Grand Traverse County: Departments asked how they'd spend $18M
Oct. 21—TRAVERSE CITY — Grand Traverse County has a good problem — how to spend $18 million when the budget is balanced, retirement debt is financed, property tax revenue is up and a new IT system will revolutionize how work is done.
County Administrator Nate Alger presented the $42 million general fund recommended budget to commissioners at their meeting Wednesday. A final budget will be approved by the county board in December.
Some things could change by then that may impact the budget, Alger stated in his report, such as the $18.2 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Commissioners will discuss a plan for involving the public in how that money is spent at a study session set for 8 a.m. Wed., Oct. 27.
Other variables include a wage and compensation study that has not yet been finalized. The county hired Management Advisory Group in April to do the study at a cost of $38,500. A county wage study was last done in 2008.
Cost of living increases are built into the 2022 budget, Alger said.
Between ARPA funds, pension bonding and IT improvements, the county has the funding to do things it hasn't done in the 30 years Alger has been with the county, he said.
"We are talking to the different elected officers and departments, asking them 'where do you want to be in 2023?'" Alger said. "We have unprecedented opportunity here to do things we haven't done in decades."
The county is moving ahead with a plan to sell bonds to pay for about $40 million in unfunded pension debt at the county and another nearly $6 million at the county-owned Pavilions retirement and assisted living facility. It is a move that will save between $6.6 and $10.5 million in interest over the next 13 years, as previously reported, but will also stabilize the annual payment, Alger said.
The county has been playing catch up for several years to get the debt paid down by the state-targeted 2034 by making extra payments of $6 to $7 million over the last four years, with another planned for 2022.
Last month the board approved spending about $4 million over the next five years for an Enterprise Resource Planning subscription that will replace outdated finance, human resource and treasury software and hardware.
"We are going to revolutionize the way that we do business on a day-to-day basis," Alger said. "That is going to reflect an enhancement of services to our public and its going to ease and change the life in the workplace for the employees.
"It's going to be bumpy, it's going to be difficult. Nobody likes change but the end product is going to be transformative to the way we do business in Grand Traverse County."
Requests for new employees are normally submitted by elected officials and department heads at the beginning of the budget process. This year there are about 20 full-time equivalent positions being requested in several departments, including probate and circuit court, central dispatch, finance, the health department, construction codes and the Commission on Aging.
No recommendations on the positions have yet been made but Alger said he will talk to department heads over the next couple of weeks and come back to the board.
Board Chairman Rob Hentschel worries that if staff is added it might not be needed down the road, such as in the building codes and Commission on Aging departments, where things are sometimes backlogged.
"But other times maybe people aren't building as much, so if we add staff you might not need them down the road," Hentschel said.
The county in the past has contracted for services that might have people on waiting lists, such as building permits or home chores. The contract could end when the services are caught up, Hentschel said.
"It's easier to deal with that than letting go of employees," he said.
Commissioner Betsy Coffia said the COA has had a waiting list of hundreds of older county residents for at least the three years she has been on the board.
The county will also spend $1.1 million in capital improvements in 2022 that include replacing the HVAC unit at Howe Arena, new boilers at the Law Enforcement Center and an upgrade to the commissioners chamber in the county governmental center.
