of Eaton County and I'll I'll
[42:38] say it again if we lose a significant
portion and folks decide to come back
[42:43] and fund the county later it will take
years to rebuild the talent uh the skill
[42:49] and the dedication that we have now um
so I appreciate everybody for being here
[42:54] and for um letting us talk about our
needs
[42:58] next
slide and this just shows uh what the
[43:03] separate tax allocation looks like the
township allocation as it was set in
[43:08] 1978 where everybody rests with Ru backs
um and uh the recommendation from the
[43:14] financial stability work Group which
would be to authorize the board to have
[43:18] the ability to Levy the remaining three
that are allowed under the Constitution
[43:24] uh again that decision to Lev is made
every year by each board it's not an
[43:28] automatic Levy the same way a lot of
townships choose not to Levy their
[43:32] administrative fee uh it would just give
the board the ability to do that if
[43:37] necessary next
[43:40] slide and this is a draft uh separate
tax limitation proposal matches very
[43:45] similar to the action that's in your
packet and that concludes our discussion
[43:51] thank you Mr
Dawson any questions for staff
[43:58] thank you that brings us to the uh point
at hand which really is to fill in the
[44:04] blanks for the separate tax limitation
proposal the one that is uh the last on
[44:10] the
screen um I'd like discussion to follow
[44:14] the the agenda for the areas that the
blanks that need to be filled in and uh
[44:21] I would like to start with the township
allocation which currently is 1 mil now
[44:26] that's
the townships this is for all General
[44:31] law townships Charter townships create
their own funding mechanism and they're
[44:35] not party to this particular um
allocation
[44:40] so what we're proposing here is for
state general law townships now each of
[44:49] them uses their allocation in a
different way they've been rolled back
[44:53] at different amounts depending on a lot
of tax issues and they've some of them
[44:58] Levy some of them don't um what we're
asking for is just to reset the stage
[45:04] more or less and put the townships back
on their 1% or I'm sorry um their one
[45:10] mil allocation and I'm open to
discussion on this
[45:22] point Mr Robinson yes for uh
clarification Mr chair can you uh walk
[45:28] us through what the uh what the
3.29 uh allocation suggested by Mr
[45:35] Dawson uh is and how that relates to the
uh to the amounts being apportioned
[45:43] here are are we saying that there's
three there's that this uh committee can
[45:49] allocate three and uh divide that three
uh I'm just looking for clarification on
[45:56] that uh the
total the total
[46:00] allocation that's the maximum that is
allowed is 9.7 Mills okay so that's
[46:07] that's the Max and we'll that actually
gets filled in on the uh the ballot
[46:13] proposal um we're looking and currently
we're
[46:16] allocating um basically
[46:21] 5.52 and one that's what the current
allocation is before roll backs
[46:28] so we can play with all of the
9.7 but we're proposing that we follow
[46:36] the formula that historically has been
been there with the townships receiving
[46:42] their 1 M
allocation and followed up ISD with
[46:47] their historical point2 allocation the
remainder we're
[46:52] proposing with discussion and with your
input
[46:57] um going to the
county is that clear that that clarifies
[47:01] it yes thank
[47:07] you so I'm looking for a consensus more
or less are we good with looking at the
[47:14] Township's one M alloc or one M
allocation and this will automatically
[47:21] roll back if it were and this is going
to go to the ballot and you know we're
[47:27] not making that tax change here we're
telling the County Board to put this on
[47:32] the ballot at this
recommendation so this would roll back
[47:37] put the
County's um allocation back up to 1 mil
[47:42] from whereever it's been rolled back the
townships again each of those are
[47:47] different when is this proposed to be on
the ballot timing of this is such that
[47:53] if we were to make a recommendation to
the County Board today they will um
[47:59] follow up with it next at their next
full board meeting in June
[48:05] and they'll probably create the ballot
recommendation in July that the
[48:13] plan you could do that at your at the
June meeting the board we could do it
[48:17] right at June yeah
so Mr sctor so
[48:23] by recommending this one mill and
assuming it a pass
[48:30] passes
um in the November
[48:34] election the township boards then would
just have a little more freedom
[48:42] in levying more tax but wouldn't be
obligated to is that correct that is
[48:47] correct thank you that is correct the
I'm not totally familiar with the
