Issue of the Month: Kent County Treasurer

As we all receive our winter taxes, it is timely to give a report about the County Treasurer and his functions. The Treasurer is one of 4 county individuals elected on an every four year basis. The Treasurer is responsible for collecting and taking custody of all County funds. This includes general tax revenue and the County’s share of state sales tax—revenue sharing monies from the state. He is also responsible for collecting delinquent taxes and holding a tax foreclosure sale after receiving a court order of properties that have been delinquent for 24 months. Usually the tax sale occurs during the 12 months following the initial foreclosure action, so delinquent taxpayers have essentially 36 months to take care of back taxes. The Treasurer also collects and audits hotels for compliance with the county hotel/motel tax collections. In terms of numbers the Treasurer takes in over $85 million in general county taxes, $15 million in special tax for the county correctional facility, $6.5 million for seniors, and $6 million hotel/motel tax. We receive about $11 million in state sales tax revenue sharing. The Treasurer also serves as the Investment Manager for all county funds that are not immediately required for operations. This Investment Fund is made available to all local municipalities. By combining funds the Treasurer is usually able to obtain a better rate of return for all local governments with their available investment funds.

Issue of the Month: Grand Valley Metropolitan Council

The Grand Valley Metropolitan Council (GVMC) was formed in 1990 to be a place where area governments of all types could work together to enhance the quality of life for citizens of West Michigan. It started with 13 members, and today there are 35 governments entities representing 650,000 residents doing regional collaborative efforts together. The GVMC is the designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for West Michigan and is responsible for planning the expenditures of $100 Million state and federal monies on all modes of transportation. The benefits to a government entity being a member include (1) participating in the decisions of MPO and having a say in area transportation improvements; (2) working together on state and national legislative advocacy; (3) implementing the Regional Geographic Information System (REGIS) (see my newsletter of last month about access to REGIS now being free to all citizens); (4) being part of the Lower Grand River Organization of Watersheds, and (5) being part of implementation of other instances of local and regional governmental collaboration. The GVMC recently was designated as the organization to lead the Governor’s efforts to consolidate our states’ 55 different regions into ten large regions to cover all government business. This will be a two year project. The operational and staffing costs of GVMC are funded by dues payments from participating members.

Issue of the Month: Kent County Sheriff’s Department

As our county prepares a new budget for next year I want to discuss the department that takes the biggest share of the general fund. This is the Sheriff’s department with its 550 employees. The Sheriff is responsible for enforcement of both criminal and civil law in the areas surrounding the immediate six city jurisdictions. It is responsible for operating an emergency call dispatch center for answering all 911 calls in the county, as well as operating the countywide emergency management center in the event of natural or man caused disasters—such as the recent flooding conditions this past April. The county Correctional Facility houses up to 1,100 inmates, and is available to all police departments and courts for housing individuals breaking local and state laws. Judges can assign up to one-year county jail terms. The total budget for the Sheriff’s Department is projected to be nearly $70 million. Nearly $60 million of that is received from general tax revenue, and the remaining $10 million through a special ’correctional center’ tax paid by all county citizens. Although the normal budget gives sufficient funds to the Sheriff to provide minimal road patrols to all townships, the Sheriff does maintain contracts with several of the more populated townships for enhanced patrol services and the townships pay for these extra services. The Sheriff does have a mounted patrol to provide specialized services to cities and areas at request.

Issue of the Month: Kent County Road Commission

One question I am asked a lot is to do something about our roads in Kent County. I always answer that roads are the purview of the County Road Commission, and the County Commission does not have direct approval/disapproval authority to spend road money. That is written into the State Funding Act. The County Commission only gets involved with Road Commission activity through the appointment of a five member Road Commission. The allocation and decisions about actual road projects is made by that body. The Road Commission is managed by a Director and has 226 employees to carry out their duties. There are nearly 2,000 miles of county roads and 177 bridges maintained by the Commission. In FY 2012 the Road Commission had less money to spend than in the early 2000’s ($48.5 million vs $54.2 M). The biggest share of this funding comes from the state, although there are local match funds with some projects, and periodic federal grants for specific projects. As all of you know, the state’s ability to fund road improvements has been diminishing the past decade, and our roads are getting worse. Because of limited funds, the Commission is forced to spend an increasing amount on ‘road maintenance’ rather than ‘construction and preservation’. Like all governmental entities, the Road Commission is reaching out to other units of local government to do things more cooperatively, and this results in some savings.

