Supervisors Hear About E911 Budget
Mahaska County EMA/911 Director Jamey Robinson shared with the Mahaska County Board of Supervisors the cost breakdown for providing 911 service to the county.
Oskaloosa, Iowa – The Mahaska County Board of Supervisors met on Monday, March 5th in their last Monday meeting of the year.
The day of the meeting has been changed to allow Supervisor Mark Doland to attend. He explained that Monday’s are in conflict with his new employment.
The board held their public hearing on the 2018-19 fiscal year budget. Mahaska County resident Joe Warrick asked the board how much money in the new budget is going to outside attorneys to represent the county in their lawsuit to exit the regional airport agreement.
Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Groenendyk said those funds are “for the use of the supervisors.” “Currently right now we’re using him [Gonnerman] in other matters. I don’t think it’s just for one item.”
Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Doland said that no bills from outside attorneys have -been submitted, at this point, for attorney services for the 2017-18 fiscal year. The board approved $50,000 for use in that budget year.
Daniel Gonnerman has been representing the county in its lawsuit to exit the 28E agreement. Gonnerman has appeared in Mahaska County District Court on behalf of the county. His rate is $200 per hour.
A motion was made to approve the budget as presented and passed unanimously.
Also on the agenda for Monday was the EMA/911 budget discussion. Robinson broke down the two budgets as had been requested by the board.
According to Robinson, “At the time of the EMA-911 merger, it was approved to take the previous 911 director salary and use it towards the EMA Deputy Coordinator. This position would focus on the EMA operations but would have 911 operations responsibilities. Even though that funding is moved to the EMA side of the breakdown, those funds were in 911, and no increase occurred because of that position.”
“While the new staff was being trained, both the EMA/911 Administrator and the Deputy EMA Coordinator, worked 50/50 between EMA and 911. Their time also included the setup of new 911 phone services, 911 mapping, as well as other key pieces of equipment and other tasks to maintain the day-to-day operations. They also filled in to cover shifts to eliminate the need to pay out overtime,” added Robinson.
Robinson also discussed the costs associated with providing HAZMAT services to the county, with those funds originally going to departments outside the county, now being used to train and equip staff locally under the EMA umbrella.
Robinson said that the legal costs for EMA have increased. Those increases are attributed to a new radio system.
The ongoing battle with Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Groenendyk caused the commission extra in legal fees to answer his questions.
Robinson said that after EMA took over operations from the 911 board, “it was discovered that there were outrageous amounts of holiday and comp time. Two staff members had over 2500 hours ($73,200), just between the two of them. This amount equates to more than a year of paid time off. It was also noted that the time off had gotten out of control due to lack of staff to fill the schedules, to cover vacations or sick time.
Due to the amount of vacation and comp time, the Commission approved two staff members to be added to the roster. So far, this fiscal year we have paid $56.90 in overtime. In addition, we have also decreased the overtime in the budget from $26,000 to $10,000, with plans to reduce this further in future budgets.”
“After assuming operations from the 911 board, it was noted that holiday pay was only budgeted less than half of what was needed to cover those days. It was further noted, that per the county handbook, sick time is bought out at the end of each year to maintain a certain level. This buy out was never included in the budget and had to be added.”
“It should also be noted that since the merger, the EMA/911 Administrator has worked the following additional hours above the normal operation time. This was done to cover the schedule and to reduce the costs of the 911 operations. These totals only reflect the EMA/911 administrator overtime rate; if it were to be paid out, they do not include benefits, i.e., FICA, IPERS:
*2015- 648 hours=$33,835.32 of overtime pay saved
*(2016- 735 hours=$38,378.03 of overtime pay saved
*2017- 505 hours=$26,368.58 of overtime pay saved. Plus, 84 hours ($2,924.04) of vacation
*2018(2 months)- 78 hours=$4,072.77 of overtime pay saved.
A 3-year overtime savings of $105,578.74”, Robinson explained in a document he provided.
According to the documents provided by Robinson, the cost of running E911 in 2011 was $548,895.93. In 2015 before EMA took over, the cost of providing E911 was $724,817.00, an increase of $175,921.07 or a yearly increase of $43,980.27.
EMA took over in 2015 with a budget of $724,817.00, with the budget increasing for the fiscal year of 2019 to $821,913.95. A total increase of $97,096.95, or $24,274.23 per year.
Groenendyk asked if the overtime worked was for 911 or EMA. Robinson explained that it was basically all 911 time worked.
Groenendyk questioned Robinson about the numbers, questioning surcharge money usage then and now. Robinson said that during the 2015 budget proposed before EMA took over, E911 was illegally using surcharge money for salaries, and not the equipment as directed.
Mahaska County Supervisor Mark Doland said he was concerned that Robinson was working all the overtime hours, saying it was a good thing that Robinson wanted to help out. “I’m concerned you’re going to burn yourself out.”
Doland said he’s been following the discussion taking place from local media reports, “I think it’s become personal, and I like you. I really do. I think that you do a good job.”
*Supervisors also held a public hearing for improvements to the law enforcement center roof and exterior.
*Supervisors approved an agreement with Iowa DOT for incident management temporary detour routes.
*Supervisors discussed paving the county portion of Burlington Road, which the cities of University Park and Oskaloosa have planned to pave their respective portions.
