[0:00] good morning and uh it's a little after

[0:03] 8 30. and we're going to call the

[0:05] meeting of the operations committee

[0:08] and the annual budget hearing to order

[0:11] the first order of this business is to

[0:13] open the public hearing we are opening

[0:15] the public hearing now and the process

[0:17] we will use on that

[0:19] of course is we will give the overview

[0:21] of the budget

[0:22] and then we will ask for public uh where

[0:25] we ask for comments from the public

[0:27] and after that we'll

[0:28] basically close the public hearing and

[0:30] consider the two resolutions

[0:33] and i think trump's uh trent is going to

[0:35] read those

[0:37] jesus

[0:38] i'm sorry

[0:41] but anyway

[0:43] the uh

[0:45] point is that uh

[0:47] we'll

[0:49] advise the uh

[0:51] the two resolutions to the county board

[0:53] for passage

[0:54] [Applause]

[0:55] okay so the public hearing is open and

[0:57] the first thing we're going to do is go

[0:58] over the selling the summary of the

[1:01] budget

[1:03] the wood county tax levy for 2022

[1:06] is 30 million 721 658

[1:10] that's compared to twenty eight million

[1:12] one hundred and sixty four thousand and

[1:14] sixty four in 2021

[1:17] it's an increase of two million five

[1:19] hundred and fifty six

[1:21] thousand five hundred and ninety four

[1:22] dollars or eight point oh four

[1:25] the county tax rate levy increased

[1:27] mainly due to the increase in debt

[1:29] service living

[1:31] the estimated average equalized value

[1:33] for a home in the county is 132 000

[1:36] compared to 130

[1:38] 300 a year ago

[1:41] that's up that means that a

[1:43] the county property tax on the average

[1:45] home

[1:46] is approximately 730

[1:48] or up from 699 last year about 31

[1:53] difference

[1:54] the total equal by equalized value of

[1:56] all the properties in wood county

[1:58] is 6 million 55 382 that's an increase

[2:02] of 332 million it's going to be at 6

[2:05] billion sorry

[2:07] um 332 million 145 500 or 5.8 percent

[2:13] and that that

[2:14] kept the

[2:16] rate down a little bit and we had more

[2:18] value of property

[2:21] uh so

[2:22] anyway

[2:23] that's pretty much where we're at the um

[2:26] the largest expenditures were as we said

[2:29] the capital improvements project and a

[2:30] lot of that is due to the jails matter of fact

[2:34] of the uh

[2:36] 63 million up in in total uh

[2:39] expenditures

[2:40] that accounted for 90.1

[2:43] of it so that that did

[2:45] the rest of it was

[2:47] in uh mostly in salaries and

[2:51] benefits for the employees

[2:53] that was

[2:54] health and human services was the second

[2:56] highest increase

[2:58] at 2 million

[2:59] 980 000

[3:02] of public safety i think it was uh

[3:05] let's say 8 55 855 000

[3:10] and conservation and recreation 482

[3:12] those are the top increases in the

[3:15] budget

[3:16] basically i'm going to yield the

[3:18] microphone to

[3:20] uh panea tanaya yang and she is going to

[3:22] give part of it and then

[3:24] we will have another summary

[3:33] good morning everyone hopefully you guys

[3:34] can hear me okay

[3:36] my name is pania ying and i'm the deputy

[3:38] finance director

[3:40] um i will before i jump into the budget

[3:42] summary i just wanted to thank all the

[3:44] wood county board supervisors

[3:46] the department heads and their stuff for

[3:48] all their hard work on the budget this

[3:49] year

[3:50] we started working on the budget at the

[3:52] end of july and now it's november so

[3:54] it's quite the process

[3:56] we felt it went very very well and on

[3:59] top of that it was a pleasant working

[4:00] with everyone that is involved

[4:03] in this process and so i just want to

[4:05] thank you all again for making it go

