Committee members call for answers about unpaid loan amount
Taylor County may never see repayment of the full amount owed from the Aging and Disability Resource Center (ADRC) of the Northwoods.
Members of the county finance committee want to know why and where the money went. The ADRC of the Northwoods had been a joint venture between a group of counties and tribal governments. ADRCs serve to connect residents with services that are available to them. It is funded through state and federal sources, which can often result in a lag from when costs and incurred until when reimbursements are paid.
Several years ago, Taylor County, along with other participating counties, loaned the ADRC of the Northwoods $75,000 to help the organization with cash flow. The loan was made with the understanding that it had to be repaid to Taylor County if the organization was dissolved.
Over time, other partners left the ADRC of the Northwoods until there was only Taylor County and Forest County left. Last year the decision was made to dissolve the ADRC of the Northwoods and have Taylor County go with its own ADRC and merge it with the commission on aging.
The county has been waiting on getting its money back, and last month received a check for $52,000, which as of the July 18 finance committee meeting the county had not cashed because they did not want to risk not getting the remainder of what is owed.
The county’s attorney has been involved in the process and it was reported that when bills had been paid an audit was done and the remaining amount in the checkbook was $105,671.39. This amount was then split evenly between Taylor County and Forest County. The only remaining balance in the ADRC of the Northwoods checkbook is the uncashed amount for the check to Taylor County.
Committee member Catherine Lemke questioned if the county was going to receive a copy of the final audit. She had served on the board for the ADRC of the Northwoods and noted that before splitting off, there was money there to repay the loan amounts to the counties and she questioned where it went.
Committee member Jim Gebauer was not optimistic about the county seeing the rest of the money. “All we will get is $52,000,” he said.
Committee chairman Chuck Zenner questioned if there was any reasonable chance they could get the additional funds. “You can’t squeeze blood out of a stone,” he said.
ADRC of Taylor County director Jenn Viergutz said that while she understood the principle of going after what is owed, she did not know where the money would come from. She gave the example of Greater Wisconsin Agency on Aging Resources (GWAR) getting additional funding from other counties in the state to help with a $54,000 shortfall in the nutrition program here. She said without those funds, it would have had to come from county levy and fund balance amounts. She said she gave that as an example that good things come from other counties too.
Committee member Mike Bub said the issue is that “Somebody spent money they shouldn’t have spent.” He said Taylor County should cash the check they received but they also need to look at the audits to find if someone did something improper. It was noted that the county did not know who paid for the final audit or what additional expenses their might have been.
In other business, committee members:
• Received an update on the Taylor County Housing Authority and the transfer of documents and resources to Northwest Regional Planning Commission. Board member Sue Ann Swiantek announced that the housing director had submitted her resignation and the office is in the process of tying up loose ends.
• Discussed the carryovers from 2024 budget year and going into the upcoming budget process. Finance director Tracy Hartwig said it was her intent to do carryover the same as prior years and address it during the budget review sessions with each department. The county has about 180 budget lines that are carried over, some of which are for the complete department expenses. Others are for line items that have not been used in some time.
There was also a discussion on setting the budget parameters for departments to prepare their budgets. For many years, the county has set a 0% goal. However, it as noted that this seldom was actually a 0% and that some departments seemed to just copy and paste the prior year’s budgets. Bub said he wanted to force departments to use their actual numbers rather than being cut and paste.
In the end, the committee gave the direction for a 2% budget increase for operational expenses. Benefits and wage step increases are not considered part of the departmental budget increases since they are set by the county board.
