THOMAS F. CAVANAUGH DOUGLAS COUNTY CLERK/COMPTROLLER KATHLEEN A.

HALL CHIEF DEPUTY DOUGLAS COUNTY CLERK

To: Citizens of Douglas County

From: Thomas F. Cavanaugh, Douglas County Clerk/Comptroller Re: Douglas County Commissioners Obligation to Pay for Their Financial Commitments

Are Douglas County Commissioners obligated to pay for funding commitments and legal agreements they as a Board have approved? Yes. It is understood that when two parties mutually agree upon and both approve the terms and conditions of an agreement, both parties are obligated to fulfill that agreement. Failure to fulfill these legal obligations is at best deficient due diligence and clear mismanagement. At worst, unwilling or failing to fund contractual commitments results in a breach of contract resulting in costly litigation to resolve. Following negotiations on April 3, 2012, on a motion by Commissioners Boyle and Tusa the Douglas County Board unanimously approved a three year contract with EULA, a collective bargaining unit, which requires the County Commissioners to pay for increasing wages (2% for 2011, 2% for 2012, and 3% for 2013) for EULA covered employees, including covered County Clerk/Comptroller staff. On June 5, 2012, the County Board approved adding funds to the Clerk/Comptrollers budget to pay for the first years increased costs of the Commissioners approved wage contract with EULA, thereby mandating increased funding in the Clerk/Comptrollers budget by the Board of Commissioners. On January 29, 2013, the County Board again approved adding funds to the Clerk/Comptrollers budget to pay for the increase of the Commissioners wage agreements. Again, mandating by the County Board to add funding in the Clerk/Comptrollers office budget. This unanimously approved County Board resolution stated in part increase proposed were shown to be necessary in order to meet statutory obligations of the County requiring budget adjustments as follows In addition to these collective bargaining contract wage increases negotiated and approved by the County Board, Commissioners also increased wages for County Clerk/Comptroller staff not in a collective bargaining unit by 1% in 2012 and by 2% in 2013. The 2013 increase was adopted

unanimously December 4, 2012, on a motion by Commissioners Tusa and Boyle. Funding for these mandated County Board wage increases were also added to the Clerk/Comptrollers office budget by Commissioners. Now, even though Commissioners know the true cost of all of their approved employee wage increases that have and continue to increase the true cost of County offices and departments, some County Board members are seriously considering not funding their legal contractual obligations to pay for their mandated wage increases. One month after increasing the County Clerk/Comptrollers current authorized budget in order to fund the County Boards mandated wage increases for the current budget year ending June 30, 2013, and without rescinding these mandated increases, Commissioners notified County officials and department heads not to request additional funds over this years final budget amount for budget year 2013-14, beginning July 1, 2013. From budget year 2009 through 2013, the Clerk/Comptrollers office has realized an 18.35% budget reduction.
Douglas County Clerk/Comptroller's office % Change from FY09 Actual - FY13 Budget
0% -5% -10% -15% -20% FY2009 FY2010 FY2011 FY2012 FY2013

By comparison, the County Board of Commissioners spending budget increased 43.17% over the same period of time for the Commissioners growing administrative staff.
County Board's Administrative Office % Change from FY09 Actual - FY13 Budget

50.00% 40.00% 30.00% 20.00% 10.00% 0.00% FY2009

FY2010

FY2011

FY2012

FY2013

On April 4, 2013, the Clerk/Comptrollers office submitted to the County Board this offices 2013/14 true budget requirements in the amount of $1,656,321.76. That included the actual cost of the County Boards mandated wage increases. Once again the Clerk/Comptrollers office non-salary requirements remain unchanged for next budget year.
Douglas County Clerk/Comptroller Non-Salary Budget

$190,621.40

$48,067.00 2009 2014

For budget year 2013/14, the Douglas County Clerk/Comptrollers office requires for its statutory duties a budget that includes $39,315.20 to pay for the County Boards mandated Clerk/Comptrollers staff wage increases for the period of July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014, in addition to the unchanged amount of $1,615,323.00 that was this offices final 2012 /13 authorized budget amount.
Douglas County Clerk/Comptroller 2013/14 Budget Requirements Requirement
County Clerk/Comptroller Flat 2013/14 Budget County Board mandated 2013/14 EULA Increases County Board mandated 2013/14 Pay Plan Increases County Board mandated Increase Total Total Required Budget

Amount $ 1,615,323.00
$23,798.40 $15,516.80 $39,315.20

% Cha nge from FY12/13 Fi na l

0.00%
1.47% 0.96% 2.43%

$ 1,654,638.20

2.43%

Given several County Commissioners have repeatedly called for truth in budgeting, the Clerk/Comptrollers office 2013/14 budget requirements meet this standard in reflecting the true cost of the County Boards approved mandated wage increases for County Clerk/Comptrollers office staff in order to fulfill its required duties in accordance with Nebraska state statute. As the County Boards approved salary increase resolutions have clearly stated, Commissioners need to fund these increases in order to meet statutory obligations, including requirements to provide for the performance of state statutory duties.

While not having any legal or other obligations to give away County tax dollars to nonCounty organizations, the County Board of Commissioners are now poised to approve $500,000 tax dollars for a non-binding $5 million, ten year commitment made by six Commissioners on September 11, 2012, at the request of a non-County government group. At the same time, several Commissioners are contemplating to not approve funding for mandated wage increases the Commissioners negotiated and agreed to pay to Douglas County employees. Given the above sited $5 million non-mandated tax dollar give away, it is clear the Douglas County Board of Commissioners are in fact financially able to fulfill their approved legal commitments and contracts. However, some Commissioners are apparently unwilling to abide by and take responsibility for their legal obligations.

OMAHA-DOUGLAS CIVIC CENTER 1819 FARNAM STREET, H08 OMAHA, NEBRASKA 68183-0008 402-444-7150 fax 402-444-6456

E-mail: tcavanaugh@douglascounty-ne.gov
www.douglascountyclerk.org