LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE

 

Monday, February 11, 2008

Administrative Center – Room 3220

10:30 a.m.

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Charles Spiker, Sharon Hampson, John Medinger, Roger Plesha

MEMBERS EXCUSED:  Ann Fisher 

MEMBERS ABSENT:   Pat Schippers, Jason Gillett  

OTHERS PRESENT:  Steve O’Malley, Steve Helgeson, Cheryl Stephen

 

CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL

Charles Spiker, Committee Vice Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:31 a.m. 

 

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

MOTION by Plesha/Medinger to approve minutes of January 7, 2008.  Motion carried unanimously; Fisher excused; Schippers and Gillett absent.

 

UPDATE ON ISSUES FROM LAST MEETING

Use Value Assessment – Nothing new to report; getting more counties involved on the issue.  Committee Vice Chair Spiker noted the Assessors are supposed to be giving a report to the County Treasurer which is not being done; Steve will check with Donna Hanson.

 

State Funding for County Jail – WCA is reviewing the matter.  The state sets the reimbursement and budget amount which has not been increased since 2001-2002 biennium; for 2006-2007 biennium, the County will receive little less than $29/day which was suppose to be $40/day; actual cost is around $55/day which is the amount charged back to other counties.  Sheriff Helgeson noted a group of Sheriffs were vocal with the Secretary of Corrections on this issue and the DOC came up with another $680,000, but the DOC had to make other cuts to come up with the extra dollars.  Committee Chair Spiker suggested a coalition of Sheriffs need to push for higher reimbursement.  Discussion on number of Probation holds in the County jail; Sheriff noted the numbers have been reduced significantly – almost in half.  Discussion on reasons for holds and possibly using more services as provided by Justice Sanctions, in particular when in violation of no drinking rule.  Sheriff noted the State determines a hold or not to hold.  Sheriff noted another problem is that these Probation inmates have the right to cancel or postpone their hearings with Administrative Judges and this is causing more time spent in local jails; reasons might be that the Judge will consider it as time served (inmates like local jails vs. state prisons and local jails are closer to their homes).  The County has a good working relationship with the local office of Probation/Parole.  The County and WCA will continue to monitor.

 

WI Retirement for MCO Employees – The area state legislators are co-sponsors of Senate Bill 457 and Assembly Bill 764 that relate to providing another window for long care districts to submit application to WRS for their employees to be covered by State retirement benefits; these legislative bills indicate sunset after one year as WRS does not want a permanent 2nd window.  If approved, the second window will be May 15th of 2008, in addition to the November 1st window.  This new legislation will affect approximately 110 employees of the new MCO.  The County would like to have a County Board member testify at the legislative hearings that are scheduled for sometime mid or end of February.   

 

17-Year Olds to Juvenile Court – WCA spent a lot of time on this as a major education issue.  Studies show that it makes sense to revert the non-violent crime 17-year olds back to the juvenile justice system, but this will be costly for the counties.  The exact costs need to be further analyzed.  The Sheriff noted that he is not getting many 17-year olds; also noted the DA’s office is doing a lot of deferred prosecutions and deferred compensation for these individuals.  The 16-17 year olds that do get waived into jail, those have been the most violent and difficult to handle.  

 

REPORT ON WCA LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE

Steve O’Malley and Roger Plesha, including several others, attended the Annual WCA Legislative Conference in Madison on February 5-6.  Main issue was the Legislative Fiscal Bureau announcing the State deficit of $450+ million.  Counties will have difficult time in preparing their 2009 budgets; counties are already levying for unfunded mandates.  It’s expected that the legislature will hold a special session this summer on this matter.  If the County continues to provide same level of services, County citizens will have to pay for them.

 

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

Committee Vice Chair Spiker noted another unfunded mandate, that being a Senate Bill that requires psychological testing for police officers; this will affect the budgets of Counties, cities and villages that have law enforcement departments.

 

NEXT MEETING

Monday, March 10th at 10:30 a.m.

 

ADJOURNMENT

MOTION by Medinger/Plesha to adjourn the meeting.  Motion carried unanimously; Fisher excused; Schippers and Gillett absent.  The meeting adjourned at 11:14 a.m.

 

Disclaimer:  The above minutes may be approved, amended or corrected at the next committee meeting.

 

Cheryl Stephen, Recorder