Auditor recommends reserve fund review
By BARRY HALVORSON news@leader-news.com

While the budget numbers still work for the upcoming fiscal year, County Auditor Sharon Howard Boedeker requested the commissioners make it a practice to review its reserve funds as part of each year's budget process.

Discussing her recommendation, Boedeker said the general recommendation is to reserve three month's operating expenses in its fund balances - both the general fund and the road-and-bridge/farmto market funds.

"We need to look at it every year," she said. "The limits we're working with now were set out in 1990. The fund balances for next year will still meet the new three-month criteria. But those numbers need to be adjusted or we have to look at other alternatives."

She said the 1990 numbers established a three-month operating figure of $2.25 million in the general fund and $1 million for road and bridge. She said that now amounts to a 60- day operating fund at current expenditure levels. She added that operating funds include personnel and fuel costs, but not capital expenditures.

Based on the current budget, the new three-month operation costs should be a $3.4 million reserve for the general fund and $1.6 million reserve for road and bridge.

While Howard was recommending an annual review, Precinct 2 Commissioner Chris King agreed with the idea in concept, but said that such a review probably only needed to be done every couple of years.

In another budget related item, the commissioners reached a tentative agreement with the Wharton County District Attorney's Office concerning the funding for the county's interdiction officer position, currently filled by Precinct 2 Constable Deputy Daryl Maretka and his canine partner, a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois named Jodie.

Assistant District Attorney Ross Kurtz appeared at the meeting and offered a tentative agreement that would have the DA office paying the salary for the position out of the DA forfeiture account while the county would cover the cost of employee benefits such as insurance and retirement.

During the discussion, County Treasurer Donna Kocurek said that she had recently billed the DA's office for the balance of the salary. In a document provided to the commissioners, District Attorney Josh McCown did not approve the transfer of funds with a hand written notation that he agreed to pay the full salary only if his department had been authorized a fourth prosecutor. Since that position was not funded by the commissioners, McCown wrote he was only paying half the salary.