By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — The proposed 2021 budget for Dunn County is expected to include a 2 percent increase in wages and a 2 percent increase in health insurance premiums.
In addition to a 2 percent pay grade increase in wages, there will be a freeze on employees being able to advance on the steps of the pay grade due to budget constraints, said Paul Miller, county manager, at the Dunn County Board’s September 16 meeting.
The Dunn County Board reviewed a preliminary draft budget for 2021 of $88.6 million at the July meeting, which represents an increase of nearly $5 million over the adopted 2020 budget.
All together, $1.6 million in fund balance was applied to the draft budget, along with $3.2 million in borrowing.
Health insurance premiums for employees also will increase by 2 percent. The deductible on the health insurance will remain the same, but co-pays and the maximum out of pocket for employees will increase, Miller said.
According to the audit report for 2019 that the county board received in July, Dunn County’s health insurance fund had a budget deficit of $1.395 million at the end of 2019, which compares to a budget deficit of $612,000 at the end of 2018 and a deficit of $580,700 at the end of 2017.
The health insurance fund had a budget surplus of $743,000 in 2016.
Mike Kneer, county board supervisor from Menomonie, asked how often wages have been frozen in the past or how often benefits have changed.
A few years back, wages were increased by 7.5 percent after a wage study, said Vaughn Hedlund, county board supervisor from Boyceville.
In the past, there also has been a zero percent increase in wages, Miller said.
The 2021 budget will have 30 percent of unassigned fund balance to general fund expenditures rather than 35 percent, he said.
According to the audit report, as of December 31, 2019, Dunn County’s unassigned general fund had a balance of $8,327,573, which was somewhat higher than the unassigned fund balance of $8,311,229 in 2018.
In 2017, the unassigned fund balance was $9.077 million, and in 2016, the unassigned fund balance was $14.7 million.
The recommendation from the county’s financial auditors is to have 25 percent of unassigned fund balance to general fund expenditures.
The 2021 budget includes, too, remote access hardware and software for the third judge at the Dunn County Judicial Center and money to complete repairs at the judicial center, Miller said.
Process
After the first draft of the 2021 budget was presented to the county board at the July meeting, the standing committees reviewed the budget and forwarded their recommendations to the executive committee, Miller said.
The executive committee has met twice to consider the budget and has engaged in much discussion and many hard decisions to create a balanced budget for 2021, he said.
The 2021 budget will be in a complete form by the end of the month, and then the standing committees will have an opportunity to review the balanced budget recommended by the executive committee, Miller said.
At the October meeting, the Dunn County Board can make changes to the budget, the executive committee will put the final touches on the budget, and a resolution to set the property tax levy will be presented to the Dunn County Board for consideration at the November meeting, he said.
The complete budget will be e-mailed out to Dunn County Board members in a PDF format around October 1, Miller said.
There is still quite a lot of detail work left on the 2021 budget, he noted.
Executive
Michael Rogers, county board supervisor from Menomonie, asked why all of the budget work was done by the executive committee with no opportunity for county board supervisors to participate.
The executive committee is the finance committee for the Dunn County Board, Miller said.
County board supervisors have an opportunity to participate in the budget process through the standing committees. Individual supervisors also can ask an executive committee member to speak on their behalf or supervisors can request that they would like to address the executive committee directly, he said.
County board supervisors also can propose amendments to the budget at the October meeting, which allows time to make adjustments to the budget and to set the property tax levy by the November meeting, said David Bartlett, county board supervisor from Boyceville and chair of the Dunn County Board.
