Winona County finance director walks commissioners through IFS ledger structure and asks for priorities on cost-per-service metrics

Phil Sonnenberg, Winona County finance director, told commissioners the county's integrated financial system (IFS) is the foundation for budgeting and reporting and walked the board through fund and GL-code structures used for levy and operating accounts. "When you look at what's on the screen... the biggest revenue source for us is property tax revenue or levy," Sonnenberg said, describing the way fund, department, program and object codes map to the county ledger.

Sonnenberg reviewed a high-level levy allocation table and said the county's total budget is roughly in the $80M range with approximately $28M attributable to levy funding for 2026. He asked commissioners to help prioritize which programs and mandated services staff should develop cost-per-service metrics for and said departmental inventories of mandates and core functions are in progress and expected to be substantially more complete by the next working session.

Board input and next steps: Commissioners asked for a plain-English two'column summary showing levy versus outside funding for each major fund (a "Dieter chart" suggestion), a 10-year trend line for major levy categories, and specific follow-up on HHS items such as out-of-home placements and timeline for restorative justice reimbursement exploration. Sonnenberg said staff will refine the inventory, work toward cost-per-service measures, and return with comparative detail in future work sessions.