Local sales have boosted county finances
County will make extra payment on debt
Saturday, April 14, 2007
County leaders updated information about finances and operations Saturday morning at the monthly Eggs and Issues panel organized by the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce.
County Commission Chairman Marshall Miller told the audience that excess revenues at the end of 2006 were $842,000, "which is a good place to be -- on the positive side."
Sales tax collections have been up, and $2.2 million was collected from the half-cent sales tax. The county has about an 18-month reserve of funds set aside to pay bond and interest payments.
"The good news is later, I think this fall, we will be paying ahead," Miller said. "We're doing good. We just need to keep buying in Emporia and Lyon County."
Work is underway on Westar Energy's new $230 million plant northeast of Emporia. The plant is expected to come onto the tax rolls in 2013.
Commissioner Scott Briggs said that a spirit of cooperation between the county and city is a positive for both entities.
"There's some problem-solving going on and I'd like to see that continue," he said.
Briggs said that revenue will be lost because of changes in the tax base, and decisions may need to be made about what services are most important for taxpayers to fund.
"The biggest thing I've seen so far is the sanitation code," he said. The new, simplified code appears to be more fair than previous attempts at codifying sanitation.
Briggs said that he will continue to investigate the possibility of making Lyon County eligible for a wind farm, though a former state senator has told him that would not be politically correct in this area.
"I'm not a politician," Briggs said.
County controller Dan Slater also was a member of the four-man panel, which included two commissioners and Sheriff Gary Eichorn. Slater said that his job description seems to be that of tax collector.
"In the Bible, they used to take them out and throw rocks at them," Slater said. "Some days it feels like that's still happening."
Slater said that county departments are becoming more efficient, though he continues to try to hold down their budgets. He singled out the Flint Hills Community Health Department as an example.
"We have the finest health department in the State of Kansas," Slater said. "I try every year to reduce their budget."
As interest rates have crept up, the county is benefitting from money earned on invested money.
"Every dollar in interest rate earned is a dollar we didn't have to collect in taxes," Slater said.
He cautioned that some equipment is wearing out and needs to be replaced and said that county employees have not received raises for three years. With commercial equipment disappearing from the tax roles, more burden will be placed on home owners.
"What you're looking at is more and more the residential property owner is paying more and more of the taxes," Slater said.
Health, transportation, aging and other services continue to require funding "and the services are going to people who don't pay taxes," he said.
If the city becomes a shopping hub, as proposed in a shopping center plan approved recently, the result could be lucrative for the county.
Slater singled out the Lyon County Sheriff's Department as a source of funds for the county, with its jail accepting out-of-county prisoners and generating funds for law enforcement purposes through drug arrests and seizures.
Eichorn talked about the changes that have come about in his department since 2001.
The county on Friday had 123 inmates in the jail.
"That's down," Eichorn said. Last year's average inmate count was 134.8 people per day. The jail serves about 148,000 meals a year and they must supply 2,500 calories per person per day.
"You may think they should get bread and water," Eichorn said, "... well, the Supreme Court has a different view of that."
On Friday, 22 of the 123 prisoners were from Johnson County and six were from Franklin County. Both counties pay $45 per day for the Lyon County Jail to house their prisoners. The City of Emporia pays a discounted rate, $40 per day.
Eichorn said his department has hired a nurse with emergency room experience to take care of some prisoner's health needs. "She's saved us a tremendous amount of money," Eichorn said. "The ambulance service was going to start billing us on calls. We saved 70 percent on medical bills."
The department has purchased a transport van with secure cages that can take up to five prisoners to prison intake sites. Those transfers had been made with two vehicles.
"We did that constantly," Eichorn said. "We'd take two vehicles to El Dorado."
The department travels about 600,000 total miles per year, including patroling.
The number of deputies on patrol has been increased so all three shifts each have five deputies authorized instead of three. Vacations, sick leave, days off and other factors, however, affect the actual number of deputies on patrol.
Eichorn said that his department has taken in close to $1,000,000 in cash from drug arrests and vehicles seized in drug cases have been put to use within his department. The increase in activity began with a $5,000 donation from a local resident to finance a canine unit that can be used to aid in drug arrests.
A Nissan sports utility vehicle with 21,000 miles carried marijuana in its gas tank. The SUV was seized and has replaced a 2000 Ford Explorer. Two other seized vehicles are being used for undercover operations.
Seizure funds last year allowed Eichorn to fit three officers with cars and gear, and purchased a van for crime-scene investigations. Other technical equipment has been purchased to aid in investigations and handling of evidence.
Former commissioner Vern McKinzie asked whether the county was considering charging prisoners per diem for their jail expenses, as was being tried in another Kansas County.
Eichorn said that he had used a $12 per day charge to put together figures to see if that would be feasible. The jail houses numerous inmates that have been sentenced to 90 days, six months, or one year in jail.
"The problem is, the people I looked at were people that could not afford $1 a day," Eichorn said. "You'd have a tremendous debt, accounts receivable."
Eichorn said that those who are sentenced to serve only on weekends might be able to afford a charge.
"You can't just charge people who are going to be there over the weekend," Eichorn said.
Jerry Karr, former state senator, asked about the projected date to utilize the former John Deere store building, which was purchased by the county last year.
Miller and Briggs said that Commissioner Bob Davis knew more about those plans. Davis was not present.
The Extension service's free lease from The Farm, Inc. will expire on Nov. 1st, and plans are to move those offices to the front of the Deere building, which sits adjacent to the Lyon County Fairgrounds. The rear of the building has been used since Dec. 1 as the LCAT bus barn.
Slater said there will be substantial costs involved in preparing the building for Extension offices.
Chuck Hanna asked the panel when maintenance was going to be done at the fairgrounds, mentioning rusty metal roofs in particular.
"I think it's an eyesore," Hanna said.
Slater assured the audience that changes will be made this summer.
Miller wants to see the Quonset huts replaced and a new exposition hall constructed.
"If we had a decent, air-conditioned building, we'd have triple (the number of business exhibitors)," he said.
Eggs and Issues breakfast meetings are scheduled with the Emporia school board on May 5 at Mary Herbert Learning Center and with the city commissioners on May 19 at the Emporia Public Library meeting room.