County board passes budget despite intrepid attacks on DeMent's exit compensation

The Perry County Board of Commissioners Monday night approved a calendar year 2016 budget of $11,581,349, approximately $1.7 million less than the current budget of $13,279.000.

Of that, the board controls $6,102,700 which at this writing will include a $27,200 deficit for next year. All of the other monies are tied to non-discretionary specialty funds.

It was a meeting marked by an ongoing challenge to Emergency 911 coordinator Randy DeMent's final year compensation before his retirement.

Jeff Egbert, as well as citizens Jennifer Robb, and Shirley Welsch, requested to be added to the meeting agenda to address the board. Chairman Bobby Kelly announced that they would be able to address the board prior to the approval of the ordinances under new and unfinished business.

Egbert was the first to address the board. He started by referring to a FOIA request to the Perry County 911 Board regarding E911 Coordinator Randy DeMent's salary for 2015, which includes $97,340.52 payment for 5,885.16 unpaid hours of paid time off which consists of unused vacation, sick days, worked holidays, personal and compensation time and his base salary of $86,010.34, for total compensation in 2016 of $183,350.86. The FOIA response began with the information that there is neither a contract for the Perry County E911 Coordinator nor was there a list of job duties. Egbert went on to request that the Board of Commissioners amend the 2016 budget, requested Commissioner Epplin, who is also on the E911 Board, to refrain from the vote approving the 2016 budget and requested that the Ethics Board review the salary of the E911 Coordinator DeMent. Chairman Kelly told Egbert that it was his understanding that the 2016 Budget had to be voted on the way it was displayed. Egbert asked the Board how the salary for the E911 Coordinator was determined. He said he also asked for an itemized listing of the time off, but only got the 5,885.16 unpaid hours. Egbert kept telling the board that there was not a contract saying the money was owed and he wanted to know if the accumulated paid time off was ethical. Board attorney David Stanton told Egbert that the E911 Coordinator compensation was set by the Perry County Emergency Telephone System Board and that the Board of Commissioners only approved the money set aside for the different boards, but did not tell them how to use the money. Attorney Stanton also told Egbert that the Ethics Ordinance is on the county clerk's website, along with information on the individual board budgets. He also told Egbert that the commissioners approved the budget as a whole, they do not piece meal each county department budget. The Perry County Emergency Telephone System Board receives money and can spend it as they wish. Attorney Stanton also informed Egbert that the Perry County Emergency Telephone System Board reimburses the county through taxes on citizens' phone bills, which since 2011, includes cell phone bills. The tax that is on the phone bills is determined by the state government, not the Perry County Emergency Telephone System Board. The Perry County Emergency Telephone System Board made the deal with Mr. DeMent to pay him the unused paid time off in increments now rather than waiting until he retired after next year. Attorney Stanton also informed Egbert that the county has no contractual relationship with The Perry County Emergency Telephone System Board. Egbert asked if there was a limit to the number of hours that a county employee could save until they retired. Commissioner Robb told Egbert that they have been trying to get that in each contract for the past several years. He also told Egbert that new employees are limited to the amount of hours of paid time off they can carry over. There are some former employees that retired over two years ago, but are still on the payroll of the department they worked for and are still receiving benefits, including contributions to the IMRF pension. However, it was stated that the IMRF contribution is 6% of an employee's salary and anything over the 6%, the county is responsible for paying.

Jennifer Robb then asked to address the board to determine if the budget for the Unit Road District was part of the county road fund. County Clerk Josh Gross told her that they were two separate budgets. He also told her that the Unit Road District has a cap on the number of hours employees can accrue. It was also stated that Mr. DeMent's accrued paid time off exceeded most employees' accrued time. Clerk Gross did tell her that the yearly audit for 2014, included $1,050,000 that the county was paying approximately 115-120 employees that had already retired. The accrued salary payments are not included in the budget, but are included in the yearly audit. The accrued salaries are part of the county department budgets that the employee retired from. This practice also affects the employment for the county. If the department is paying an employee that has retired, the department can't afford to replace them, and this also affects the department's work. That is why the fees in the departments have been increased, to allow more county revenue without raising taxes.

Clerk Gross did tell the board and the citizens in attendance that the 2016 budget, which is the General Fund, only had a deficit of $27,200. The General Fund budget is where the property taxes go.

Board Chairman Kelly then asked for a motion to approve the ordinance approving the 2016 County Budget & Appropriations which totals $11,581,349 and includes $6,102,700 in the General Fund budget with the remainder involving specialty funds. The 2016 county budget & appropriations was approved as displayed.

The next item was the approval of the 2016 Unit Road District budget & appropriations. Commissioner Epplin made a motion to approve the budget as displayed. Commissioner Robb seconded the motion and the 2016 Unit Road District budget & appropriations was approved as displayed.

The resolution to ratify Chairman Kelly's re-appointment of Natalie Brand as the General Assistance director for another four years was also approved.

The next meeting will be on December 3, 2015 at 6 p.m.