New Leaf
Topic: Duties
Well, if I am going to have a blog I guess the trick is to have regular entries. This should be the first of an attempt to be irregularly regular.
Fighting budget battles in the county is not terribly different than sorting out the differences between husband and wife. Except that the money under question is someone elses. When the clerk tells us that we are "leaving money on the table" I keep having to remind everyone that it isn't our money. Some wanted us to take the full gamit of funds available. The 3% we can take each year (about half a mil), New Construction taxes (maybe $300K) the foregone (what we didn't take last year - maybe $150K) etc. I have been fighting for no tax increase at all but it looks as though we will take the New Construction funds which will become a tax anyway as soon as the homes are on the rolls and maybe $93k of the 3%. We held off on the foregone. It is frustrating in the main finding that there is little interest in shrinking government. I will look for more creative ways this year.
Posted by cornelrasor
at 11:26 AM EDT
Updated: Sunday, 8 August 2010 11:37 AM EDT
The Census
Topic: Census
Some of a Tea Party Speech I made on September 12 regarding the Census
Defining the parameters of the argument – framing the debate Census – not for distribution of funds:Article 1, Section 2“Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this union, according to their respective numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole number of free persons, including those bound to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty thousand, but each state shall have at least one Representative;” CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING
1790 CensusThe first enumeration began on Monday, August 2,1790, little more than a year after the inauguration of President Washington and shortly before the second session of the first Congress ended. The Congress assigned responsibility for the 1790 census to the marshals of the U.S. judicial districts under an act that, with minor modifications and extensions, governed census-taking through1840. The law required that every household be visited and that completed census schedules be posted in ‘‘two of the most public places within [each jurisdiction], there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...’’ and that‘ ‘the aggregate amount of each description of persons’’ for every district be transmitted to the President. The six inquiries in 1790 called for the name of the head of the family and the number of persons in each household of the following descriptions: Free White males of 16 years and upward (to assess the country’s industrial and military potential), free White males under 16 years, free White females, all other free persons (by sex and color), and slaves. 1800 CensusA February 28, 1800, act provided for the taking of the second census of the United States, which included the states and territories northwest of the Ohio River and Mississippi Territory. The guidelines for the 1800 enumeration followed those of the first enumeration, except that the work was to be carried on under the direction of the Secretary of State.The enumeration was to begin, as in 1790, on the first Monday in August, and conclude in 9 calendar months. The 1800 census was begun on 4 August 1800. The count was to be completed within nine months. Questions Asked in the 1800 CensusName of family head; number of free white males and females in age categories: 0 to 10, 10 to 16, 16 to 26, 26 to 45, 45 and older; number of other free persons except Indians not taxed; number of slaves; and town or district and county of residence. Other Significant Facts about the 1800 CensusMost 1800 census entries are arranged in the order of visitation, but some have been rearranged to appear in alphabetical order by initial letter of the surname. 1810 Census The third census, taken by the terms of an act of March 26, 1810, stipulated that the census was to be “an actual inquiry at every dwelling house, or of the head of every family within each district, and not otherwise” and commenced on the first Monday of August.No additional details concerning the population were collected by the census; however, an act of May 1, 1810, required marshals, secretaries, and assistants to take (under the Secretary of the Treasury), “an account of the several manufacturing establishments and manufactures within their several districts, territories, and divisions.” The marshals collected and transmitted these data to the Secretary of the Treasury at the same time as the results of the population enumeration were transmitted to the Secretary of State. No schedule was prescribed for the collection of industrial data and the nature of the inquiries were at the discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury.An act of May 16, 1812, provided for the publication of a digest of manufactures containing data on the kind, quality, and value of goods manufactured, the number of establishments, and the number of machines of various kinds used in certain classes of manufactures. The report, containing in complete returns covering these items for more than 200 kinds of goods and included several items that were principally agricultural, was published in 1813.The 1810 census was begun on 6 August 1810. The count was due within nine months, but the due date was extended by law to ten months. Questions Asked in the 1810 Census
