An attempt by Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith, D-Ann Arbor, to return some funding to human services programs that received heavy cuts in the county's previous budget cycle was voted down by the Board of Commissioners Wednesday night.
In a five-hour-long series of back-to-back meetings that proved to be confusing at times for both the commissioners and the county staff observing the process from the audience, amendments proposed by Smith to a housekeeping budgetary item failed to win support from the board.
Commissioner Conan Smith, D-Ann Arbor, sought to use some of the county's surplus revenue to restore funding to some of the county's human service agencies Wednesday but was met with opposition.
Andrew Kuhn | AnnArbor.com file photo
Smith initiated the effort after commissioners faced a vote on a routine budget adjustment in the Ways and Means Committee meeting Wednesday.
The board had to approve an unexpected increase in property tax and state revenues in a budget adjustment in order for the county to comply with its audit requirements. About $654,670 would be returned to the county’s fund balance.
That figure also included a reimbursement of approximately $552,000 from the state for the county’s previous contribution to a failed statewide trial court electronic records program that was earmarked to pay for part of a $2.3 million new electronic records system that the Washtenaw County Trial Court is seeking.
A resolution from the Trial Court was before commissioners Wednesday night as well - seeking the board’s approval to move forward with the vendor — Tyler Technologies — that the Trial Court had selected. The update to the electronic records system is long-overdue for the court, as its current software vendor went out of business eight years ago, and the system has no qualified individual to provide maintenance should it crash.
Heading in to the Wednesday meeting, the resolution from the Trial Court had included a payment plan for the $2.3 million upgrade that would have included use of nearly $900,000 of the county’s capital reserves and $700,000 of the county’s general technology fund balance.
That payment plan was removed from the resolution just before the meeting due to Smith’s concern that the use of the county’s reserves would not be reimbursed by the trial court.
“I raised some concerns admittedly late in the game,” Smith said.
However, lack of a payment plan in the resolution caused numerous commissioners - including Dan Smith, R-Northfield Township, and Alicia Ping, R-Saline — to object to approving the costly software upgrade.
With the trial court’s electronic records upgrade under fire and discussion tabled to the end of the Ways and Means meeting, Conan Smith began floating an amendment before the board to use the $654,670 in unexpected surplus revenue for several human services departments. “I’m interested in seeing the reduced use in fund balance be reallocated to the departments that those funds came from,” Conan Smith said.
Smith submitted a proposed amendment that would have allocated funds from the count's general fund to departments who chose to dip in to their reserves to balance their budgets during a year in which they received a funding cut:
- $152,000 to the sheriff’s community corrections division
- $386,000 to Public and Environmental Health
- $650,000 to Employment Training and Community Services
“We say, you made the right moral decision and we’re going to fund it (now),” Conan Smith said.
Dan Smith supported the amendment. Commissioner Andy LaBarre, D-Ann Arbor, questioned Conan Smith as to the timing of the matter.
“Really we’re talking about 2013,” Conan Smith said. “We have additional surplus revenue that we are planning to receive from August to December that can be used for functions we used in the development of that budget.”
Administrator Verna McDaniel cautioned the board that it would be spending down the county’s earmarked reserves should they choose to approve Conan Smith’s amendment.
“Other departments did not use fund balance to come up with their budget targets, so what we’re doing is refunding the departments that did not use structural cuts?” said Board Chairman Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor. “Why aren’t we giving money back to all the departments in the county? This sounds like we’re singling out departments.”
Commissioners voted Conan Smith’s amendment down 6-3. Conan Smith, Dan Smith and Peterson voted for the measure.
Commissioners then returned to discussing the housekeeping item of adjusting the budget to account for unexpected revenue.
Dan Smith proposed moving the $552,000 earmarked for the trial court’s records upgrade to the county’s un-earmarked reserves. Conan Smith offered a friendly amendment to the item to ensure that the budget balanced as a result of Dan Smith’s amendment. Both amendments would move the trial court's reimbursement away from a designated use in the technology fund and towards a more general cash flow purpose.
“Why in the heck are we even messing with this?” said Commissioner Rolland Sizemore Jr., D-Ypsilanti Township. “It’s the court’s money; they’re going to need new software soon.”
Commissioner Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield Township, said that if the board voted to move the $552,000 reimbursement to the trial court to the county’s reserves, it may violate the memorandum of understanding between the trial court and the county that dictates how each body interacts.
Dan Dwyer, Trial Court administrator, said in response to a board question that the $552,000 is already in his Trial Court budget.
“I didn’t come prepared to talk about what would happen in some crazy scenarios,” Dwyer said. “It’s in the court’s budget I’m not certain the board has the authority to remove that money from my budget. We’re not spending it on anything except for a case management system.”
Commissioners voted down Conan Smith’s amendment to make sure the budget balanced as a result of moving the funds in a 5-4 vote, with Sizemore, Brabec, Labarre, Kent Martinez-Kratz, D-Chelsea and Peterson voting against.
With that, Dan Smith’s original amendment to move the funds out of the trial court’s designated use failed to pass muster in a 6-3 vote.
The board eventually went on to approve both the county budget adjustment and trial court electronic records upgrade, which moved the items to the full meeting of the board immediately after the Ways and Means meeting Wednesday.
At the beginning of the full board meeting, Conan Smith re-introduced a version of an amendment that was previously vetoed by the board.
“I’m having one of the worst nights that I’ve ever had on this board,” Conan Smith said. “Tonight we took in almost $3 million in new revenue in to the county and the only expenditure we made tonight was on software. But the human services — the things that people need — we’re not going to lift a finger.”
In a heartfelt delivery, Conan Smith listed a number of programs that he said deserved a reimbursement from the county:
- $152,000 to Sheriff’s community corrections fund
- $386,000 to Public and Environmental Health
- $754,000 to Workforce Development
- $252,000 to the Office of Community and Economic Development to programs assisting the elderly
- $199,000 to the OCED for housing programs
“We had the opportunity to help real people tonight,” Conan Smith said to his fellow commissioners. “When someone’s heat is getting shut off in December 2013 you have to remember the vote you took at Ways and Means.”
Rabhi stated that he agreed with Conan Smith’s intent, but that he disagreed with the process.
“I understand the imminence of his priorities, but as responsible stewards, we need to do this in a responsible way,” Rabhi said, explaining he was worried the board would open a Pandora’s box should it approve the reimbursement to select departments and not other programs that received cuts.
Though Conan Smith’s amendment failed in a 7-2 vote at about 11 p.m. Wednesday, commissioners voted unanimously to postpone their final discussion on the county’s $654,670 budget adjustment to their Sept. 4 meeting.
The board’s final vote on the resolution approving the Trial Court’s electronic records upgrade was approved in a 5-4 vote, but failed to gain the full six votes needed to move the item through both the Ways and Means and full board meeting Wednesday night. The resolution will next appear before the board at its Sept. 4 full board meeting.
Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.