[48:51] township situation They Don't Really Lev
Levy they budget and whatever they
[48:55] budget is the number that's used but
that's uh all in statute actually the
[49:01] way the law works is we have to set the
millage and that's set before the
[49:08] budget's actually approved but you know
yeah it's it's go kind of luted so this
[49:14] will offer a little breathing room for
the townships that have had major roll
[49:19] backs and again that's uh um each
Township is different and so they have
[49:25] to speak to right I understand that do
it as such I just just wanted to clarify
[49:30] that one point about about it being
mandatory correct so yes we're looking
[49:35] at getting it to the County Board and
they would propose getting it on the on
[49:40] the November
[49:44] ballot I then if it were to pass in
November that it would take effect
[49:49] immediately on fiscal year upcoming it
would actually be
[49:54] levied the next year which is collected
in the summer taxes in in
[50:04] June we have a projection at all at how
long this particular increase would
[50:10] assist the county that is another
um well the period of of this allocation
[50:18] is something that we'll discuss but in
terms of the long-term Financial
[50:23] stability of the
county I will first of all we don't know
[50:27] what future boards are going to Levy we
don't know what future boards are
[50:31] planning on doing so we can't speak to
that but the work of the financial
[50:36] stability group really has indicated
that this would allow the board to put
[50:42] the County Board to put themselves on
footing that would um keep stability
[50:48] long into the future so we're not this
is a way to fix a problem and depending
[50:56] on how judicious future boards are with
that Levy their levying power um you
[51:03] know we leave it to
them long into the future that's an
[51:09] interesting
statement how long can you give me some
[51:14] idea what we're talking about what what
how long will the financial stability of
[51:18] this County be reestablished once this
is passed if it's passed let's put it
[51:25] that way
[51:28] I'll judge I'll venture to say that if
this were passed the financial stability
[51:32] is secure for the county in all of the
the
[51:39] next budget Cycles when I say that I I
we only project in our budget Cycles at
[51:45] the county about three to four years
ahead and any further than that has
[51:49] always been pretty much
um just guessing commissioner or Mr
[51:57] Robinson uh I do understand Mr chair
that we will specifically be discussing
[52:02] the length of time for for the
allocation so we will get into
[52:06] conversation about that I I wanted to uh
mention with respect to the uh one M for
[52:13] uh townships I have had conversations
with uh with uh quite a few Township
[52:18] people uh none of them indicated any
indication to need to increase an
[52:24] allocation at the local level this
moving forward the one mil would give
[52:30] them the additional breathing space of a
Headly roll back so uh considering those
[52:37] conversations I would be in favor of
moving forward with the one 1.0 mil
[52:42] thank you m Mr Robinson is that a motion
I I will make a motion I'll
[52:50] second we can do that um we'll move each
of these items in end we'll move to the
[52:58] full board when we have the entire um um
action items figured out so the motion
[53:05] on the floor is
to put the county allocation at one M
[53:10] Township Township I'm Township
allocation 1 mil questions or
[53:18] comments all those in
favor I I
[53:24] opposed thank you
now let's move on to this
[53:29] discussion let's go to the Intermediate
School
[53:33] District so I guess m
sorry so one of the things that we pride
[53:40] ourselves that eat Reese say we're one
of the most efficiently run if not the
[53:45] most efficiently run Risa in the state
um our Partnerships with Lon Community
[53:50] College and the way that we um fund
special education in our local districts
[53:55] um we're able to do things that a lot of
folks aren't able to do so our input
[53:59] output's pretty amazing but it's also
not lost on me that we just went to
[54:04] voters eight months ago for our special
education millage which didn't fix the
[54:08] problem but it did alleviate a lot of
the stress for our general Ed general
[54:12] education budgets in our local districts
where they were taking funds that were
[54:17] meant for all kids and they were funding
special education programs that the
[54:21] state was not funding um and so I guess
my question is is in our gratuiti
[54:27] towards the citizens that supported that
what would be the effect to leave Ingam
[54:33] or Ingam in or Eaton reso off of this uh
initiative and focus on the township and
[54:40] Eaton
