WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Monroe County officials have discovered the way they fund the annual county fair isn’t strictly legal.
Currently, Monroe county funds the fair with a separate tax rate and tax levy- County officials decide how much they want to appropriate for the fair, and the auditor’s office sets a tax rate that will generate that amount. The money is held in a dedicated fund that officials describe as a ‘home rule fund.’
While working on the county’s 2019 budget, Deputy Auditor Lorie Robinson discovered there is no county ordinance governing the Fair fund. She discussed the discovery with the Monroe County Council last night.
Robinson said she consulted with county attorneys, and discovered there is no state law governing a Fair fund.
The county council is now faced with two choices, according to Robinson: Either move the county fair fund under the county’s general fund, or leave it as it stands and ask the county commissioners to write a new ordinance, defining the fund’s parameters.
As it stands now, the fair board gets paid in June and December, when property taxes are settled. County Council member Cheryl Munson says moving the fair budget under the General Fund has a financial advantage.
Council member Geoff McKim said many people think the fair is funded through a fixed tax rate. Instead, the council settles on an amount of funding and sets a rate that will raise that amount.
The tricky part is that the state only allows tax rates to be up to four decimal places, as Deputy Auditor Robinson described. McKim said with the current tax rate, the math makes it difficult to get an exact appropriation; If the tax rate is too big, too much money goes into the fund, and vice versa.
McKim said the county’s General Fund tax rate doesn’t have to be that exact. If extra money builds up in the General Fund, it doesn’t pose the same problem as with a dedicated fund. So, McKim sees moving the Monroe County fair fund into the general fund as killing two birds with one stone- The Fair Board gets their money earlier in the year, and the auditor’s office doesn’t have to worry about four decimal places.
Council members Marty Hawk and Eric Spoonmore opposed moving the Fair fund into the 2019 budget. Both prefer to wait until the 2020 budget, to allow time for the Monroe County Fair Board to consider what works best for their needs. Hawk says trying to move the fund for next year was too last minute.
The county will take up the full 2019 budget, including the fair fund, during its first reading on October 16th.
