Leavenworth County could face a 33.999 mil levy in 2009, an accountant told the Leavenworth County Commission on Thursday.
Steve Wagner, a certified public accountant who finalizes the county’s budget, presented commissioners with a preliminary budget during a regular meeting.
After more than six weeks of 2009 proposed budget hearings, the preliminary budget gave the commission a clearer picture of a potential mil levy increase. Leavenworth County had a 28.121 mil levy total in 2007.
About $2 million is projected in carry-forward dollars from the 2008 budget. Commissioner J.C. Tellefson said commissioners have saved a 42.7 mil total increase during the last four years.
“The carryover that we’ve enjoyed in the past isn’t going to happen because of paying for gas costs,” Tellefson said.
The property valuation amount used in the proposed budget was $572,999,501, Wagner said. In 2007, the county had $560,310,770 in property valuation. The preliminary budget also included the proposed 2 percent salary increases for all county employees and proposed departmental amounts from the budget hearings. County departmental revenues also are projected to decrease in 2008, Wagner said.
Starting at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at the Leavenworth County Courthouse, commissioners, Wagner and County Administrator Heather Morgan will discuss potential departmental cuts throughout the preliminary budget. The meeting is open to all county employees and members of the public.
Discussions among county staff members about the budget will take place during Thursday’s afternoon session.
Commissioners unanimously approved the enhanced Delta Dental plan for 2009, which would cost $17.94 each month per county employee or $65.18 for a family plan. Employees now pay $17.82 each month for a nonenhanced plan.
Commissioners also unanimously approved Humana Health Insurance, which will cost $411 per county employee each month or $908 for a family plan. Humana includes one yearly routine eye examination.
Commissioner Dean Oroke made a motion to offer the separate vision service plan. The motion did not receive a second from other commissioners. The vision service plan would include one routine eye examination, new glasses frames every 24 months and a new contact lenses prescription every 12 months.
For Thursday’s preliminary budget, Morgan said she used the lowest possible option for the county employees’ health insurance plan. Wagner will prepare an updated preliminary budget with figures as of Monday, and commissioners will review the updated preliminary budget prior to their during their all-day meeting on Wednesday.
Morgan said she used $411 per month for each county employee while calculating the preliminary budget. In the 2009 preliminary budget, $1,527,085 will fund county employees’ health insurance, Morgan said.
She said she will use the current number of county employees as provided by the human resources department while calculating the preliminary budget for Wednesday’s meeting.
County employees’ current one-year health insurance contract will expire Oct. 1. The county should soon begin enrolling its employees under the new plan, Morgan said.
Instead of having its own line item in the 2009 budget, employee benefits will be included under the individual departments’ budgets. Emergency Medical Services, election, appraiser’s office and noxious weed department will have their employee benefits moved into the county’s general fund, along with other county departments that are levied separately.
Tellefson discussed whether the county should pay 20 percent of county employees’ family insurance plans. The 2009 family insurance will cost $908 monthly per employee. Commissioners took no further action on Tellefson’s suggestion.
In other business:
* BOND — Commissioners reviewed three bond options that they could enter. The first option, at $13,238,972, would solely fund the County Road 1 project. Morgan said it is recommended that commissioners bond this amount, which would be funded solely from a sales tax fund.
The second option, at $14,034,006, would fund County Road 1 and county bridges 15 and 33. The third option, at $23,049,125, would fund county roads 1 and 8 and bridges 15 and 33.
Leavenworth County has already committed $8.8 million for the County Road 1 project. The city of Tonganoxie also committed $1.5 million for the project, with $150,000 each year during a 10-year period.
The bonded amount would include the county’s and city’s commitments and the accrued interest. Morgan said the county would also allocate $600,000 of the bond to the city of Leavenworth for a prior commitment for work between 18th and Metropolitan streets.
Morgan also suggested that commissioners develop a separate budget for the 1-cent sales tax that will primarily fund County Road 1 and the county’s digital radio communications project.
* COUNTY ROAD 4 — Commissioners unanimously approved $786 for the replacement, installation and disposal of four tires damaged from rising oil on County Road 4. Because of heavy rains, oil beneath the chipping and sealing rose and “encased” the vehicles’ tires, leaving them unable for driving purposes, County Counselor David Van Parys said.