[54:45] County so instead of asking which
essentially is because we're at 67 so
[54:51] it's essentially we're asking for a
restoration to two what if we were able
[54:56] to just stay with our 67 that way the
voters know that we appreciate the
[55:01] support they gave us in our special
education millage and then also uh would
[55:05] be more favorable towards supporting
both the township and the
[55:11] county I understand what you're saying
um that's a very difficult message to to
[55:17] that to translate it to the public now
obviously you don't have to assess the
[55:22] entire 2 mil that's your prerogative
at the at the
[55:28] ISD if we were actually to put that in
on this in this
[55:33] language the reason the reasoning for it
I think would be pretty opaque I mean I
[55:41] you're thanking the voters for giving
you the last override but I don't know
[55:47] that voters are smart but I'm not really
sure that they would link these two
[55:50] things together and so I I I appreciate
the the thought
[55:57] but I'm not I'm open to what the rest of
the group wants to say
[56:06] I'm I think it's a generous offer um
from the perspective of the ISC just
[56:13] getting an increase but it would
complicate um what the main goal is um
[56:20] for what this group is trying to do
[56:26] I would agree with
that we do not want to complicate
[56:31] matters so um I think this sounds like a
good
[56:35] plan so following our pattern now we'll
look for a motion for the
[56:40] isd's um
[56:46] allocation one of you would be better to
might move it rather I'll make the
[56:51] motion by sluter supported by Robinson
questions or comments um yes under under
[56:59] discussion for this
um it appears to me that this is going
[57:07] to be a very very involved public
relations campaign and I don't envy your
[57:14] position at all um from from the
ISD
[57:22] um if this fails in no
November we're going to have a train
[57:29] wreck I'll address that I'd like to know
what plan B is Plan B is because this is
[57:34] the Constitutional allocation Plan B is
everything stays the same this does not
[57:42] um if this fails in November the
existing
[57:46] allocations stay where they're at and so
nothing
[57:51] changes but we have just
heard oh at several
[57:57] meetings the disaster that the
prosecutor's office the Sheriff's Office
[58:04] all these important offices are going to
face I really think we need Plan
[58:13] B just well timing is everything yeah
exactly and our people are hurting now
[58:20] getting things on the ballot you know
we've got an opportunity for one one uh
[58:27] question and that would be this and this
beyond the beyond our uh duties here to
[58:34] talk about that but I think that's going
to be up to people to make sure that
[58:38] this ballot question is is resolved in a
a positive way for this group and that's
[58:45] again work that has to be done not by
the county but by individuals who would
[58:52] be interested in this in uh making sure
that this
[58:56] happens so but for hey how is this going
to be presented to the county County
[59:02] voter well that's is it going to
be each one of these groups tackling
[59:08] this on their own for example the our
Public Safety is going to get together
[59:13] and spend money to that will all be have
to be worked
[59:17] out after this is determined it's not
something that again this group our our
[59:23] mission here is to I understand is to
fill out these a numbers and leave it to
[59:28] others to figure out the next steps who
are the
[59:33] others I want it' be
us talking about the Board of
[59:37] Commissioners no well the board of board
of board can be involved but bottom line
[59:42] it is PE it is getting people out to
understand what this initiative is
[59:48] about Mr slor real quick answer to Roger
question um we have a lot of campaign uh
[59:56] Finance law and things like this that
has to be taken into account uh as for
[1:00:01] the county actively getting involved in
a campaign and spending County dollars
[1:00:05] on it that's not going to happen it's
not I mean you're looking at essentially
[1:00:11] having somebody very independent of the
County government setting up a pack and
[1:00:16] I'm I'm I'm sure you're going to have
some opposition to this thing I'm just
[1:00:21] absolutely certain of that so when I
when I pose the question what's play B
[1:00:27] I'm really serious this is going to be a
problem this is going to be very this is
[1:00:32] going to be a huge political campaign to
get this
[1:00:37] approved thank you Mr
sluter we are aware of that those of us
[1:00:44] on the other side of
this okay we have a motion did did we
[1:00:49] vote on that we're on the question this
is for the township allocation or for
[1:00:54] the highd
appication all those in favor I I I
