Kelso: County overestimated Human Services funds The department was supposed to have an extra $3.4 million in the 2002 budget, but only had an extra $1 million By Ray Barrington News-Chronicle Brown County Executive Carol Kelso told the county's Executive Committee on Monday a vote to hold over $1 million in 2002 funds for the Human Services Department next year could not stand up because the money wasn't there. Sup. Pat Collins told the Human Services Board on Thursday, and repeated to the Executive Committee, that the County Board had voted and Kelso approved the re-allocation of $3.4 million in leftover funds from the Human Services Department's 2002 budget. The board voted to allocate $1 million of that to the 2004 budget and $1 million toward building of a Mental Health Center, although that project is on hold. Kelso, however, told the Executive Committee the $3.4 million was not there when final auditing was done. "The board's vote was done in error. There was only a $1 million carryover," she said. She said the county's attorney had said because that money was not available, the board's vote was not valid. Collins had complained that county administrator Jeff Landin was overstepping bounds in personally overriding a County Board action. Collins also asked whether a new county employee had been given six weeks of vacation, as a document from the county's payroll department seemed to show. A County Board policy is that new hires get no more than five weeks vacation. Kelso suggested Collins may have confused vacation and other compensatory time. In other Executive Committee news: - James Coates wants to know how tapes of his meetings became part of "an entertainment show." Coates, head of the county's Diversity Affairs Council, said a tape of the council's last meeting was played on the "Bill LuMaye Show" on WTAQ-AM 1360. Coates asked if the county made the tapes available, and was told the stenographers who record the meetings own the tapes, not the county, and they are not covered by open records laws. Coates said the tapes were played on LuMaye's show, followed by denigrating comments. He said he did not feel official records should be used on "an entertainment show, as I don't believe it is a news show." One person who regularly attends and tapes county meetings is Dave Johnson. Johnson said he does give tapes to LuMaye - who does not attend the meetings himself and gets his information from others - but did not attend or tape this meeting. Coates said he knew of only one recording, that of the stenographer. He asked the committee to report back on the issue. The Diversity Affairs Council, which reports to the Executive Committee, will hold a joint meeting with the committee in December. Coates said he hoped to gain some direction from the committee about possible actions for the council to take. - A Green Bay woman's suggestion to add another half-percent sales tax in the county to ease property tax burdens was listened to but filed away. Sharon Zambrowicz wrote Sup. Mary Marquardt suggesting the tax could be used to take some programs off the tax levy, specifically mentioning library and human services programs. She asked if a referendum would be needed. Kelso said she believed the board could institute a tax without a referendum. Zambrowicz said in her letter she had voted for the tax at the time of the Lambeau Field renovation tax vote. Some members of the committee said they were against even "letting this get a foothold," in the words of Sup. Ron Antonneau. He said past sales taxes sold as cutting property taxes had failed. "I remember the state said going to 4 1/2 percent was going to cut the property taxes," said Sup. Ken Simons. "Are you still waiting for your check?" Marquardt said she was not for or against a sales tax, but wanted the issue to be considered.