Van Parys received a total of four claim forms from residents who said they had oil on their tires and vehicles.
All claims came from residents who drove on County Road 1 before 9 a.m., he said. Van Parys also contacted local automobile body shops to help those residents who were affected.
“I don’t think there’s any fault in this,” Van Parys said. “It’s just an unfortunate reality.”
Oroke said he would like the damaged tires to examine their resulting conditions.
* SEWER — After a unanimous motion that moved the commission into the board of directors for Sewer District 3, the board unanimously adopted a resolution that directs city of Basehor staff to proceed with the decommission of a lagoon. The Kansas Department of Health and Environment will also receive a copy of the resolution.
KDHE has issued an order to decommission a lagoon that collects wastewater in Sewer District 3. The county must connect the district’s residents to the city of Basehor’s wastewater treatment plant.
About $1 million from KDHE’s revolving loan fund will go toward the project, Morgan said. She also said residential costs will vary based on square footage of land parcels.
Commission Chairman Clyde Graeber said he is concerned that project costs were initially lower than recent cost calculations.
“The homeowners are bound to be even more upset than they were initially,” Graeber said.
Van Parys said better engineering studies have taken place since the preliminary costs were released.
“I’m certain that it’s not going to come as a pleasant surprise to property owners, but we do believe that it is within reason and should not hold a burden,” Van Parys said. “Property owners in Glenwood (Estates) are aware that those lagoons were not intended to be permanent.”
Property owners will be notified, and public hearings will take place regarding the associated costs. The county commission also serves as the board of directors for Sewer District 3, and the board must conduct at least two public hearings before making a commitment.
John Forslund, public works staff engineer, said the district needs reconfiguration to include a middle school that has an August 2009 projected completion date.
Oroke presented a document dated Dec. 17, 2004, from the city of Basehor’s engineer that stated total costs associated with removing Pinehurst Estate’s lift station and future improvements at $46,815. The document also outlined the subdivisions and percentage of costs they would share.
“That’s certainly something we need to discuss with the city (of Basehor),” Van Parys said.
* SIGN TRUCK — Commissioners delayed further discussion about the purchase of a sign truck. During the July 21 meeting, the commission approved the KC Peterbuilt sign truck bid for $98,819. KC Peterbuilt has retracted its original bid because of an “improper price matrix,” said Doug Smith, assistant road and bridge superintendent.
Smith requested that commissioners consider the lowest remaining qualified bid from Diamond International for $100,185. Diamond International’s bid is honorable for about another 30 days.
“I’m concerned about the budget and the possible mil levy,” Graeber said. “This is a situation that I’m willing to put on hold.”
Oroke said also decisions about purchasing a new sign truck should be deferred until the 2009 proposed budget process is completed.
“It may be a blessing that they did withdraw,” Oroke said.
* SOLID WASTE — Graeber requested that commissioners receive more information about moving the noxious weed department under the solid-waste department. He said he would like to know how the two departments would work together and the number of days each week that hazardous household waste collection would operate.
Jason Auvil, solid-waste director, said if hazardous household waste hours were reduced, he would not need the noxious weed department to combine with solid waste.
* TRAVEL — Graeber, Oroke and Tellefson all said they would not sign the travel request or approve the travel of any county employees to the EMS Expo in Las Vegas this fall. The commission approved to seek refunds for reservations already made.
Tellefson said the board’s consensus during a travel request hearing in early July suggested that EMS employees could attend the conference. In early July, EMS Director Jamie Miller said he wanted to buy airline tickets early enough to receive discounted prices. Miller recently purchased the tickets without commissioners’ prior knowledge, Morgan said.
Commissioners also approved to send back two health department travel requests for additional information.
The board unanimously approved a travel request for one employee to attend an HIV and AIDS informational conference in South Carolina. Grants will fund the $1,406 travel request.
The board also unanimously approved a travel request for one employee to attend the Kansas Association of Mappers annual conference in Hutchinson. Grants also will fund the $452 travel request.
* JJA — The Juvenile Justice Authority will reschedule its quarterly report before the commission. Originally scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Thursday, the report was postponed because of bond-issue discussions.
* CLOSED DOORS — Commissioners, the county administrator and the county counselor met behind closed doors for 10 minutes regarding pending litigation. Commissioners unanimously approved an additional 10 minutes behind closed doors that involved the same people and topics.