Issue of the Month: Kent County Clerk/Register of Deeds

The Kent County Clerk’s office, with a budget of $3.7 million, has four functions: (1) manage County elections, (2) maintain county and citizen vital records, (3) serve as Register of Deeds, and (4) process and maintain 17th Circuit Court records. There are 44 total employees assigned to these responsibilities. The office is supervised by an elected Kent County Clerk, which is a partisan office with an election every four years. The Elections Division oversees all elections conducted in Kent County including school and local elections, and monitors campaign finance law. The Vital Records Division files, stores, and retains 20,000 vital records annually such as birth, marriage, and death records and makes them available to citizens. This Division also processes licenses for concealed weapons, business registrations, and records military discharges. The Register of Deeds office records nearly 125,000 documents annually pertaining to real property including deeds, mortgages, land contracts, liens and other real estate documents. The Clerk’s functions with the 17th Circuit Court includes keeping over 350,000 court records including records of court proceedings, judgments, fines, and other court related issues. This function involves the largest number of staff in the Department. A significant accomplishment the past year was implementing ‘e-business court’ mandated by the Michigan Supreme Court to streamline court procedures.

Issue of the Month: Local Emergency Planning Committee

Kent County coordinates planning for local emergencies with the City of Grand Rapids through its appointed Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC). This committee is made up of 20 representatives of local government, public safety, industry, education, media, and health who meet to develop plans for all kinds of emergency situations that may occur in our county that endanger our citizens. The recent major flood issues were part of their planned responses through the Kent County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Department. While the flooding danger was most visible recently, there are other disaster incidents that need to be addressed, and plans prepared for response to them in order to minimize damages. The LEPC has over 300 ’plans of response’ in event of emergency situations of all kinds. The LEPC plans emergency exercises to prepare for disaster situations. A recent exercise held at Lacks Enterprises tested the planned response in event of a formaldehyde gas leak; and, at least once each year an exercise is held at the airport for an airline disaster event. An exercise planned for later this year will be something dealing with farm operations. The LEPC annual report and educational materials regarding how you can be prepared for unforeseen emergencies can be found at www.accesskent.com/lepc. Check out the many plans for emergency situations and find out how you can be prepared!

Issue of the Month: Kent County Drain Commissioner

The past several months I have highlighted a county department performing services for our citizens. This month I want to highlight our County’s Drain Commissioner, Bill Byl. The County Drain Commissioner is an elected official whose mission is to “improve and maintain storm water drainage for the public health, safety, convenience, and welfare of the citizens of the county.” There are over 536 miles of County Drain and 356 storm water detention ponds in the county. In recent years the Drain Commissioner worked with all local units to update their drain master plans, and covered half the cost. The Drain Commissioner also has responsibility to monitor and control lake levels in 19 lakes throughout the county. We have had several months of record rainfall and snowfall this year—culminating in the mid-April deluge that really taxed our county’s drainage systems. Grand Rapids sits about in the middle of the Grand River basin which begins way back in the central part of the state and has numerous smaller rivers and creeks draining into it. Each smaller river and creek has numerous ponds and drainage tiles flowing into it. Although Commissioner Byl has taken precautions to minimize flood damage by installing new drainage systems, and maintaining storm water ponds, the rain deluge over an extended period of time still sent unprecedented flood waters into the Grand River and nearly swamped Grand Rapids. The fact it didn’t create any more damage than it did is a credit to Drain Commissioner Byl’s expertise. Although the Drain Commissioner is an elected official, it is important to have someone in that position that has experience and education to handle the responsibilities. Commissioner Byl has that experience and education.

Issue of the Month: Kent County Sports Commission

The County Commission established the West Michigan Sports Commission seven years ago to bring new tourist and economic development to our county by bringing popular sports events to the area. In 2012 The Sports Commission brought 60 events with thousands of people and millions of dollars spent in hotels, restaurants and entertainment areas. Some signature events the Sports Commission has become involved in are (1) the Meijer State Games of Michigan which features 31 sports in an Olympic format so that participants can get a feel of the actual International Olympics, (2) the 2012 Transplant Games of America which highlighted participants with and/or participating in some sort of organ transplant, and (3) Major college venues such as the MHSAA Division I swimming and diving championship competition and the NCAA Division I hockey regional at Van Andel Arena. A recent highlight is the construction of a 12 field baseball and softball complex in northern Kent County that will bring numerous baseball and softball competitions to our area from throughout Michigan and surrounding states. This new complex received a major donation from Art Van Furniture plus many others donors to cover the cost of development. No Kent County general fund dollars are involved. This new complex will be completed by Fall of 2013, and is expected to have an economic impact of $10 M in the first five years of operation. One of the fields will be used by players with disabilities and will be called the ‘Miracle Field’. The Sports Commission is also working to make Grand Rapids one of the regional sites for future NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament. The next big event this year will be the Meijer Games on June 21-23 at the Fifth Third Ballpark.