[1:01:02] opposed thank
you next we go to the the county
[1:01:09] allocation this is one that
um Mr Dawson addressed as
[1:01:16] did the the the chief judge and the
prosecutor and the
[1:01:22] sheriff um
[1:01:27] this will take the county this would
take the county to
[1:01:32] 8.5 that's that's recommendation
9.7 9.7 is is the total of all of those
[1:01:40] I'll move
it moved by Eon
[1:01:47] supported by Robinson discussion
[1:01:58] all those in
favor I those
[1:02:02] opposed thank
you the next issue is the
[1:02:07] duration this can be set up as some
counties do this as
[1:02:13] a we had a long discussion with our
Council about this and who councils many
[1:02:19] counties on this very subject and there
are counties that do this every few
[1:02:24] years they set up this
a board similar to this and they set up
[1:02:29] their
allocations um our Council was pretty
[1:02:34] clear they thought it should it should
be set up as an indefinite time
[1:02:41] period saying that if we wanted to
change it any board wanted to set up a
[1:02:45] time period or change the allocations
that they would have the opportunity to
[1:02:50] do so in the future but at this point on
the the way the ballot language question
[1:02:56] will read is that this would be an
indefinite
[1:03:00] allocation rather than breaking it down
to yearly
[1:03:05] or five years or whatever like other
like some counties do so I would be
[1:03:12] comfortable
following our
[1:03:16] council's Direction and making this in
an indiff indefinite period
[1:03:26] Mr sluter I think that um first of all I
don't know the reason why Council made
[1:03:32] that recommendation other than um it
would cause a situation where it was
[1:03:41] automatic I I think that if we limited
this to four or maybe five years where
[1:03:48] the citizens had the right and the
opportunity to have public comment to
[1:03:54] speak to these real
ations uh I think we would be doing I
[1:03:59] think we would be doing the citizens
uh a Justice and I also think that we
[1:04:06] would create for the county a tremendous
campaign issue I think you're going to
[1:04:12] have a problem if you do it forever but
I think if you put it out there as
[1:04:16] though it can be Revisited from from
time to time at a a period of time uh I
[1:04:23] think you're going to be I think you're
going to be much much further
[1:04:28] ahead I appreciate that I I
believe the difference is that if it
[1:04:35] were at in a situation if it were voted
down where it's got a certain period
[1:04:41] that the recourse that it would actually
disappear all funding would disappear
[1:04:48] versus in that in that situation there
would be no funding but I'd like I'd
[1:04:55] like to see a legal opinion on that
that's I may be wrong do you guys have a
[1:05:00] call on
that yeah so I think Am I Wrong my
[1:05:04] understanding is right now we're in an
indefinite period so if this fails we
[1:05:08] revert to an indefinite period if you
allocate moving forward to be on a cycle
[1:05:14] you don't default back to indefinite
because you've moved onto a cycle going
[1:05:19] forward so while the risk of the loss
doesn't exist right now if it was say
[1:05:24] six years and it was voted down the
default would be back to the
[1:05:30] authorization that was only for six
years is my understand we can the timing
[1:05:35] yeah timing would just be default would
yeah me it would default to the
[1:05:42] five5 for today's purposes because it's
indefinite right now but if you vote to
[1:05:47] move to a a cyclical changing it every
so many years that's the new default
[1:05:54] because you've changed the 19 78 if that
makes sense so in the future this was
[1:05:59] moved and it was passed 6 years later
it's evaluated and it fails you don't
[1:06:05] default back to the 1978 you default
back to the 2024 allocation is my
[1:06:11] understanding to how Council explained
it that makes sense that makes better
[1:06:14] sense to me can actually confirm that um
as we went through legal counsel for our
[1:06:19] millage we had to use the language of an
increase otherwise we would run the
[1:06:24] Jeopardy in 10 years having the whole
special ed millage fall off um it became
[1:06:30] problematic because the language was
really convoluted because we were doing
[1:06:34] two different things we were restoration
and then a increase and really most of
[1:06:39] the complaints that I received from the
public was this is really confusing
[1:06:42] ballot language it wasn't really about
the millage so yeah I concur yeah thank
[1:06:49] you for that clarification
[1:06:56] Mr Robinson thank you Mr chair um the
the uh only problem I see with
[1:07:03] uh uh it by not going in indefinite is
that uh as supervisor sluter is
[1:07:11] mentioned it it would seem uh to put us