[4:06] smooth this year

[4:08] so we're going to jump right into our

[4:10] budget summary for 2022

[4:13] our budget revenues are estimated to be

[4:15] about

[4:16] 177.7 million while expenditures are

[4:19] estimated to be about 180.5

[4:22] and um if you look at that bottom line

[4:24] in the table there that puts us at a

[4:26] deficit of 2.8 million

[4:29] um that is actually an improvement of

[4:30] about 1.7 million from 2021's deficit of

[4:34] 4.5 million

[4:36] and we want to iterate that the county

[4:37] does have sufficient reserves to do so

[4:41] it was mentioned last year probably and

[4:43] we'll want to mention again this year

[4:44] that the county overall is in a sound

[4:46] financial position but we must remain

[4:49] diligent in our future just trying to

[4:51] improve our budget process overall

[4:54] and i feel that for this year on this

[4:57] year's budget we did do that seeing that

[4:59] our deficit was 2.8 million compared to

[5:01] what we normally see um you know what we

[5:05] have seen in the past from anywhere from

[5:06] four to six million and so um i just

[5:10] want to thank again all the committees

[5:12] and departments where we're working

[5:14] really hard on that and hopefully we

[5:15] continue going towards that direction

[5:17] okay

[5:18] and that's just a very short summary of

[5:21] our 2022 budget and i will give it back

[5:23] to ed wagner to go over our expenditures

[5:25] section okay thanks

[5:31] as i alluded to first in the initial

[5:33] presentation

[5:35] there were some major increases but

[5:37] there were some decreases in

[5:38] expenditures also that went into the

[5:40] budget

[5:41] uh as i said the budgeted expenditures are 185 180.5

[5:47] million

[5:48] or approximately 63.8 million above the

[5:50] 2022.

[5:52] we mentioned that human health and human

[5:54] services increase was approximately 2.98

[5:58] million

[5:59] uh that the public health department

[6:01] increased by 715 000 due almost solely

[6:05] to wage a benefit

[6:06] in the in the pace

[6:08] uh edgewater in norwood and human

[6:10] services community increase is

[6:11] approximately 1.5 million and the bulk

[6:14] of that increase is attributable to the

[6:16] wage and benefit increase and the other

[6:18] increase increases result of a higher

[6:20] contract services rate of about 727 000

[6:24] public safety increased by approximately

[6:26] 855 000 and that was uh in dispatch and

[6:30] corrections

[6:31] and the coal accounted for 603 000 of

[6:33] that

[6:34] and the cost of communication and jail

[6:37] contract services increased by around

[6:39] fifty thousand dollars basically on the

[6:41] rising cost of the contracts

[6:46] public works actually decreased by 941

[6:48] thousand dollars and that was attributed

[6:50] to the cost allocations for highway

[6:52] machinery equipment

[6:54] including a reduction in capital outlet

[6:56] so there was there was something coming

[6:58] down there

[6:59] general government um that had an

[7:02] increase a very small increase of only

[7:04] forty one thousand dollars

[7:07] uh out for that and and that was mostly

[7:09] due these were smaller departments and

[7:11] basically the only thing they had going

[7:13] for that is salaries and benefits so

[7:16] that they that increased by

[7:18] about

[7:19] 295

[7:21] a thousand the input the increase was

[7:24] offset by lower cost of employees

[7:26] self-insured health benefits of

[7:28] approximately 259 000. so there was an

[7:31] offset there it worked out really well

[7:34] and there was also a reduction in

[7:35] capital projects of about seventy four

[7:37] thousand dollars

[7:38] um

[7:39] but that was all said also a lot of cost

[7:41] is an increase in supplies for about

[7:42] eighty 81 000.

