BOC Budget Workshops Ongoing

HARRISON – The Clare County Board of Commissioners has begun frequent Clare County Budget Workshop meetings in an effort to stay ahead of spending and revenue shortfalls, and gradually regain a health General Fund balance. While the very frequency of the meetings is a hurdle to timely reporting, it has been determined that reporting these meetings in some detail is an opportunity for the citizenry at large to gain a more thorough understanding of the county’s elected officers’ and department heads’ workload and what they provide for the county.

As reported last week, the Jan. 28 Budget Workshop began with an update from Marlana Terrian, director of Clare County Central Dispatch. Following Terrian was Sheriff John Wilson, who described the specific duties of his constitutional office of sheriff. He said the things he has to primarily have funding for includes the jail.

“It is really your building that you have to take care of, so I can help inmates,” Wilson said.

He went on to say that he was in his fourth term and that if he finishes it out, he will be the longest standing sheriff since 1961. And since that time, it has been an ongoing discussion as to how to fund road patrol.

“Jim Gelios, back then said, John, I don’t know how we’re going to do this without doing a road patrol millage,” Wilson said. “And I’d hear that off and on over the last 13 years – and we never did it because we’d hear people didn’t want to pay more taxes.”

He added that the sheriff is responsible to respond to calls for assistance in the unincorporated areas of the county.

“Meaning, if Clare City has a police department, I don’t have to respond unless they’re not on duty,” Wilson said. “Then I am responsible. City of Harrison, they contract with us, I’m responsible overall. Regardless, I’m still responsible for how it falls in.”

Wilson explained that he deputizes all the officers, including the Clare City Police, enabling them to back up the sheriff’s department out in the county.

“They have authority even through our Central Dispatch, through me, if they need to do something and I didn’t deputize them,” he said. “But it’s easier if I deputize them. Almost all sheriff’s offices in the state deputize their local police departments, except when you get down around Detroit, and like that – because they help each other out.”

He also touched on the Michigan State Police, and the Mount Pleasant post which covers the local area.

“They cover four counties with one post, and they’re never fully manned,” Wilson said. He noted there are two troopers who work nights, and seem to like working in this area. We have DNR in the county; we don’t hear from DNR much unless we’re working with them.”

Wilson also noted the information he provided for commissioners, adding some statistics of interest.

“On average, we go around 70 employees, including Terrian and courthouse security,” he said. “That’s who I oversee: 911, courthouse security, road patrol, clerical, the jail, and civil process which is its own division.”

Wilson said that when he started working for the county, he was a dispatcher, and had also worked in the jail

“I have experience in every area over there,” he said, going on to describe being pressed into service at Central Dispatch  during/after a bad wind storm when “the county just went berserk.”

“It’s unbelievable in that dispatch center – it can just fall apart, no matter what time it is.”

Wilson suggested a good staffing number for the dispatch center would be three people on duty at the high times.

He went on to describe a much-needed change in the county.

“I lose too many good people,” Wilson said. “I have a 17-year veteran who’s a sergeant who made $5,600 more than me this year and he’s leaving to go to Gladwin City. Because he’s going to get a better retirement, better insurance, and he’s starting out as a regular patrol officer at a wage he’s making here as a sergeant. It’s a repeat – it’s a skip record every year.

“I always hear ‘We have no money, we have no money, we have no money,’” he said. “I understand, but we’ve got to come together and we’ve got to change that.”

Referring to the rental prisoner housing contracts, Wilson said he doesn’t like running a business in the jail, but that it was handed to him when he was elected and it was continued.

“We understand how important that revenue is, and we’ve proven through two different jail studies before Dale [Majewski] was commissioner and after that, the jail does bring in – at the right numbers – above and beyond the amount of money it would cost to fund a regular jail. We’ve proven that.

“Now, this is the first year since I’ve been here – I think we’re at $900,00 one year in ’08 or ’09 when the economy was bad. But other than that, other years were at $1 million-plus.”

He also described the minimal effect on revenue resulting from wall-building work in the jail, because of how renter population diminished due to COVID-19. That project is nearing completion, with attorney-client rooms almost complete, and installation of floors, fire suppression equipment, and white noise units remain.

Wilson spoke of a business downstate from which Clare County had taken renters for $35 per day, which had gone bankrupt because “nobody was taking anybody to jail down there.” He said Clare County wasn’t taking anybody either, to avoid infections.

“We didn’t want that stuff in our jail,” Wilson said. “And, knock on wood, we’ve not had one case in our jail. We’re doing testing; every day we go by DOC standards, health department standards. We can test it and know in 24 hours.”

He said that politics are affecting how federal inmates may likely be directed to a newly-built prison in Saginaw, because they’re closer to Bay City [U.S. District Court-Eastern Michigan District].

“We do have a contract with them: 50 males/five females,” he said. “And we get $67/day for those. There is no cost to the county for putting that federal inmate into our facility. They pay for all medical, all transportation, everything around that, and the rental fee pays for the meal every day.”

Wilson said that with the COVID-19, food costs have risen, but that currently that cost to the jail is down about $45,000 from this time last year.

“We’ve done so much over there in the 12 years I’ve been here,” he said.

Wilson also spoke of a wage study from the Michigan Sheriffs Association, derived from information from all 83 counties. Then, based on county population, jail beds, and number of employees, average wages are determined. He said he would provide that study to the commissioners.