into a major public relations effort
[1:07:19] every what three four years five
years uh versus uh uh you know uh
[1:07:27] grinding it out with one uh initiative
which is going to be tough
[1:07:32] enough uh so uh you know looking at uh
resources and how they're allocated and
[1:07:38] apportioned uh as a Communications
professional which is what I did prior
[1:07:44] to being elected Treasurer um I I I
think that could uh cause a lot of
[1:07:50] trouble and a lot of confusion um so I I
I think that going with a in definite
[1:07:56] time period to me makes more sense from
a resource perspective now that being
[1:08:01] said uh we we have to consider what the
perspective of and will of the voters
[1:08:06] are uh and I don't know what the will of
the voters are in that respect would
[1:08:10] they be more apt to approve it on a
short-term basis or more apt to approve
[1:08:15] it on a long-term basis uh I'd like to
hear more from other members of the
[1:08:21] committee about that uh but uh from from
the way I see it I I I think that it
[1:08:28] makes most sense to go with an
indefinite period
[1:08:33] um it's an uphill battle it's walking
uphill a steep one uh but uh uh I would
[1:08:41] hate to see uh everything grind to a
halt every three or four years who knows
[1:08:46] what's going to happen in another three
or four years that's that's the world
[1:08:49] we've been living in for the last three
or four
[1:08:52] years thank you
[1:08:57] yes Mr Baker my assumption after reading
the report is that um this is
[1:09:03] potentially the best option that you see
that you have um to potentially gain
[1:09:09] this increase that you've never had
before um and I think you need to try
[1:09:14] now because it may be even more
difficult in the
[1:09:24] future I would find it difficult I would
hate
[1:09:28] to to go into a into a shorten cycle of
10 or or five years for the County Board
[1:09:36] to have to continually go through the
work to renew it I don't I understand
[1:09:41] your point and I think it's a good one
but I I don't I would hate to impose
[1:09:45] that on the future boards I think uh
they're they're going to have their
[1:09:49] hands full making sure that the count is
run effectively and making sure that
[1:09:55] these monies are used effectively and
not and uh allocated appropriately so I
[1:10:01] would prefer to see an indefinite period
if they find reason to change it then
[1:10:06] let them do
[1:10:10] so what kind of a change are we talking
about I mean wouldn't the change be to
[1:10:15] reduce it they
could they could reduce it they could
[1:10:19] change the duration they can do whatever
I mean if this is that's the work of
[1:10:24] future board
and we can't tell them what to do or how
[1:10:28] to do it is there a mandated
ceiling yes I mean of Mills yes yes that
[1:10:35] is the 9.7 so they can't increase Beyond
9.7 correct without a constitutional
[1:10:41] change of some kind correct statutory
change of some sort statutory change
[1:10:46] sorry
[1:10:58] okay we're in discussion for the county
portion going to
[1:11:05] 8.5 who was the maker of a motion
sorry pass that R the duration keep me
[1:11:13] on line we're in discussion for the
duration and I'll look for a
[1:11:21] motion I'll move it we indefinite wef
I'll
[1:11:28] support move by supported by
[1:11:33] Robinson all those in
favor
[1:11:37] I
opposed thank
[1:11:44] you now we're to the point where we've
got the form filled
[1:11:52] out and honestly it's
[1:11:58] this is
what appears essentially what appears on
[1:12:02] the
ballot I I guess I didn't explain that
[1:12:05] very much but the ballot language for
this
[1:12:09] particular limitation proposal
is statutorily defined and it pretty
[1:12:17] much comes up to something that looks
like this form right here
[1:12:31] and that'll be in the if we move it on
to the full board then there of course
[1:12:35] we'll take the next
[1:12:52] step will that actually be the ballot
language Ben
[1:12:56] yes yes y
okay we always debate questions and have
[1:13:02] Council this came out of council this is
uh one of those things
[1:13:07] that the board will not have
any
[1:13:12] um they can't change
[1:13:15] it okay I'll look for a motion to move
this on to the County Board a
[1:13:21] recommendation so move Mr Baker
[1:13:26] support Mr
eeken questions or
[1:13:35] comments all those in favor I I
opposed
[1:13:45] thank I would like to thank all of you
for taking your time out to be here I
[1:13:51] know it was a uh beautiful summer day
and you probably all had better things
[1:13:56] to do but uh I appreciate your work as
Citizens and your help and at this point
[1:14:03] uh we'll put this to the board and make
plans for that
[1:14:08] afterwards so Mr Dawson