[7:44] uh conservation and recreation um

[7:48] that's

[7:49] it shows an increase of 482 000 but

[7:52] that's deceptive

[7:53] because

[7:55] there's a there is going to be state

[7:56] grant funding from parks and forestry

[7:58] shelter construction up for 473 000 so

[8:02] that basically will offset that but we

[8:04] have to report it as an expenditure

[8:06] first before we before the grants are

[8:09] applied to it

[8:10] um capital projects expenditure

[8:13] increased by approximately 57.5 million

[8:15] as we stated

[8:17] and that is mainly because of the jail

[8:20] that's primarily that

[8:22] but there was some other financing for

[8:23] highway and there was also some

[8:25] financing for other capital improvement

[8:27] projects

[8:29] and that included more extensive

[8:32] renovation needs

[8:34] at the aging healthcare facilities and

[8:36] the courthouse

[8:37] and also adding a fourth courtroom which

[8:40] we know we're going to come up to here

[8:42] very shortly i think probably by

[8:44] mid-year next year we'll be responsible

[8:46] for doing that

[8:47] and then there will be more extensive

[8:49] heart facilities

[8:51] in 2022

[9:05] section

[9:06] for 2022 um our budget revenues are

[9:09] approximately again

[9:11] 177.7 million and that is an increase of

[9:15] 65.5 million from 2021's budget

[9:19] with the next talking points i will

[9:20] quickly highlight where these increases

[9:22] are seen for revenue source

[9:25] property taxes that is our second

[9:27] largest revenue source

[9:29] it is up approximately 2.6 million

[9:33] and that's mainly due to an increase

[9:35] under our debt service levy

[9:37] for covering the principal and interest

[9:38] payments of the new jail project

[9:42] next intergovernmental revenues that

[9:44] increased approximately 2.52 million

[9:47] with the largest increase under human

[9:49] services for state and federal aids

[9:54] public charges for services that

[9:55] increased approximately 1.34 million and

[9:58] that is again due to an increase in

[10:00] human services public charges for mental

[10:02] health and edgewater private pay

[10:05] intergovernmental charges for services

[10:08] they actually show a decrease of about

[10:10] 118 000

[10:12] while workers have

[10:13] rates and liability liability insurance

[10:16] increased there was a decrease

[10:18] for health insurance enrollment in a

[10:20] decrease in rewards over at edgewater

[10:22] for private pay or i'm sorry over agile

[10:24] due to reduction in current leader

[10:26] census

[10:28] sales tax for

[10:30] 2022 and we budgeted that for 6.9

[10:33] million and that is up 900 000 from

[10:36] 2021's budget

[10:38] we did take a look at 2021 collections

[10:41] so far to date and uh what this date was

[10:43] projecting for determining that 6.9

[10:46] million figure

[10:49] proceeds from long-term borrowing that

[10:51] is our largest revenue source for 2022

[10:54] that increased about 57.5 million due to

[10:58] the funding that is needed for our new

[10:59] jail

[11:01] our hiring projects and our cip projects

[11:05] and then last but not least other

[11:06] revenues that increased about 815 000

[11:09] primarily due to higher proceeds for

[11:11] long-term borrowing

[11:13] and

[11:14] next i will give it to ed newton just

[11:17] for the quilting prints of our budget

[11:18] here

[11:31] good morning

[11:32] first of all i'd like to thank again all

[11:34] the supervisors department head managers

[11:36] operations committee and preparing the

[11:38] 2022 budget i'd also like to thank pania

[11:41] for all her hard work this is her as

[11:43] everybody knows this is her first budget

[11:45] and she did an excellent job not only

[11:48] on the budget but working with other

[11:50] various departments so i just want to

[11:52] say thank you to her too as well

[11:54] so now i'm just going to we're going to

[11:55] look at

[11:56] what our challenges were the

[11:58] considerations

[11:59] most of you know that our operations

[12:02] levy is capped and it's based upon the

[12:04] economic growth of wood county

[12:06] we had a slightly over 2

[12:09] growth on it on our

[12:13] on economic growth

[12:15] and we know that's not enough to keep

[12:16] pace with uh inflation

[12:19] so we have to

[12:21] you know keep our services to the

[12:23] community and to all our citizens but we

[12:26] still need

[12:27] to be fiscal responsible about it so how

[12:30] do we do this we always have to look for

