County Board of Finance discusses moving earned interest to General Fund at Harman's request

The Marshall County Board of Finance was called to order Monday afternoon, July 21^st, by County Commissioner Adam Faulstich.  The meeting was called to look at the allocation of interest income from County investments.

Commissioner Bohannon had been approached by County Council President Tim Harmon, who asked the Board of Finance to consider modifying the county’s policy regarding where interest income is deposited. Harmon would like as much of the county’s interest income that is allowed by law to be deposited into the General Fund rather than accrue in the individual funds that acquire interest.

County Auditor Angie Birchmeier told the Board of Finance that the investment of cash is up to the County Treasurer, Wendy Tapia, and the auditor’s office deals with the funds. Birchmeier said some of the funds are statutory, and the interest must be receipted back into the fund, like General Drain Maintenance. She said over the years, the commissioners through the board of finance have set up the other funds.

Commissioner Faulstich asked about the Special LIT (Local Income Tax) fund and wanted to know if the Board of Finance set up the interest to go back into the LIT fund when it was established, and Birchmeier affirmed this comment.

Bohannon said interest from LIT was what Harman was interested in.  He also wanted to know if there were any other special funds where they could direct the interest back into the General Fund.   

Harman also wanted the excess funds left in the budget at the end of the year to go into the General Fund instead of the Rainy-Day Fund.  Basically, he wants the county to change its policy and any interest not required to stay in their funds be moved to the General Fund.   

Birchmeier said that could impact the Highway Department and Reassessment.

Bohannon said, “The question would be, do you want them to remain in that dedicated purpose fund, or do we want to provide the County Council with the flexibility to do whatever they like to with it?  If it remains in a special-purpose fund, then it is obviously restricted. This is a request to give the council greater flexibility on how they spend the interest.”  

Commissioner Klotz was interested in seeing what funds the council has an interest in moving the earned interest to and suggested they present a proposal to the commissioners for consideration.

Bohannon estimated it could be as much as a couple of hundred thousand dollars.  He noted that they could go back retroactive to the first of the year, and Commissioner Faulstich recommended they decide by October.     

No action was taken.  The commissioners wanted to know the impact on the funds and asked County Auditor Birchmeier to look further into the request.   

The makeup of the Board of Finance is the three County Commissioners: Jesse Bohannon, Adam Faulstich, and Stan Klotz, and the County Treasurer, Wendy Tapia.