Name of family head; number of free white males and females in age categories: 0 to 10, 10 to 16, 16 to 26, 26 to 45, 45 and older; number of other free persons except Indians not taxed; number of slaves; and town or district and county of residence. 1820 CensusThe fourth census was taken under the provisions of an act of March 14, 1820. The enumeration began on the first Monday of August, and was scheduled to conclude within 6 calendar months; however, the time prescribed for completing the enumeration was extended to September 1, 1821. The 1820 census act required that enumeration should be by an actual inquiry at every dwelling house, or of the head of every family within each district.Data relating to manufactures were collected by the assistants, sent to the marshals, and then transmitted to the Secretary of State at the same time as the population returns. The report on manufactures presented the data for manufacturing establishments by counties, but the results were not summarized for each district and an aggregate statement was compiled as a result of incomplete returns The 1820 census was begun on 7 August 1820. The count was due within six months but was extended by law to allow completion within thirteen months. Questions Asked in the 1820 CensusName of family head; number of free white males and females in age categories 0 to 10, 10 to 16, 16 to 18, 16 to 26, 26 to 45, 45 and older; number of other free persons except Indians not taxed; number of slaves; and town or district and county of residence. Additionally, the 1820 census for the first time asked the number of free white males 16 to 18; number of persons not naturalized; number engaged in agriculture, commercial, or manufacture; number of “colored” persons (sometimes in age categories); and number of other persons except Indians. Notice that it was only 30 years before government began nosing into information they really didn’t need. In 1790, the first Census Act provided that the enumeration of that year would count “inhabitants” and “distinguish” various subgroups by age, sex, status as free persons, etc. Inhabitant was a term with a well-defined meaning that encompassed, as the Oxford English Dictionary expressed it, one who “is a bona fide member of a State, subject to all the requisitions of its laws, and entitled to all the privileges which they confer.” Thus early census questionnaires generally asked a question that got at the issue of citizenship or permanent resident status, e.g., “what state or foreign country were you born in?” or whether an individual who said he was foreign-born was naturalized. Over the years, however, Congress and the Census Bureau have added inquiries that have little or nothing to do with census’s constitutional purpose.By 1980 there were two census forms. The shorter form went to every person physically present in the country and was used to establish congressional apportionment. It had no question pertaining to an individual’s citizenship or legal status as a resident. The longer form gathered various kinds of socioeconomic information including citizenship status, but it went only to a sample of U.S. households. That pattern was repeated for the 1990 and 2000 censuses.The 2010 census will use only the short form. The long form has been replaced by the Census Bureau’s ongoing American Community Survey. Dr. Elizabeth Grieco, chief of the Census Bureau’s Immigration Statistics Staff, told us in a recent interview that the 2010 census short form does not ask about citizenship because “Congress has not asked us to do that.”Because the census (since at least 1980) has not distinguished citizens and permanent, legal residents from individuals here illegally, the basis for apportionment of House seats has been skewed. According to the Census Bureau’s latest American Community Survey data (2007), states with a significant net gain in population by inclusion of noncitizens include Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas. (There are tiny net gains for Hawaii and Massachusetts.)This makes a real difference. Here’s why:According to the latest American Community Survey, California has 5,622,422 noncitizens in its population of 36,264,467. Based on our round-number projection of a decade-end population in that state of 37,000,000 (including 5,750,000 noncitizens), California would have 57 members in the newly reapportioned U.S. House of Representatives.However, with noncitizens not included for purposes of reapportionment, California would have 48 House seats (based on an estimated 308 million total population in 2010 with 283 million citizens, or 650,000 citizens per House seat). Using a similar projection, Texas would have 38 House members with noncitizens included. With only citizens counted, it would be entitled to 34 members.(Wall Street Journal article 08/10/2009) This significantly skews the representation and therefore the kind of government we have since illegal’s will generally vote for the person who stands to give them the most in welfare, medical help and education. We pay for it and they reap the benefits. Further we must begin the long road back to the original and only reason for the census – apportionment of representation. Again, the founders never dreamed that future generations would be stupid and slavish enough to send their hard-earned money to distant Washington D.C. and then petition and grovel for some of it to be sent back. Until we teach the legislators that we do not have a democracy where 51% of the representatives in congress and the senate decide how we will proceed we will continue down the road to slavery. Let them know that the constitution articulates their responsibility to count and remind them who they are to count!
Posted by cornelrasor
at 5:22 PM EDT
Budget Magic
Mood:
happy
Topic: Budgets
I have noticed over the last dozen years or so that the County checkbook never dips below about $15 million dollars. I have long thought that there was some 'hidden" fund with millions in it. There is not. The extra millions are there, they are just in "reserves" and they are simply held from year to year to cover emergencies or budget requests like you saw yesterday. Apparently law only allows that when any reserves are used, they are "fund specific" so for example if there is $150,000 reserve in the Tort Fund, it can be brought into the budget to be used but only in the Tort Fund - paying for lawsuits etc. There is for example about $1,600,000 reserve in Solid Waste but since it is a fee based fund, those extra dollars can only be used in that fund. For example we could use the funds to build new transfer stations or upgrade the Colburn transfer site etc.
