Madison County members debate whether phone and Internet belong in the assessor's budget after a $5,000 discrepancy

At a Madison County meeting an unnamed board member pressed the county to change how telephone and Internet costs are budgeted, saying such costs should be divided by department rather than charged by building or absorbed by the county's IT function.

"Rather than IT absorbing all the costs, actually allocate costs by department," the speaker said, arguing the current practice is inconsistent because departments that occupy their own buildings (for example, emergency services and secondary roads) pay communications costs while departments sharing a building do not. The speaker said that practice risks taxing residents for unnecessary amounts.

The same board member also reported a separate problem: the version of the budget she had consulted during the hearing was not the most recent. She said the file she had was $5,000 lower and that she had not been copied on an email that others received; after receiving the correct version she realized the $5,000 line for phone and Internet appeared in the budget others had. "I did not have the current budget in front of me," she said.

Another board member suggested the county look at the allocation method next year. A different speaker noted the budget total was $6,700,000 and said the budget had already been submitted to the DLM. The transcript records no vote on changing the allocation method and no formal motion to revise the budget; one board member emphasized that the "conference board" had made the decision to include the $5,000 and that the decision stood.

The transcript does not record a formal motion, amendment, or vote on this matter, nor does it identify which department would assume the $5,000 or how cost-sharing would be implemented. The matter was discussed and the board moved to new business without recording a formal change to the budget.