Issue of the Month: Kent County Dispatch Authority

Since 2007 the County has made significant progress in providing county citizens the ability to get emergency services with one phone call to 911. We started with the appointment of an eleven member Kent County Dispatch Authority (KCDA). During the past six years the Authority has (1) consolidated public safety dispatch from nine centers into two major redundant centers—the City of Grand Rapids and Kent County Sheriff’s Department (2) reduced 911 transfers between dispatch centers by establishing new wireless 911 direct call routing schemes, and (3) implemented new call handling technology so that efficiency and quality of information is improved. These have led to faster response times for emergency workers. The annual budget for the KCDA is about $5 million. There are two major sources of funding—one a state surcharge of .29 per cell phone that brings in $1 Million, and the other a county surcharge of .45 cents per cell phone bringing in another $4 Million. Out of the revenue received about $2.5 Million is dedicated to operations and the remainder used to fund administrative costs as well as equipment replacement and maintenance. During the next year the KCDA is planning to purchase $150,000 worth of equipment to implement the Priority Dispatch Emergency Medical Dispatch system at each of the two call centers. This will give Kent County residents access to medial pre-arrival instructions without the need to transfer the caller to another location. It will also study the cost of a new county-wide interoperable radio system that will serve all public safety agencies. A recent report by Curtis Holt, Chair of the Authority stressed the need to continue funding the Authority. Check out more information at www.Kent911.org.

Issue of the Month: Kent County Performance Management

Like every good public body, Kent County has focused on getting the most good for the public dollars it receives from taxing its citizens. The County has had an internal performance management and measurement system since 1997, and has gradually tweaked it to become one of the most highly thought of performance enhancing systems in the state. Our system involves every department head developing their own method of measuring output, outcomes, and efficiencies. These measures are reviewed and approved by a countywide Performance Measurement Review Team (PMRT) before becoming that department’s measure of effectiveness and/ or efficiency with county public funds. The department heard provides once per year verbal and written reports to the Legislative and Human Resources Committee of the County Commission. The performance system has received two major improvements since being formally established in 1997. An initiative in 2004 resulted in more of the measurements tracking actual ‘outcomes’ or quality versus only ‘outputs’ or quantity. A further improvement in 2008 involved development of a countywide database so each department head can input data into a database that can be accessed by all departments so there is one consistent format of measuring performance countywide. The new database has been used by the Administrator to merge performance data into his annual budgeting process. The Performance Management System has become the focal point to ensure efforts are being made continually toward accomplishing the County’s mission to “be an effective and efficient steward in delivering quality services for our diverse community.” Check it out at www.accesskent.gov Performance Management System.

Issue of the Month: Probate Court of Kent County

Last month I presented the 17th District Court of Kent County. The Kent County Probate Court occupies the same building, but in different courtrooms and with different judges. The Probate Court is a court of statutory jurisdiction concerned with the protection of incapacitated or mentally ill individuals and their assets, and the proper transfer of assets at death. Protection of incapacitated adults involve guardianships, guardianships of minors, and guardianships for persons with developmental disabilities. If a guardian is appointed, the Court must monitor the guardianship, making sure the guardian is performing in the best interests of the individual being protected. The Probate Court also hears petitions for Protective Orders, civil actions where a person or party is suing a trust or estate, and gets involved in minor issues such as change of name and handling the disposition of an estate where there is no will. There are currently four Probate Court judges in Kent County. The work of the Probate Court has grown by nearly 30 percent in the past five years. Most of this increase is because of an increase in need for appointment of guardians. The growing aging population is causing some of this increase, but also an increasing workload addressing mental commitment cases. The Probate Court has nearly 1200 minors under guardianship. Guardians are either paid through the private assets of the protected person, or in the case of indigent persons, the state pays $45/month for guardianship services. During the summer of 2011 our Probate Court was audited along with Wayne, Saginaw, and Ingham Probate Courts to assess the effectiveness of Probate Courts. The Kent County Probate Court showed favorable results in comparison with the other counties.

Issue of the Month: 17th Circuit Court of Kent County

The Kent County 17th Circuit Court is, like all Michigan Circuit Courts, the trial court of general jurisdiction. It has jurisdiction in all civil matters over $25,000, all criminal cases where the offense is a serious misdemeanor or felony, all domestic relations cases, and all child abuse, neglect, and delinquency cases. There are currently 13 judges sitting on the 17th Circuit Court, and 225 FTEs employees doing the work of the Court. There are 10 Circuit Court judges, and 3 Family Court judges within the 17th Circuit Court. The work is divided organizationally between three areas: (1) Administration and Adjudication Services with 105 employees performing the administrative work of the Court and headed by a Court Administrator; (2) Circuit Court Services with 23 employees providing alternatives to incarceration for appropriate defendants; and (3) nearly 100 employees working in the Friend of the Court section managing the huge child support and parenting issues. This represents over $25 million of cost borne by county taxpayers — very little of which actually benefits any particular taxpayer personally. Our County does a fairly good job of developing alternatives to traditional justice and punishment system and relies on a broad range of alternatives for both adult and juvenile offenders so they don’t have to spend much time in jail. An additional function of the Circuit Court is the provision of the Office of Community Corrections which seeks to limit state prison commitments for County offenders, and prevents local jail overcrowding through a system of Jail Bed Allocations to each judge. The Circuit Court makes improvements every year in how it selects jurors and how they are treated during their time of duty. I’ll cover the Probate Court next month.