LOCAL BEAT: Mackinac County
Unpublished without explanation by my former editor.
Commissioners approve 2024 budget
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“The county’s in good shape financially,” said Mike Patrick, board chair. “The budget’s better than it was last year. There’s a lot of money coming in after the first of the year.”
The county is expecting expenditures of $9,339,956 in 2024, which would lead to an $834,074 revenue shortfall, balanced by an offset taken from the general fund. But treasurer Jennifer Goudreau said large projected budget shortfalls are normal for the county and have never been realized during her tenure. She attributed this phenomenon to unpredictable tax revenues and unrealized expenditures.
“The taxes for next year, I have no idea what the values are. December 31st is your value day—whatever your value is on December 31st carries into the next year and that’s what you pay taxes on. So when I do the budget in August there’s no possible way for me to know,” she said. “Revenues could go up, expenditures could go down.”
Goudreau provided a report showing projected versus actual shortfalls since 2011. The average expected loss each year from 2011 to 2022 was $446,421. However, the average of the change in the general fund balance each year during the same period was a gain of $24,698. In 2021, the county budget projected a loss of $796,696 but ended up in the good by $2,331. This was due in part to a contribution from the county’s delinquent tax fund, which Goudreau has used since 2019 to offset costs of sunsetting the county’s pension program.
“The pension remained open for the elected officials until January 1 of 2017. At that time then we closed the last pension that was opened,” she said. “What happens when you close those is instead of amortizing your pension amount over 30 years, you get it squished down into 10. So starting in 2016, we had this huge spike in retirement payment. Next year it’s going away.”
This explains, she said, why the county’s 2023 budget projected a shortfall of $1,226,422 compared to 2024’s $834,074. The true balance of revenues and expenditures for 2023 will not be known until May or June, after more revenues are collected in January and February and auditors visit in March and April.
More than 66% of the county’s revenues is projected to come from taxes in 2024, a total of $6,188,809. The county also anticipates collecting $1,225,656 in state and federal grants, with 74% coming from the state. Another significant revenue source is charges for services, projected to bring in $566,245. These include clerk services like processing Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and register of deeds services like issuing marriage licenses and birth and death certificates.
“Let’s talk a little bit about the future, though,” said Goudreau. “Our budget has increased over two million dollars over the last decade, yet our fund balance has remained the same.”
She said she’s interested in exploring ways to grow the county’s savings but has no specific plans as of yet.
The jail is the county’s most costly service, projected to operate in 2024 at a net loss of $1,275,097. According to the budget, the facility operated at a net loss of $1,062,939 this year. The combined net cost of the sheriff’s department road patrol, secondary road patrol, Bois Blanc Township deputy, courthouse security, crime control, marine law enforcement, snowmobile law enforcement, and the county’s tethering program is projected to be $1,265,638.
Breaking down county costs another way, personnel services are projected to constitute the greatest portion of the county’s expenditures in 2024, at $5,580,780, or 60% of the total budget.
The board had made the proposed budget available for public meeting at their prior meeting Dec. 14 before unanimously approving it at their Dec. 28 meeting. The 97-page document is available for download on the front page of the county’s website, mackinaccounty.net.
Litzner elected chair of board of commissioners
The Mackinac County Board of Commissioners elected Dan Litzner as its new chair for 2024 at the board’s Jan. 2 organizational meeting. Litzner replaced former chair Mike Patrick. Jodi Kaiser was elected vice chair. Commissioner Kaiser introduced a new board rule to remove a chair by vote of no confidence by at least three board members, which the board unanimously approved. They decided unanimously to continue holding meetings on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 4:30 p.m. in the Mackinac County Courthouse Annex.
Chair Litzner provided lists of committee and liaison appointments to county clerk Hillary Vowell. Commissioner Litzner (District 2) was appointed to liaise with the county clerk and treasurer’s offices and to sit on the healthcare insurance committee and HOME Collaborative, UP Fair, and UP Commission for Area Progress boards.
Commissioner Kaiser (District 3) was appointed to liaise with the airport, Emergency 911 coordinator, and surveyor’s offices and to sit on the airport, EUP Regional Planning, and Housing Special committees, as well as the Emergency 911 and UP 911 Authority boards.
Commissioner Patrick (District 4) was appointed to liaise with the offices of the animal shelter, building/grounds, equalization, and veteran’s affairs; he was appointed to sit on the Hiawatha Behavioral Health and Local Emergency Plan committees, as well as the Human Services Collaborative Board, Planning Commission, and MSU Advisory and Michigan Works boards.
Commissioner Judy St. Louis-Scott (District 5) was appointed to liaise with the county clerk and register of deeds offices; she was appointed to sit on the Housing Special and Opioid Settlement committees and the Brownfield Authority, Community Action, HOME Collaborative, and LMAS Health Department boards.
Commissioner Corina Clark (District 1) was appointed to liaise with the MSU Extension, Road Commission, prosecutor’s, and sheriff’s offices; she was appointed to sit on the Manistique Lakes Dam, North Care Network, and Superior Watershed Partnership committees, as well as the LMAS Health Department board.
The whole board was designated to liaise with the offices of the circuit and district courts and the probate office, and to sit on the Finance & Administration Committee.
Commissioners address county employee, retiree concerns
Commissioners addressed unpaid bonuses, unwanted changes to healthcare benefits, and compensation for unused leave time for county employees and one retiree at their final meeting of the year Thursday, Dec. 28.
With consent from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 388 president, commissioners approved a payout to Chief Custodian Gerald Lambert for personal time not used in 2023. He will receive compensation for 28 hours in the amount of $588.56.
Next came Chris Groty, a court security officer who came before the Commission in November requesting a $4,000 bonus. A salary resolution passed at the Commission’s meeting January 12, 2023, awarded most county employees the bonus but not Groty and several others due to their employment classifications and circumstances. Groty reported having worked 269.5 hours for the county in 2022 and said he felt entitled to the bonus.
After discussing the matter at length, the commissioners agreed to pay $4,000 each to Groty and two other county employees, the tether officer and the Bois Blanc on-call officer. The money will come from remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.
Sheriff Ed Wilk and 9-1-1 Coordinator Bryce Tracy also made payout requests for unused leave time. Sheriff Wilk said they expected the payouts in early 2023 following a meeting and agreement reached in June 2022.
“The payoffs didn’t go through because of changes in the clerk’s office,” said Tracy.
Mackinac County Treasurer Jennifer Goudreau asked that they prepare more detailed breakdowns of hours and benefits accrued and resubmit requests for payouts. Commissioner Jodi Kaiser vowed to carefully review all documents received from Sheriff Wilk relating to the matter.
Commissioner Kaiser opened the floor during additional board member business to Mary Hobson, a retired county clerk, who came a second time before the board requesting recent changes to her healthcare plan with the county be rescinded. Tracy, who sits on the county’s insurance committee, held a conference call for those affected by the changes Dec. 20 but Hobson remained unsatisfied.
Hobson said that the cost of several of her medications have risen under new healthcare arrangements entered by the county. Some others benefitted from the changes, seeing reduced premiums and no increases for the particular medications they were on, she said.
The commissioners voted unanimously to make an exception for Hobson and place her on the same healthcare plan as active county employees for one year, which will allow Hobson to find an alternativeprovider during the next Medicare open enrollment period.
The board also held a public hearing on the proposed 2024 budget. No members of the public offered comment and the budget was adopted a short time later with little discussion. The board also hired Mac Consulting for housing project planning and held another closed session, as at their Dec. 14 meeting, to discuss a potential property purchase, the details of which have not yet been publicly disclosed.
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