Past commissions have allowed for large reserves to be built up in all of the funds. Law allows as large a reserve as the Clerk and Commissioners have the stomach for. I see that there are 25% contingencies in most funds and 30% in a couple. To be fair some are 10% and many that need no reserves are rightly 0%. In order to get this money into the budget and not keep it in reserve the commissioners have to decide to reduce the yearly reserve percentages. We are told that it will be a "tax hit" next year and it would if we were to bring the reserves back up to the current 25-30% levels. I am working on changing the reserve levels so that they are much lower say 5-15%. This will put Bonner County in the position of not having to raise the levy at all (too late this year but certainly next year and a few years after) or if there are many requests for additional funds, not very much. We (all three commissioners) went into the budget process hoping to hold the line on the budget. We are allowed by law to take any "new construction" which is buildings that are not on the tax rolls yet but will most likely be in the coming budget year. That was about $400,00.00. we are also allowed to take a yearly 3% hike. That is about $500,000.00 this year. As the requests began coming in it was apparent that we either needed to roll money from the reserves into the budget or, hike it with new construction and the 3%. I have been suggesting a modest infusion of reserves with the idea that we will simply let them adjust to the lower percentage step-by-step permanently. I don't know if that will be acceptable but we shall see. What I would like to do is actually reduce the reserves to their lawful minimums. This would reduce the need to hike the budget probably for 2-4 years. The downside would be that if there were a true emergency, there would likely be no funds to plunder for that need as there have been for so long.
This is not a sinister plot but rather past elected officials have just legally padded the funds for a rainy day. We just need to decide that we don't want that comfort level and we can use the funds down to their bare minimums. I am certainly glad to do that but everyone needs to know that at some point we will need to decide (rightly in my view) to reduce the level of what the county does because when the excess reserves are gone, there will be no funds to satisfy requests like the Sheriff made yesterday. I believe that we need to do this slowly and methodically because the reserves are in fact taxpayer dollars that should be used and not saved. They should be in the pockets of the citizens until they are actually needed.
This will be wildly popular with some and not so popular with others. The reason Bonner County has not had to lay off personnel is largely due to the healthy reserves that gave us the ability to simply keep working when other counties had to slice their budgets. It is one of the claims I made when I ran and I would like to honor the commitment to reduce the county budget but we need to get the word out with all of the ramifications.
If we use the reserves over the next few years, we will hold the budget to either no increase or a modest increase. If we couple using the reserves with removing some of the things the county does from the budget permanently, we will reduce property taxes but people will have to begin to do more for themselves as they rightly should.
During further inquiry I was given an Excel spreadsheet in hard copy that shows the reserves, their percentage and the resulting cash available "after reserve". In other words, the amount of the budget for a certain fund - say Justice - is multiplied by a suggested percentage which for Justice is 30%. So the projected budget for Justice for 2010 is $11,781,310. 00 (yes that's eleven million it actually includes 6 departments including the Sheriff's). Multiplying that by 30% results in a suggested reserve of $3,561,393.00. Now we look at cash on hand for Justice - $7,480,868.00 as of July 9th. Subtract the remaining budget which is $3,765,396.00 and we have a$3,715,472. 00 available cash for Justice. Remember the projected reserve is $3,561,393.00 so there is, according to this philosophy, $154,079.00 above the reserve in cash to give to the Sheriff (or any other of the 6 departments in that fund) if the commissioners so choose. Now, what if Justice had a reserve of only say 15%? Now the projected reserve is $1,780,696.50 and the cash balance after reserve, that is, the cash ready and available to infuse into the budget, is $1,934,775.50. Doing the same for all of the other funds would yield immediately from about five million to nine million dollars that could be "one-time" infusions into the budget. One-time because when those funds were gone, they could only be replenished by raising the levy and taxing Bonner County residents at a higher rate than is currently being used to bring the funds back to their 25-30% reserve status.
If, however, we slowly and methodically bring those reserves into the budget with the caveat that the new reserve levels would be lowered permanently to between 5 and 15% depending on the fund, at the very least, property taxes would not increase using my intended plan for 3-4 years. In fact, if the will of the County was in line with reducing some of the unnecessary expenses like Parks and Recreation, Historical Society, Indigent & Charity, and parts of many other funds as I find them, we could reduce the county budget permanently by several million dollars.
This will take a sea-change in both county budgeting philosophy and in the expectations the citizens of the county have for county government. I took that spreadsheet that I mentioned above and, after simply entering all of the figures under their correct headings, reverse engineered the math calculations so that the figures on the right side - the results side- are reproduced correctly with calculations in the spreadsheet. It was a simple multiply and/or add spreadsheet so I am very certain that the figures are correct. This is not rocket science or hiding funds. They are right there in the open and simply building up year-by-year. I believe that the will exists to use them. It will remain to be seen if future county elected officials will have the will to keep the reserves low after using them. By the way, the reserves that I will propose will provide plenty of cash to get the county through the October-January doldrums when the budget is being spent with no new tax dollars coming in to replenish it.