[12:32] additional funding sources such as

[12:34] grants or other monies that out there

[12:37] and we must maintain a strong fiscal

[12:39] discipline

[12:40] and this is where we rely on our

[12:42] supervisors as well as our department

[12:44] head and managers and i believe they do

[12:46] a good job

[12:47] again we have to look out for our head

[12:49] count because as noted earlier that is

[12:52] one of our largest expenses so i think

[12:54] we've done a good job this year really

[12:56] watching our head count being very

[12:59] diligent of replacing and keeping

[13:03] being able to keep the services that

[13:05] everybody expects from the county and

[13:07] the community

[13:09] and also

[13:10] we know that the supervisors and

[13:11] apartment heads has always strived for

[13:14] greater operational efficiency so even

[13:16] though you know we have to keep things

[13:19] at a minimum we still have to look and

[13:21] make sure that we're we have the

[13:23] efficiency there

[13:24] so then we started preparing our budget

[13:27] what are some of the considerations that

[13:29] we did

[13:30] as talked about earlier we increased our

[13:32] sales tax from 6.0

[13:34] to 6.9

[13:36] where did we come up for this number

[13:38] well ford analytics sends out a report

[13:40] and they were showing closer to seven

[13:42] just over seven million dollars but

[13:44] after discussion we felt to be a little

[13:47] conservative that we would do the 6.9

[13:49] million

[13:50] we felt that was a conservative approach

[13:53] even though right now for 2021 we are on

[13:56] pace probably to reach the 7 million

[13:58] mark on sales tax so we will be over

[14:02] that which is a good thing

[14:05] as part of a lot of this was discussed

[14:08] already earlier is our personnel cost

[14:11] we reflected a 2.5

[14:13] cola increase plus we had our annual

[14:15] step increase

[14:17] and part of that annual step increase is

[14:19] based upon the new structure when we did

[14:22] the salary that went into effect january

[14:24] 2021. why do we do this

[14:26] we have to be competitive with all the

[14:28] other industry that's out there to make

[14:30] sure that we keep

[14:32] you know quality individuals you know

[14:34] quality help here so we want to be

[14:37] competitive but we also have to remember

[14:40] that we got to keep our wages

[14:42] under control and it's a tough task

[14:44] because

[14:45] we need people there's competition

[14:48] our limited budget on where we can get

[14:50] our money so

[14:52] again it's a difficult task but i think

[14:54] we're doing a pretty darn good job

[14:58] um

[14:59] continuing with wages the departments

[15:01] did a great job

[15:04] budgeting for their personnel as far as

[15:06] wages as hell as far as other

[15:09] contract labor costs that they'll need

[15:11] when we're unable to fill some positions

[15:14] and i think helping us out on the budget

[15:16] was our new software because we're able

[15:18] to

[15:19] utilize better information on the wages

[15:22] we're able to

[15:23] put different start date for individuals

[15:26] instead of having everybody which we

[15:28] used to start january 1. we knew you

[15:30] know not everybody hire is going to

[15:32] start january 1 and there's going to be

[15:34] some attrition back and forth so i think

[15:37] that helps us get more of an accurate

[15:39] budget

[15:42] so again that was a great shout out to the department heads

[15:46] managers for their hard work on that i

[15:48] know that's that's a tough task

[15:50] especially for the larger departments

[15:52] that have a lot of moving parts going on

[15:53] so thank you very much

[15:55] we also increased our health care costs

[15:57] by one percent which is a

[16:00] small increase considering all the

[16:02] everything else you hear about health

[16:03] care costs

[16:04] mainly this is due to favorable claims experience in the past

[16:09] years and a strong fund balance

[16:12] workers comp increase for 2022

[16:15] had an increase because we did a big

[16:17] significant decrease in 2021 after

[16:20] discussion with um risk management

[16:23] we felt that this increase was necessary

[16:26] to maintain a sufficient fund balance uh

[16:28] so hopefully next year 2023

[16:31] you know i don't think we'll see much of

[16:33] an increase at all i think we're at that

[16:35] level now where we can maintain and keep

[16:37] a healthy fund balance like you know

[16:38] having serious claims

[16:40] so then we've got to look at the

