At county event with legislators, revenues, overtime expenses and hiring lead the agenda
The phaseout of a longstanding fee charged at closing in real estate deals is expected to leave Johnson County short by close to $7 million by 2016, an amount that can’t be totally recouped from higher property values, commission Chairman Ed Eilert told state lawmakers Monday.
Although the recovering economy has begun to raise property values — and hence tax revenue — Eilert said he expected another overtime bill from the sheriff’s office next year because of difficulty that department has had filling vacancies and hiring additional deputies and civilians.
The comments came at a morning coffee with a half-dozen legislators who represent the county. The meeting was also attended by county staffers and representatives of the court system.
The sheriff’s hirings were approved last year after much debate as a way to save money in overtime payments necessary because the department was short staffed. But Eilert said overtime may continue to be a problem because the low salaries have made it difficult to attract people to the positions. He said as a result, the pay scale may have to be adjusted. “So it’s a struggle,” he said.
District Attorney Steve Howe added that all law-enforcement agencies are having trouble filling positions. “Combine that with what I think is the media’s assault on the integrity of law enforcement officers across the country, it’s going to be very challenging for all law enforcement agencies,” Howe said.
Sheriff Frank Denning was not at the coffee, but said later that a slow start in hiring and the long training period will keep the full savings from being realized in the current fiscal year. The commission approved about $3 million in overtime expenses at the end of 2014 because of the staffing shortage. However, another overtime request at the end of this year is not inevitable, he said, because the department has kept a keen eye on overtime this year.
Last year, the commission approved the addition of 22 deputies and 20 civilians to the sheriff’s department, because hiring is less costly than paying overtime hours. So far, 16 are undergoing background checks and may be starting their training in the next couple of weeks, he said.
Eilert said afterward that the estimated shortfall is because the number of pages filed on mortgages has declined slightly. The mortgage registration fee had been based on the amount borrowed, with revenues going to the county. When the legislators decided to gradually get rid of it, they partly replaced the revenue with per-page filing fees.
Eilert’s figures and state estimates are vastly different. Eilert said county estimates show a $7.1 million shortage from the fee in 2016, but the state estimates a $3.9 million reduction. Both those numbers are still in flux, but they don’t seem to getting any closer to each other, he said. Property valuation should increase by about $8 million, but part of that may be offset by sheriff’s overtime, he said.
Concerns about funding for court services and the status of the courthouse were also discussed. Eilert said he expected a decision from commissioners by January 2016 on what choices to offer voters about the courthouse. County leaders have discussed for years whether the current building needs to be replaced or remodeled to handle the growing population.
Eilert said the choices may boil down to an upgrade in the current facility that would cost about $40 million, a separate building for criminal court that would be $110 million to $120 million or a completely new courthouse for all uses at about $150 million.
Johnson County District Judge David Hauber told lawmakers he was concerned that the low pay for court support staff makes it hard to fill vacancies. The state has not fully funded its budget for judicial salaries since 2009, he said. A 2 percent raise in 2014 was partly offset by increased retirement payment costs, he said.
“State employees have not received a pay raise for some time,” Hauber said. “If you lose one, it’s almost impossible to hire one back because the pay is so low.” Johnson County, with its busy docket of business cases involving large sums of money, especially needs support staff, he said.
“When large decisions are being made and you want to make sure you’re right it’s extremely important to have support staff,” he said.
Eilert and others thanked the lawmakers for addressing some other problems, such as making it easier for local governments to contract with each other and giving doctors more latitude in deciding behavioral health drugs.
State Rep. Jerry Lunn of Overland Park said sometimes getting a measure that helps the county through the House and Senate can be problematic. “After you get outside the borders of Johnson County, there’s pretty much a visceral disdain for Johnson County by the rest of the state. If it looks like it’s going to help us, I think it’s going to struggle to get through,” he said.
This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 9:34 PM with the headline "At county event with legislators, revenues, overtime expenses and hiring lead the agenda."