BOC Chair Jeff Haskell asked about the projected $500,000 “hit” the county would take due to reduced prisoner rentals. Wilson confirmed that the revenue could be at $720,000 at end of the fiscal year if revenue stays the same, noting it had been at $1.2 million. Undersheriff Dwayne Miedzianowski added that he was concerned that figure could actually dip to $600,000.

There was further discussion about determining the proper number of jail employees, in order to balance that with an undetermined rise or fall of inmate numbers.

While some commissioners spoke of the necessity of maintaining sheriff department staffing, Haskell also spoke to the need for going into the next budget with accurate projections/hard numbers, instead of guess numbers as he believed had been used in the past.

“I made plenty of mistakes the first two years I was here,” he said. “And I don’t want to make them again.”

Wilson then said that in asking how other counties manage those numbers, he has been told adjustments should be made quarterly. He also noted that his is a working budget, and cited the example of a homicide suddenly changing the numbers by about $20,000 and adding a new line item in the budget.

“How do you plan for that?” Wilson said. Noting that there were some budgeted positions in the jail that are currently unfilled, Wilson said he wanted to meet with the administrator and treasurer to see if there was anything his department could do.

Commissioner Bronwyn Asplund asked if that could be done in time to be presented at the next budget workshop.

“I agree that you guys know your department way better than I do or we do, except maybe Stephanie – she was there and been around all that so her input would be very well taken,” Haskell said. “But, I can’t tell you where to cut, what to do anywhere here. So, I guess we’re looking at elected officials and department heads, and I think if we can all get our heads together and figure this out, it’s a great start in the right direction.”

It was then pointed out that the jail supplies income in support of the county, and Miedzianowski added that great care must be taken to balance the inmate-corrections officer ratio.

“I don’t feel we can do with any less COs than we physically have right now, nor the road,” he said. “In my opinion, you should have five county road deputies every shift; never less than three. At times, we’re running with two – one of which is me.”

Haskell added that he wasn’t saying the county had to cut people, but was simply asking for opinion as to whether there was overstaffing.

“Like I say, you guys know what’s going on,” Haskell said. “I don’t feel you can cut your way out of a deficit.”

Treasurer Jenny Beemer-Fritzinger provided information to commissioners detailing 2009-2020 real numbers. Those figures included ending General Fund balance; fund balance as a percent of revenues and expenses; year-end revenues and expenses since 2009; extra money that has been put in to make the budget balance/ from the Delinquent Tax Revolving Fund and the Foreclosure Fund; yearly revenue sharing, plus millage, plus jail revenue.

“It’s always been hard for us,” she said. “Two of the biggest things … we have been relying on jail money/inmate money and the Delinquent Tax Revolving Fund pretty heavily to get through most of these years.”

She said more than $1 million had been put in over the past couple years, and pointed out that she had taken $500,000 out of the 2020 projected budget to allow for the jail’s expected renter shortfall.

“This is not one of my statutory reports,” Beemer-Fritzinger said. “I just think it’s necessary for anybody to know what’s going on, to see the history. Last year we did gain $150,000 which is exciting, and I’ve also given some other revenue to the auditors to see if they will push those revenues back in the year to increase that – but we’ll have to wait until the audit is over to see if they will do that.”

The treasurer and administrator also spoke of previous revenues which have been taken away from the county, i.e., reduced state revenue sharing, CPL fees, increasing expenses such as the indigent defense fund, as well as increases to state and county level child support.

Miedzianowski then spoke up to add to the discussion of employees who, like Marlana Terrian, were serving in positions and carrying workloads far above their pay grade. Specifically, he noted Kim Davis, a 35-year employee who is also a division commander who should be a lieutenant, but is not even paid at sergeant level.

“I’m trying to get you to understand that to run a department right, there is organizational structure for a reason,” he said. “We all know eventually it’s going to be tough, but you have a group of dedicated people – dispatch, clerical, corrections, road, court security – that are phenomenal. Most people have no idea the volume they deal with. Sometimes we don’t have a choice; the sheriff and I take calls. That’s not common, honestly.

“Once we all get to a better place – and I know it’s going to take time, you have some decisions ahead of yourselves – I would caution you the jail revenue is huge. We have to be careful how we handle anything at the jail. We can’t afford to lose that revenue.”

He further admonished that public safety cannot be risked.

“But once we get to a better place, we have to start taking care of the sheriff’s office employees. We have an amazing group of people with talent, but honestly, I don’t know if we’re going to be fortunate enough to keep them if something doesn’t change for them. They have families, too.”

Majewski voiced concern that seeking wage studies, etc., might be giving false hope.

“We’re looking at $600,000 plus Jenny’s saying we’re not getting the tax revolving money,” he said. “We’re crowding $1 million [revenue reduction].”

The undersheriff emphasized that a long-range plan needs to begin, and that the problem needs to be fixed.

“Clearly, our folks are not comparable [wages/benefits] to our neighbors,” he said. “And they deal with double the volume.”

Wilson then noted that Isabella County will be breaking ground on a $43 million sheriff and jail complex at the dead end of Remus Road, funded by windmill revenues.

After more discussion of what will be real and what will be projected budget cuts and/or fund balance, the board made a plan to meet for another budget workshop the first Wednesday in February.