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.
Jerry Karr, former state senator, asked about the projected date to use 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 expires Nov. 1, 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 commercial exhibitors),” he said.
Commissioner Scott Briggs said he was concerned about legislation that had prompted a loss in tax bases and that decisions will need to be made about services that are most important to taxpayers.
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 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 benefiting from money earned on invested money.
“Every dollar in interest 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 rolls, more burden will be placed on home owners.
“What you’re looking at more and more is 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.
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.
Sheriff Gary 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.
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.”
A transport van has been purchased 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 patrolling.
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 million in cash from drug arrests and vehicles seized in drug cases. That money has 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 used to aid in drug arrests.
Seizures have saved the county money and enhanced the sheriff’s department’s efficiency.
A near-new Nissan sport utility vehicle that was seized with marijuana in its gas tank has been used by the department to replace 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 purchase 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 Marion County.
Eichorn said that he had used a $12 per day charge to put together figures to see whether that would be feasible. The local 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, but the department cannot single out a certain group of individuals to charge.
“You can’t just charge people who are going to be there over the weekend,” Eichorn said.