One kicker, the massive reserves in Solid Waste $1,617,578.00 by current calculations and $2,538,071.60 using my suggested lower reserve percentage, must stay in Solid Waste. I would have current fees stay static or reduce some and use the funds to build transfer stations if the citizens approve. We wouldn't have to levy anything if the county wanted a couple more waste transfer stations, the cash is there to build them now.
Again, the law allows these large reserve funds. Our County Clerk has done nothing unlawful. Neither did past commissions. I had our County Prosecutor look into the statutes related to this and there exists no law preventing even 50% reserves if the commissioners chose. I just believe that those excess reserves should be in your pocket, not Bonner County's.
Anyone who wants the Excel Spreadsheet can simply ask me and I will send it. It does need some explanation as it is not intuitive but I would be happy to go over it in person or on the phone. After all, this information is Public Information.
For those of you in other counties, this is most certainly what is going on in your county. County Commissioner Sharon Ullman found about $6 million in Ada's budget probably in much the same way I found this. Only a few counties use a CAFR (listen up Scotty!) but if you can get the Excel Spreadsheet that shows county "reserves" and "Cash balance after reserves", you are on the way to finding a small pot at the end of the budgetary rainbow. Regarding that caveat I keep mentioning that any reserves must be spent in their specific fund - if anyone can find state statute that would allow moving dollars around like from Solid Waste to 911 or some such thing, please let me know. Because of this, the Juvenile Detention Center could not have been built with reserves since there are not enough in that specific fund.
Posted by cornelrasor
at 11:58 AM EDT
Updated: Wednesday, 5 August 2009 12:05 PM EDT
Stimulusitis
Mood:
irritated
Topic: Big Government
Governor Otter, formerly a conservative, has decided to "hold his nose" and take the stimulus carrot held in front of him by the fed. New regulations are coming down from on high as to how the debt (that's what it is Virginia!) should be spread around. Here in Bonner County I attempted to convince the others that this is a black hole from which we might not extricate ourselves. Sadly, the Commission has voted 2-1 to accept as much of the debt as we can. May our children, their children and their children's children forgive us if they are still free enough to do so, and if they can afford to.
Posted by cornelrasor
at 3:51 PM EDT
Updated: Thursday, 19 March 2009 4:57 PM EDT
Department Updates
Topic: Departments
Each Tuesday meeting provides a round of Department updates. Not every Department will report each Tuesday but eventually the Commissioners hear from them. Regular Department reports come from several departments.
Public Works includes Solid Waste, Weeds, Waterways and Parks & Recreation. Reports include work progress on equipment, meetings with State agencies, mapping of weeds and milfoil and work at docks and boat launches. Also, any grant submissions are discussed.
Road and Bridge will, update the Commissioners on issues and work in each of the three Commissioner districts in the county. Such things as sanding, road widening and construction or maintenance, equipment repairs, institution of road restrictions for weight limits and grant submissions.
Planning will update the Commissioners on staff projects, needs for services to be provided to the county, fee waiver requests and time extension requests. Also, they usually provide an update on the number of Building Location Permits and other permits requested during the previous week.
Emergency Management also updates the Commission on projects, grants, calls and issues relating to the management and response to any county emergencies.
EMS or Emergency Medical Services reports on staff, departments, calls and projects. Training issues and needs are discussed as well as equipment issues and needs.
911 Dispatch reports on staff, projects and departments. Also, After Action Reviews are mentioned. This is the debriefing and counseling (as needed) that occurs after response to (especially) fatality calls.
Computer Arts reports on IT issues and needs.
Justice Services updates the Commission on equipment needs, use of grant funds and Lottery funds. They also provide information on detention issues such as repairs to facilities and equiupment and training needs. Justice Services oversees Juvenile Detention, Juvenile Probation and Adult Misdemeanor.
The Treasurer does not come often but will provide quarterly reports at the Tuesday meeting.
Sheriff's Department The Sheriff or the Undersheriff will often report on equipment needs and training.
Often we will get updates on the two Airports in the county - Priest River and Sandpoint.
Finally, when the need arises the Commissioners will meet in Executive Session to discuss litigation, personnel or real property.
Posted by cornelrasor
at 11:56 AM EST
Updated: Thursday, 26 February 2009 12:43 PM EST
Topic: Duties
My second installment will give a little more detail about the happenings of a Tuesday Meeting, this one February 10th.
