Full BAYANET funding restored, ICTC budget cut at Isabella County budget hearing

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Complete funding for the drug enforcement deputy on an area drug enforcement team was restored at today’s special Isabella County Board of Commissioners budget hearing.

Money will be drawn from an Isabella County Sheriff’s Department drug forfeiture fund to make the Bay Area Narcotics Enforcement Team position full time. The $25,750 was not in the county’s general fund budget.

The plan going into the night’s hearing was for the position to be cut to part time, but it was restored when the 2011 fiscal year budget was approved. Sheriff Leo Mioduszewski proposed usage of the drug forfeiture fund during the public comment portion. The fund is used for drug education, drug prevention and drug enforcement, which applies to BAYANET.

“It’s not a fund we see a lot of activity in,” Mioduszewski said.

The fund contained a little more than $63,000 and while it could have made the position full-time for two years, the board elected to take it on a year-to-year basis.

Both Mioduszewski and BAYANET Section Commander Melvin Matthews argued to restore the position’s full-time status. Matthews said the team has been busy in the county lately, making marijuana stings and arrests for LSD.

Board members said BAYANET had the funds to pay for the difference, but Matthews said it was not their policy.

“We do not pay for officers’ salaries,” Matthews said.

The other two-thirds of the position is funded by the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe’s 2 percent allocations.

Other business

The Isabella County Transportation Commission had its budget cut by $200,486, when its millage was cut from 0.9929 mills to 0.862 mills.

A debate arose between ICTC General Manager Rick Atkin and Commissioner George Green about the fund balance ICTC was holding in reserve. The balance was too high to warrant such a high millage, Green said.

“I know it seems to be detrimental,” Green said. “It can go up next year if it needs to.”

Green said the fund balance has remained similar year after year, even as ICTC purchased its headquarters and bought buses.

The loss of funds projects to keep ICTC’s general fund balance at nearly $900,000, which falls in line with a 20 percent surplus.

Atkin said ICTC will lose money in federal and state funding when legislators see the cuts made by the county and follow suit.

“We are heavily subsidized,” Atkin said. “If you want a bus system, you’ve got to support it locally.”

The county’s Medical Care Facility also lost $153,160 in millage funding when its millage was cut by 0.1 mills. The millage for the Commission on Aging stayed the same.

The approved budget will go into effect on Friday.