Vermilion County Finance and Personnel Committee met May 7.
Here is the minutes provided by the Committee:
Agenda Item 1 - Call to Order and Roll Call
Committee Chairman Steve Fourez called the Finance & Personnel meeting to order at 5:00 pm. Upon the call of the roll, the following members were present; Wes Bieritz, Robert Boyd, Steve Fourez, Todd Johnson, Becky Stark, Bruce Stark, and Crisi Walls. Also, in attendance was Michael Marron, Vermilion County Board Chairman; Bill Wright, Vermilion County Auditor; Alexis Berlin, Chief Deputy Auditor; Dar- ren Duncan, Vermilion County Treasurer; Matt Long, Vermilion County Supervisor of Assessments; and Bill Donahue, Risk Consultant.
Agenda Item 2 - Adoption/Amendments to the Agenda
Mr. Stark motioned, second by Mr. Bieritz, to approve the agenda as presented. Motion passed by accla- mation.
Agenda Item 3 - Approval of Minutes – March 5th ,2017
Mrs. Stark motioned, second by Ms. Walls, to approve the minutes. Motion passed by acclamation.
Agenda Item 4 - Audience Comments
Matt Long, the Vermilion County Supervisor of Assessments, commented on the 2018 Elected Official Salary Schedule. Discussion to be continued under Agenda Item 8.
Agenda Item 5 - Financial Update
Ms. Briggs presented a Quarterly Finance Update for the 1st Quarter of the 2017-2018 FY. Also, a finance update ending March 31st was distributed via email. Mr. Stark asked Ms. Briggs to contact Denny Gard- ner, the Vermilion County Circuit Clerk, to discuss the FTA fee which seems to have decreased this fiscal year.
Agenda Item 6 – Resolution: Adopt the Annual 1,000 Hour Standard for IMRF Participation
Walls moved, second by Bieritz, to discuss.
IMRF has two thresholds which set the number of hours that can be worked before participating into IMRF. Vermilion County currently has a threshold of 600 hours and would like to change it to 1,000 hours. This would be cost savings to the County because any part-time employees under 1,000 hours would not be burden on the pension system. This would benefit the offices with part-time staff by allow- ing them the ability to work more hours and not being constrained to only 600 hours.
Upon the call of the roll the following members voted yes, to wit: Wes Bieritz, Robert Boyd, Steve Fourez, Todd Johnson, Becky Stark, Bruce Stark, and Crisi Walls. 7 yes, 0 absent
Agenda Item 7 – Discussion: IMRF
This item is being revisited to discuss a large lump payment from the General Fund and IMRF Fund to Vermilion County’s IMRF account. The IMRF SLEP account is currently negative -$800,000. Every year, the County is charged 7.5% interest on that account when normally there is a 7.5% gain. The County’s Gen- eral and IMRF Fund currently have significant reserves but are only receiving roughly 1.5% in the short- term CDs. If a large payment could be made, the County would start receiving 7.5% and the annual rate would decrease as well. Once the 2016-2017 FY audit is completed, this item will be revisited.
Agenda Item 8 – Resolution: Salary Schedule – 2018 Elected Officials
Johnson moved, second by Bieritz, to discuss.
The 2018 Elected Official salary’s must be set 6 months prior to the election. The schedule was set so that the Elected Officials salary would remain the same for the next two years and then there would be a 3% increase on each of the following two years after. Mr. Fourez explained that this method was used in 2016 because in the past the salaries began to differ among each other. Since this is only done once every four years, it can become difficult to correct. The current method allows salaries to remain the same among all elected officials. Mr. Stark commented that in the past the Elected Official Salary’s were held steady some years due to the unknown of the State budget. During this time, the elected officials stepped up to run their office as efficiently as possible. Since the County has reserves, Mr. Stark sug- gested a different approach be used so the Elected Officials will recognize that increase sooner. Mr. John- son added that due to the way the 2016 Elected Officials Salary schedule was made that the 2018 Elected Official Salary should follow the same method to create consistency among salaries. In 2014, the Board of Review and the Board of Review Chairman received a zero percent increase for all four years. It was also discussed that the County Board Chairman’s salary should be increased to remain closer to the other Elected Official salaries.
Johnson motioned, second by Mr. Stark to amend the 2018 Elected Official Salary Schedule. The sched- ule is now set as follows. The Treasurer, County Clark, Supervisor of Assessments, and Sheriff’s salaries will remain the same for the first two years and then a 3% increase for the following two years. The Board of Review and the Board of Review Chairman will receive a 3% increase for the next four years and the County Board Chairman will receive a 3% increase for the next two years.
Upon the call of the roll the following members voted yes, to amend: Wes Bieritz, Robert Boyd, Steve Fourez, Todd Johnson, Becky Stark, Bruce Stark, and Crisi Walls. 7 yes, 0 absent
Upon the call of the roll the following members voted yes, to wit: Wes Bieritz, Robert Boyd, Steve Fourez, Becky Stark, Bruce Stark, and Crisi Walls. 6 yes, 1 absent
Agenda Item 9 – Update on Financial Accounting System
The new Financial Accounting System is live. On the first day, the auditor’s office received 116 entries in 8 hours. The Human Resources portion is currently in process and expected to join in September. Bill Wright, the Vermilion County Auditor, is very pleased with the preparation, training, and the overall Fi- nancial Accounting System.
Agenda Item 10 – Executive Session
Not necessary
Agenda Item 11 - Items of Information
A correction of the 2018 Elected Official Salary Schedule will be emailed to all County Board members and distributed at the County Board Meeting on May 8th, 2018.
Agenda Item 12 – Adjournment
Chairman Fourez adjourned the meeting at 6:05 pm.
http://countyboard.vercounty.org/meeting%20minutes/Finance%20Personnel%20Minutes_05_07_18.pdf
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