After the call to order, invocation and pledge we adopted the order of the agenda with additions noted. Then each Commissioner gave a summary of the meetings he attended the previous week (or in this case 2 weeks since we were in Boise for the Mid-Winter Legislative Conference).
The meetings in Boise were expressly for the County officials to meet and discuss with their Lobbyist - The Idaho Association of Counties, or IAC, issues related to county government.
This year some of the hot button issues were the Governor's plan to generate funds for transportation. The following is directly from the IAC update we receive as Commissioners:
The Governor announced his plan for transportation funding. It would be a 5-year phase-in and include a 2 cent/year increase in the gas tax, increase in motor vehicle registration (autos/pickups), repeal of the ethanol exemption, phase-out of ISP from the highway account, 5% heavy truck registration, rental car tax. In total, it would raise $174 million in the 5 years. The locals would continue to receive their 38% of the revenues.
Also there were Health Care concerns over the Catastrophic Funding. This is a fund that the State has that pays for indigent cases the County submits. Cases such as medical needs provided at a hospital that the citizen cannot pay for. If the hospital bill is $65,000, the County picks up the first $10,000 and the State pays the rest. (Remember, State, County or whatever level of government, these funds are all from your pocket!) The issue is that the State says they cannot foot all these bills and want the Counties to pick up more of the costs so the State is considering raising the current $10,000 deductible to $15,000. This would cost Bonner County $5,000 more per submission. As of this writing the cost to the County this year would have increased $55,000 (11 cases submitted as of 01/31/2009)
Another hotly debated issue was the consolidation of elections to 4 times per year. This would affect School Districts the most as they would not have the current 6 times per year and would have to have their elections during the other election dates. Currently, only School, Irrigation, and Water Districts and Cities are exempt from the 4 dates that all other governments must use. This year, the 4 election dates are February 3, May 26, August 4 and November 3. The major concern from the County Clerks especially from counties with a smaller population was that they would not be able to foot the cost of consolidation since for example, Idaho County has 88 taxing districts and the Clerk there does not have the manpower to facilitate this magnitude of an election.
Enough for today. We made it through the Commissioner meeting updates. Next installment I will proceed with Department updates and what they accomplish.
Posted by cornelrasor
at 2:24 PM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 11 February 2009 3:19 PM EST
Purpose
Topic: Duties
Well, it has been exciting these first two and a half weeks in office. I decided to add a blog to my website so that I can connect with the people in the county with internet access. I hope to regularly post the daily happenings in our office here in Bonner County Idaho. So many people are unaware of the duties of a County Commissioner and specifically of the actions that they take on a daily basis. I hope to help keep the citizens of the county apprised of the Commissioner's work here in Bonner County.
I will address the specific duties that commissioners have and the actions we take as a board.
To start with let's look at a typical Tuesday meeting. Tuesday is the day that most of the county business is conducted in open meeting. Now, that first meeting January 13th ended up being anything but typical. One of the other commissioners noted that upon looking at the agenda he assumed we would be done by 10:30. We worked through lunch and finished at 4:30. Welcome to the county government!
After the invocation and Pledge, the order of the agenda is adopted. Then each commissioner reports on the meetings he went to throughout the last week. Each commissioner is assigned to be a liaison to the many advisory boards that meet. As I learn what they are I will include information about them.
Next is the time for public comment. When I used to come to the Commissioner's meetings in the late 90's and early years of this century, the public would be allowed to comment and ask questions throughout the meeting. Then, about 6 years ago the board at that time ended this open dialogue and went from a 2:00 Tuesday afternoon meeting to an all day affair. This is what we have now but this board has re-adopted the open dialogue format much to my delight. Citizens are able to ask questions throughout the meeting and this provides an opportunity for informing the public that has been sorely missed.
Now the consent agenda is approved. This consists of the minutes from any meetings held in the previous week and any purely administrative actions such as "Requests for Liquor License" and such.
Now the department heads come in and give their reports. This consists of updates on staff, projects and department activities and needs. Each department head will generally take about 5-15 minutes for this. Not every department reports every Tuesday.
Then the Planning Department will present their report and the commissioners will act on extensions of surety, modifications and other administrative requirements that do not require a Public Hearing.
Often, the commissioners will recess from the regular meeting and enter executive session to deal with personnel, litigation, property and other issues.
That pretty much covers a Tuesday meeting. In future entries I will detail what happens on the other days of the week with the caveat that there is a general schedule that can be added to or changed at will.
Posted by cornelrasor
at 11:50 AM EST
Updated: Wednesday, 28 January 2009 5:12 PM EST
