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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - 20090305 APPROVED 6/2/2009 MINUTES ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS BUDGET WORK SESSION March 5, 2009 7:00 p.m. The Orange County Board of Commissioners met for a Budget Work Session on Thursday, March 5, 2009 at 7:00 p.m. in the Southern Human Services Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Valerie P. Foushee, Vice-Chair Mike Nelson and Commissioners Alice Gordon, Pam Hemminger, Barry Jacobs, Bernadette Pelissier, and Steve Yuhasz COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager Laura Blackmon, Assistant County Managers Willie Best and Gwen Harvey, and Clerk to the Board Donna S. Baker (All other staff members will be identified appropriately below) NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. 1) FY 2009-10 Budget Update a) Fiscal Outlook Laura Blackmon said that this is the first budget work session with department heads sitting at the table with the Board of County Commissioners to talk about some of the services that the departments have offered up for discussion. She made reference to the salmon- colored sheet entitled FY 2009-10 Budget Planning. Budget Director Donna Coffey updated the Board on revenues. The County department heads have submitted budget requests. She said that the current year's budget is $183 million. Of that total, $3.3 million is non—recurring revenue, which means that it will not be available this year. The $3.3 million is made up of$2 million in appropriated fund balance and $1.3 million in deferred capital projects. The recurring revenue for the current year is $179.7 million budgeted and she can depend on $174.3 million for next year. The loss of all of this together is $8.7 million starting out FY 2009-2010. She explained why there was such a difference in recurring revenue. She has assumed the Board's direction that there will be no tax rate increase over the revenue neutral rate. The natural growth in the real property has averaged 2.8% annually. She said that motor vehicle valuation is a huge concern. There is an $18 million loss in valuation compared to what was budgeted. This is in valuation and not in tax dollars. People are not buying new vehicles and are trading down. The last five months in billings have decreased consistently. She is assuming that this trend will continue. She estimates a 10% reduction in this revenue. On sales tax side, this will be the final year of the Medicaid sales tax swap. The County will lose the sales tax from Article 44 and will also begin to lose some on Article 39, which is based on the redistribution. The County is also holding the Towns harmless. This is averaging about$200-300,000 a month that is coming out of the Article 39 and going to the Towns. She is also anticipating a 10% reduction in sales tax collections. Other major revenue highlights include that there is a significant decrease in construction-related revenues— building permits, environmental health permits, etc. There is also a significant decrease in transfer and Register of Deeds fees. The cumulative amount of that is about a $1.5-2 million loss next year. She is still assuming that the County will also lose money on the School Construction Impact Fee side. The biggest news is that the County has received information from the Association of County Commissioners about some legislation introduced in the last few weeks that counties are advised not to budget public school building fund monies next year. This is a $1.5 million loss. Also, the County has billed the State $3.4 million in public school building fund money and lottery proceeds. These monies were for Phoenix Academy renovation, Elementary#11 planning, Stanford Middle School HVAC replacement, renovation of science labs at Stanford and Stanback, and debt service for Cedar Ridge. The County has received $2 million of this. Last week, the Governor directed the State Budget Office to withhold the February and May deposits from the counties for public school building fund and lottery. When the General Assembly approved the lottery, there was a clause that it could not be withheld from counties to balance the State budget except for one condition — if the Governor issues an emergency budget act. This is what has happened. Commissioner Yuhasz asked where the County would find this $1.4 million if the State does not release it. Donna Coffey said that the proceeds from the lottery are budgeted in individual school capital projects. The school capital projects could be reduced. Commissioner Nelson asked about the plan that the Manager has to communicate this information to the public. Laura Blackmon said that the easiest way is to do an op-ed and to communicate directly to the media. The other way is to post it on the website. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to have a conversation about the revaluation and whether anything different should be done. He would like to have a better understanding about some issues like the utility funds. He wants to know where the County is with the revaluation issue, and the ramifications of doing something different. He said that people assume that if their values go up, that their taxes will go up. He also thinks that the Board needs a calculation that will be above the tax neutral rate. Laura Blackmon said that she has asked the Tax Assessor John Smith about some of the requests that are mentioned. She said that it would be March 17th before anything would be back. Commissioner Gordon agreed on talking about the revaluation and said that there is something amiss about the revaluation process. She said that if counties revaluate every four years, the state will allow them to collect the full amount from the public utilities. If it is not done every four years, then only 75% can be collected this year. This needs to be communicated as clearly as possible. She thinks that all County Commissioners want to do the right thing, but the question is what the right thing is to do. Commissioner Yuhasz said that he would like information that he can understand about the utilities. He would like to know what it would cost the County if it had to send out new valuations, such as going back to 2005 values. Commissioner Pelissier said that she would like to see some categories with the revaluation and how many properties have had very large increases. Regarding communication, she said that every op-ed should be on the County's website. She would also like to address, on a future agenda, the citizens who have always lived in Orange County and who are now on fixed incomes. This is a problem that is only going to get worse. Commissioner Nelson said that the County Commissioners heard from people that property values in Orange County have fallen, but he has heard from realtors that this is not true. He asked the Manager get an assessment of house values in Orange County from a realtor's association or related group. He said that Orange County has had 20 years of tax increases in a row and people have hit the wall, and when the Board of County Commissioners say it is going to be revenue neutral people do not believe them. Commissioner Jacobs said that there is a lot of talk at-large about opportunities on how to do things differently. He would like to think strategically about revaluations and whether a four-year cycle is smart or if it would be more responsive to market changes to have a shorter cycle. He would like to