[16:42] uncertainties that is out there what are

[16:44] some of the uncertainties

[16:46] currently we have a new president

[16:48] uh there's been lots of interesting

[16:50] things going on in washington as far as

[16:53] a lot of money coming our way

[16:55] how to spend it's another uncertainty

[16:58] uh again

[17:00] you know we'll see what happens through

[17:02] the next years

[17:03] copen19 that's still around all the

[17:05] variants um how's that gonna affect us

[17:08] on personnel how does that affect us on

[17:11] medicaid with all the vaccine mandates

[17:13] time will tell so

[17:16] you know we've got to be wary of that 12

[17:18] and 19 also the other mandates is that

[17:20] going to increase some of our costs

[17:22] most likely uh but hopefully there's

[17:24] money out there to offset that

[17:27] we know now we know that we've had this

[17:29] labor shortage for cnas it's been there

[17:32] for a while

[17:33] we're also seeing

[17:35] various other labor shortages throughout

[17:38] the country throughout wisconsin rapids

[17:40] throughout wood county

[17:41] people are you know

[17:43] looking for the next higher paying jobs

[17:45] again that's where we have to keep our

[17:47] wages competitive make sure we have the

[17:49] proper benefits

[17:51] um vaccine mandate again falls into this

[17:54] picture if that comes in how will that

[17:56] affect our labor market so things that could affect

[18:01] the budget going forward that we still

[18:03] don't know

[18:04] supply chain issues we know there's uh

[18:07] that

[18:08] having the availability of products not

[18:11] isn't always there

[18:13] we have the rising cost of products

[18:16] that's good news because as products

[18:18] thrive that increases our sales tax base

[18:21] but on the bad side of course that

[18:23] affects us because we have to pay the

[18:25] higher cost

[18:26] so it's catch-22 but luckily we don't

[18:29] pay the sales tax

[18:32] uh we still have the closure of the

[18:33] wisconsin rapids mill

[18:36] i haven't heard much detail on it that's

[18:38] been pretty quiet last i heard was

[18:40] probably about three months ago that

[18:41] they're still in negotiations

[18:44] again i

[18:45] it would be great to hear more

[18:46] information on that but uh i haven't

[18:49] heard anything

[18:50] uh arpa we do have a lot of money

[18:53] sitting out there but

[18:54] we did not include any of that money in

[18:57] our budget reason is we're not sure how

[19:00] we can

[19:00] spend it properly

[19:02] a lot of

[19:04] webinars that i've attended says be

[19:06] patient

[19:07] so once we're able to figure out how to

[19:09] best spend it then

[19:11] we'll work that into as a budget

[19:12] resolution or however we feel necessary

[19:18] so thank you um do you have any

[19:20] questions for any of our team here

[19:36] thank you well asking again does anybody

[19:37] else have any questions concerning the

[19:40] budget

[19:43] no questions

[19:45] that uh being the case i will declare

[19:47] the public hearing portion close

[19:50] and

[19:51] before we consider the two resolutions

[19:52] we want to add something that that ed

[19:55] mentioned

[19:56] um

[19:57] yeah we

[19:59] i want to thank the staff and the other

[20:01] super supervisors and the other

[20:03] uh committee chairs for their help and

[20:06] cooperation in preparing this budget it

[20:08] went much smoother this year than it did

[20:10] in the years past and i'm very pleased

[20:13] with it and i want to thank you all from

[20:15] the bottom of my heart for your your

[20:16] cooperation

[20:18] and with that we'll go on to the

[20:21] consideration

[20:23] of the two resolutions the first one one one dash one

[20:29] is uh intent and synopsis to establish

[20:32] wood county's tax levy for 2021

[20:35] collectible in 2022 and i have a mobile

[20:37] motion by rosar second by fischer

[20:41] discussion

[20:44] they're being done all those in favor

[20:46] please say aye opposed

[20:49] motion carries

[20:50] the next item that is uh item 1-2

[20:55] intended synopsis adoption of the 2022

[20:57] wood county budget

[21:00] no mission is in order mr fire mr fisher

[21:04] all those in favor please say aye

[21:08] opposed so carried

[21:10] and with that ladies and gentlemen

[21:13] we are done with our presentation and we

[21:15] thank you for your cooperation and we

[21:17] stand to turn

Wood County Annual Budget Hearing and Operations Committee Meeting 2021

Transcript