Auditor submits tax budget to county despite veto

The tax budget of the city of Hillsboro has been submitted to the Highland County Auditor's Office. However, whether the tax budget will ultimately be accepted is still in question. 

According to Highland County Auditor Bill Fawley, "I have the (tax) budget and it is signed by (Hillsboro Auditor Gary Lewis) and I have a resolution that council passed on the 9th of August. It has been signed by Lee Koogler as president of council and Beverly Brown as the clerk, and Fred Beery as the Law Director. And it is blank where the mayor was to sign. I understand that the mayor has vetoed this, but I have not see a copy of anything."

The city of Hillsboro held a tax budget hearing Aug. 9 prior to the regular council meeting. During the hearing, Zink questioned Lewis on some numbers in the budget, as did Hillsboro resident and city administrative assistant Kirby Ellison. Prior to council's consideration of the budget, Zink questioned Beery on how to veto the legislation to accept the tax budget.

   Beery said during the meeting that statute provides that all ordinances and resolutions are submitted to the mayor, and he has 10 days to consider them. Zink said he understood that. Beery said he didn't need to have a denoted signature line, he could sign it or not sign it. 

      "I have to at that time be able to write my objections," Zink said. "If we get the answers she's looking for tomorrow, then there won't be a problem. But if she doesn't get the answers she's looking for, there will be a problem."

Zink told The Highland County Press Friday that Ellison's questions were answered to her satisfaction, however, "I did veto the legislation. I think it is asinine to take $600,000 out of a budget to save $116,500 so people can stand around and say, 'Look what we done.'"

The city of Hillsboro had been facing a deficit by the end of 2011. The projected deficit had been as high as $730,000 and as low as $164,000 in recent months. In July, council voted to have the auditor prepare the tax budget so that there would be a carryover between $400,000 and $450,000 into 2012. The finance committee also has a pending recommendation to cut 10 percent across the board in the general fund for the months of September to December 2010.

"At some point, yes, I have to receive this," Fawley said on Monday. "I have to receive a signed budget from the city. That is not an immediately kind of thing. I have no authority to stop anything right now. I have to receive this before I get the actual budget. What would happen down the road, when I certify the rates to the state department of taxation, I would not be allowed to list (the city's) income for local government."

Council president Lee Koogler told The Highland County Press Friday that he was looking into calling a special council meeting to consider the veto, and Monday he said he was looking into scheduling a special council meeting for Wednesday to let council hear the matter and decide what action to take. 

Beery told The Highland County Press Monday that Zink had consulted him prior to vetoing the legislation, and asked his legal opinion. While statutes provide that all ordinances and resolutions are submitted for the mayor's approval, the tax budget is written to go into effective immediately upon passage of council. Council voted to pass the legislation by a 5-2 vote, a two-thirds majority. Council members Bonnie Parr and Mary Brown Turner voted against it. 

"This (legislation) in particular goes into immediate effect," Beery said. "I'm not sure how the veto works for something already in effect. I promised I would try to look up some case law on that point for tonight's (finance committee) meeting. My inclination is that since is passed by two-thirds already, it is pretty much guaranteed to override the veto anyhow. The mayor wanted to make his objections record, and there is not a lot of acrimony over that, at least not from what I saw of him."

"Somewhere down the road we have to have that (a signed tax budget)," Fawley said. "Technically, the department of taxation gave an extension for them to get it to me by the 20th. Well, I have it, but is it official?"

Fawley said the county budget commission, which is comprised by the county auditor, treasurer and prosecutor review the budgets for all the county's cities, school boards, etc., "They can't spend anything in the new year until we sign their budgets."

However, Fawley said it is not uncommon for a governing body to be late or have issues in submitting a tax budget. 

"This isn't the first time we've had a problem in getting a budget from someone," Fawley said. "There have been occasions where we will have to make a few phone calls to a township (for example). This isn't anything that is real drastic. Yet."