comment was just going to say I think
[1:14:13] they're finalizing the minutes because
we need to have we need to have uh
[1:14:17] because this body they public comment
too yes we have another public comment I
[1:14:21] want to give the I wanted to give the
clerk a few minutes to put her minutes
[1:14:25] together so that we can finalize those
Mr selector understand that but I think
[1:14:29] we probably because I I I was a little
confused on the agendas because I saw
[1:14:35] two of them at one time um but
[1:14:41] um if we approve the meeting minutes
before the final public
[1:14:45] comment then the people that choose to
speak are not recorded in the minutes
[1:14:55] you're correct on
[1:14:59] that I make a motion to amend the agenda
to approve the minutes after the final
[1:15:05] public comment I'll
support by Mr SL supported by Mr
[1:15:10] Robinson is that right did
it welcome to the seat you can't tell
[1:15:15] who's
speaking to amend the agenda for public
[1:15:19] comment to happen now all those in favor
I I opposed
[1:15:25] thank you okay an opportunity for second
public
[1:15:33] comment and please state your name for
the uh the minutes good morning my name
[1:15:38] is Jim Ruff uh for fairness I want you
to know that I'm I am uh running for the
[1:15:44] 10th District commission
seat and um I have a extensive
[1:15:51] background from the city of Lancing I
chose to live in Eaton
[1:15:57] County uh when I was
sarily uh almost dictated to live in the
[1:16:04] city of
Lancing uh but uh that was before school
[1:16:08] of choice and a lot of different things
that go on with families well I
[1:16:12] appreciate greatly the efforts that have
been put into this uh uh packet of these
[1:16:17] packets of information both the budgets
and and that I would encourage that U it
[1:16:23] gets down to the Simplicity of dollar
and cents uh while these are all very
[1:16:28] difficult uh Concepts to relay to the
public I think it has to be simplified
[1:16:34] much
greater
[1:16:36] uh like today knowing how much money
gets goes into a Township or a county
[1:16:44] and what that means if it's being
reallocated as it is that doesn't that
[1:16:51] doesn't talk dollars and
cents uh to people and that's what
[1:16:55] people are having to go through at this
time is counting pennies their own
[1:16:59] pennies and so I think it behooves the
other aspect of this is my understanding
[1:17:04] just like with the township uh
section uh where uh that point two or
[1:17:12] excuse me the one
mil they don't have the townships do not
[1:17:17] have to collect that much is that
correct it's my understanding they're
[1:17:23] set at a limit and so it behooves the
township trustees to evaluate what
[1:17:29] they're going to need in the coming year
and not just spend it because it's been
[1:17:34] authorized well if the same is true for
the county then if it's as an indefinite
[1:17:40] period it it will uh be imperative for
future
[1:17:46] Commissioners to be responsible on a
yearly basis and not just throw
[1:17:52] everything against the wall because
that's going to be a problem in the
[1:17:57] future and we've seen that in the past
my understanding with some of the
[1:18:02] contract negotiations that have occurred
in the past that uh have been had to be
[1:18:08] resented had to be reset to save uh
funds for the remaining County and so uh
[1:18:16] while this may be set at a indefinite
period uh we also have to understand
[1:18:24] that uh elections have an
impact and uh contracts have an impact
[1:18:32] uh for employees and so uh I'm I've been
on both sides of that as an employee and
[1:18:38] as a manager and as such uh you have to
weigh those impacts and that will be
[1:18:45] very important for the Commissioners in
the future as well as uh the
[1:18:49] administrators of the of the County uh
because not always what's good for today
[1:18:55] is going to be helpful for
tomorrow and uh that will be a very
[1:19:00] important aspect on how this is
addressed and I think it will take a
[1:19:04] commitment by the Commissioners that
when especially now that Commissioners
[1:19:10] are going to be on four-year
terms that during that four-year term
[1:19:16] minimally uh we're going to be looking
at uh doing what we can with what we
[1:19:24] believe is necessary for that year in
collections and so on as we look from
[1:19:29] year to year and so it it uh it really I
believe uh well I I appreciate all the
[1:19:37] the data that's in this I think it's
overwhelming to the public and it has to
[1:19:43] be simplified the message has to be
simplified and uh to make this something
[1:19:50] that can get the Buy in that's necessary
for it to be approved
[1:19:55] uh it as uh as it's desired by not only
the uh staff of the county but also by
