Luzerne County’s administration has changed the way two major expenses are budgeted for 2017, creating a challenge comparing overall year-to-year spending by department.
Health insurance and retirement expenses were stripped from each department in the proposed budget and placed in separate lump-sum categories.
For example, the proposed 2017 budget for court branches — which is among those up for council discussion Tuesday night — is $16.3 million which, at first glance, appears to be a $4.4 million decrease from 2016.
However, the now-relocated health care and retirement expenses were budgeted at a combined $4.05 million in the courts this year.
The new approach, which also applies to copier and printer expenses, will cut back on time-consuming internal billing of all departments, the administration said. But several council members expressed frustration last week as they started their line-by-line review of budget requests from the county controller, district attorney and public defender’s offices.
Councilman Stephen A. Urban questioned the change, saying the budget does not show the “true cost of running a department.” He said Monday the new approach is “deceptive” to the public because it makes it appear most departments have reduced spending.
Council Chairwoman Linda McClosky Houck said management decided to present the budget differently but noted the relocated expenses are “still a cost of doing business” for each department.
County Manager C. David Pedri said corralling the expenses under one line item simplifies monitoring and provides a “true cost” of the entire bill needed to maximize state reimbursement. Requiring the budget and finance department to process monthly budget deductions from 50 departments “doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
In response to council concerns, Pedri said he may compile a report estimating the 2017 breakdown of health insurance, retirement and copier expenses by department to help the council in its continued budget analysis.
The council must adopt a 2017 budget by Dec. 15. Citing rising expenses and service needs, Pedri proposed a $136.2 million budget that includes a 4 percent tax hike, a new $5 vehicle registration fee and permanent elimination of a tax break for primary residences.
The budget includes $10.57 million for health insurance, $7.66 million for retirement and $50,000 for copiers and other “managed print services.”
A summary of the proposed budgets presented last week:
• Controller’s office spending would decrease from $328,849 to $276,040. The $52,809 reduction stems mainly from the elimination of this year’s $50,936 for health insurance and retirement.
• The district attorney’s office is budgeted at $4.38 million, a $1 million decrease from 2016. This year’s budget contained $1.12 million for health insurance and retirement in the office.
• Spending on the public defender’s office would decrease by $679,000 to $2.5 million. Removed was $807,900 budgeted for insurance and retirement this year.
Chief Public Defender Steven Greenwald told the council he is requesting a new secretary at a salary of $22,000 because he reached last year’s caseload level by the end of September.
Greenwald said he was “fortunate” to fill an investigator vacancy with a retired state police captain who has 25 years of law enforcement experience, but the worker must spend his days entering data into a case management system and handling other secretarial duties.
“I think it’s not a proper use of his skills,” Greenwald said.
McClosky Houck said three positions were added in the public defender’s office in 2016, but Greenwald said an additional person is needed. With another secretary, the office would have a staff of 47.
The public defender’s office also is seeking a $47,700 increase for expert witnesses because county court officials have removed some of that expense from their 2017 budget, Greenwald said. Experts may be needed to testify about defendants’ mental health issues and competency to stand trial, he said.
Greenwald told the council he is working with the manager’s office to implement a new notification system aimed at reducing costly prison overcrowding.
The new automated system would notify defendants of court hearings through text messages, email and phone calls, he said.
A “huge number” of prison inmates are lodged for failure to attend court proceedings, and many maintain they did not receive mail notification, he said. These defendants are entitled to a hearing within 72 hours, but Greenwald said three days of incarceration can cause them to lose their jobs and families.
“The bottom line is we need to fix that,” he said.
Pedri said Greenwald’s automation suggestion came up during a meeting of the county’s new prison population task force.