[1:20:02] hopefully the citizens because uh
security is so important to this uh
[1:20:08] County and especially in its location
and because when you need it you need it
[1:20:15] right and so uh it's uh it's very
important that way I appreciate my uh
[1:20:20] impact or my interaction with County
uh
[1:20:26] employees uh I've had to work with the
county clerk's office often enough and
[1:20:32] so on and with uh different offices so
I'm I'm pleased with uh the staff
[1:20:38] they're always very pleasant and so I
give that comment as well and appreciate
[1:20:43] the opportunity to be here and to
address this uh committee thank you
[1:20:50] thank
[1:20:53] you any other public
[1:21:00] comment cam are you ready with the
minutes yes would you like to read them
[1:21:06] back
[1:21:10] please okay the Eaton County tax
limitation committee met in special
[1:21:14] session at the county facilities in the
city of Charlotte Thursday June 6 2024
[1:21:19] including the availability of virtual
attendance by the public Chief Deputy
[1:21:24] Kim Morris called the meeting to order
at 10:00 roll call Who present Dr Shawn
[1:21:29] Williams Intermediate School District
superintendent Robert Robinson County
[1:21:34] Treasurer Blake Moulder Ways and Means
Committee chairperson Roger ekin Board
[1:21:40] of commissioner's appointment Michael
Baker Probate Judge appointment and Kern
[1:21:44] selector Township's appointment absent
none Chief Deputy Morris asked for
[1:21:50] nominations for chairperson of the tax
limitation committee Mr Ean nominated Mr
[1:21:55] Blake Moulder Dr Williams supported
there were no further nominations for
[1:22:00] chairperson a roll Co a roll call vote
was taken with six voting a and nonone
[1:22:06] voting nay motion carried Mr Ean moved
the approval of the agenda as presented
[1:22:11] seconded by Dr Williams Mr Moulder noted
that comment will be limited to five
[1:22:16] minutes motion carried Mr Moulder spoke
about the purpose of the committee
[1:22:21] public comment Terry Sadler prosec Lloyd
Sheriff Reich chief judge Cunningham and
[1:22:28] commissioner chairman M spoke in favor
of the tax limitation
[1:22:32] proposal discussion held on the current
tax limitation allocation Deputy
[1:22:38] Administrator Human Resources Director
Dawson asked Mr selector and Dr Williams
[1:22:43] if they had any comments from the
townships or the Intermediate School
[1:22:46] District at this time Mr sctor stated he
reached out to Township supervisors and
[1:22:52] they have no comment at this time
Dr Williams gave a brief overview of the
[1:22:57] Intermediate School District funding and
stressed the importance of Public Safety
[1:23:01] in the county a brief presentation was
given by Mr Dawson and County controller
[1:23:06] administrator soie of the state of
County Mr Robinson moved the township
[1:23:11] allocation of 1.00 mil Mr sler supported
motion carried Mr sler moved the
[1:23:19] Intermediate School District allocation
of 0.20 mil Mr Robinson supported
[1:23:25] discussion held motion carried Mr Eon
moved the county of Eaton allocation of
[1:23:31] 8.50 MS MR Robinson supported motion
carried Mr ekan moved to approve the
[1:23:38] separate tax limitation proposal Mr
Robinson supported motion carried Mr Ean
[1:23:44] moved to approve the separate tax
limitations be established for an
[1:23:48] indefinite period Mr Robinson supported
discussion held motion carried
[1:23:56] Mr Baker would move to approve Mr Baker
move to approve the
[1:24:05] separate and
[1:24:10] established and establish the separate
tax limitation proposal to the Eaton
[1:24:15] County Board of Commissioners Mr Ean
supported motion carried Mr Selter moved
[1:24:21] to amend the agenda to move the approval
of the to after public comment Mr
[1:24:26] Robinson supported motion carried public
comment Jim Ruff spoke in opposition of
[1:24:32] the tax limitation
proposal and then we are there
[1:24:41] yes so you want me just to speak of The
Proposal spoken reference to spoken
[1:24:48] reference
[1:24:51] to okay Mr Jim Ruff spoke in reference
to the tax limitation
[1:24:56] proposal that is it now we're to the
motion of the minutes and
[1:25:01] adjournment motion to approve the
minutes support Mr sctor Mr
[1:25:06] eeken questions or
comments all in favor I those opposed
[1:25:14] thank you again thank you for all
serving today I appreciate your being
[1:25:18] here and taking the time out thank you
in the audience for coming and and
[1:25:22] visiting and giving us your input
um now the hard work falls on us but
[1:25:28] this first this is going to go to the
ways and means and then to the full
[1:25:32] board on June 20th on June 20th on June
the 20th the full board I don't think it
[1:25:39] goes to ways means do
it okay thank you everyone we adjourned