know the ramifications of this in terms of staffing, budgeting, etc. For years, there has been very little comment about revaluations. He would like to be more proactive to avoid the "sticker shock" of this year. Donna Coffey went back to the salmon-colored sheet and said that she took the revenue base from last year, the $174.3 million, and based on the Board's target funding for education, 48.1% would be $83.84 million. Out of this, $18.6 million would be dedicated to debt service. This is in line with the current funding plans that the Board of County Commissioners will have in April. The debt service will be postponed for one year and will be picked up in 2010-11. This will impact 2010-11. Regarding Recurring Capital, 2.2 cents of property taxes is dedicated to this. The $3 million will be split between the two districts. Long-Range Capital is $4.3 million. In accordance with the Board's practice for the last 3-4 years, Fair Funding has been allocated to the two school districts to pay for School Resource Officers, a portion of the school nurses, and a portion of the school social workers. This is $988,000. When all of this is taken out, this leaves $56.9 million available for current expense. If this is applied to the number of students anticipated, this equates to $3,011 per pupil compared to $3,200 per pupil in the current fiscal year. Commissioner Nelson asked about the $3,011 per pupil and if the proposed school budget was based on this and Donna Coffey said that it was based on the $3,200. She said that staff met with the Superintendents on Tuesday to let them know about these numbers. Commissioner Jacobs said that it would be useful at some point to track the years of per pupil spending and see the rise. He said that 48.1% is still pretty high and it has driven the tax rate to some extent. Donna Coffey made reference to the third page and said that she took a similar approach with the County operation side, which is 51.9%. This equates to $90.5 million, which is a decrease of$4 million for County operations. There are some mandated items that the County has to fund. The County's share of the debt service for next year is $7 million. Worker's compensation is mandated and is $1.25 million. Unemployment insurance is about$60,000. There should be no more Medicaid in the budget. There are other mandated DSS programs that total $2.53 million. The remaining funds for the County after the mandated items total $79.62 million. She then gave examples of appropriations to come from the County's remaining portion of available revenue. b) Proposed Service Reductions — Community Services Departments Laura Blackmon said that departments were directed to reduce current operating budgets by 2%, freeze capital purchases, reduce travel, and delay hiring for three months. The budgeting goal was met and spending was reduced. She said that this coming year, she is directing departments to decrease from the current year budget by 10%. She said that some departments will not be able to do that for various reasons. There are no capital requests for next year and the bulk of the cuts are to come from operating budgets. She said that she brought the Community Services Management Team, which includes the departments that provide services directly to the public. Some of the services are safety net, but some are not and are just nice to do for the community. She said that each department will summarize the reductions. This information was in the yellow packet. The Board is not being asked to make decisions tonight. Aging (p. 64): Department on Aging Jerry Passmore made reference to page 68 and Senior Center operations. The best way to reduce this is to reduce the hours at night. Each center could have two evenings when they would be open. The following reductions can be made: - Funds for supplies used for major events at senior centers will be reduced - The trainer monitor hours for the fitness studio will be reduced - The Home Modification Fitness Upfit service will be discontinued ($6,000) - The management of the Friend-to-Friend volunteer match project will be discontinued - In-home aide services will be reduced ($5,900) - The VITA tax program coordinator's hours will be reduced Commissioner Yuhasz said that the fiscal impact refers to the Budget Request Excel Spreadsheet and the County Commissioners did not receive these. Laura Blackmon said that the Board did not get this because the numbers are not being considered tonight, but only programs. Donna Coffey said that she just received these spreadsheets from the departments and this information will be provided as soon as possible. Commissioner Gordon said that the County Commissioners ultimately have to determine budgetary amounts and this cannot be done without a context of the budgets. Laura Blackmon said that she is trying to show the County Commissioners the kinds of things that departments can offer up in order to save money. Chair Foushee said that this is a much better way to do cuts than what has been done the past couple of budget cycles. She likes hearing from the departments about the cuts that can be made. Commissioner Jacobs asked how this relates to the matrix. Laura Blackmon said that the matrix is to show the County Commissioners what they absolutely have to do. Generally, there is nothing mandatory, and the matrix was a tool to categorize. Commissioner Jacobs said that he would like to better track the reductions as it relates to staffing, since some staff might have to be retrained, etc. Also, in the yellow sheets, he would like to see this list in priority order per department. Commissioner Jacobs asked if the 10% reduction would cover the hole that the County is in. Donna Coffey said, based on the information from last week, the 10% would come very close. Based on information since then, it probably will not cover the hole. She said that 10% would give the County between $2-2.4 million. There will have to be reductions in other areas to get from the $2.4 million to the $4 million. Health Director Rosemary Summers said that the Health Department submitted a balanced budget. The Health Department had revenue reductions and those were taken into account in the yellow sheets. She said that she did not just take a 10% reduction, but also did a balanced budget submission. Commissioner Nelson said that there are some human services departments that should not be cut 10%. He also said that he had difficulty reading and understanding the yellow sheets. He would like to see this laid out in a way that a citizen could understand. Commissioner Pelissier said that it would be helpful when the County Commissioners get information from other departments to put on the cuts whether a service is mandatory, etc. She said that the human services departments are safety net mostly and she does not want to see cuts there. Commissioner Yuhasz seconded Commissioner Jacobs' request to prioritize cuts by the department heads. He said that he does not have a list of what is being left in a budget— he is only seeing what they want to cut and he needs the big picture. Animal Services (p. 76): Animal Services Director Bob Marotto said that they are on the brink of opening the new animal services center sometime in May. He thinks that there will be more animals coming to the shelter in the next year or two because of the economic recession. With respect to the 10% reductions, the total reduction is $42,968, and none of the reductions involve reassignment of permanent staff. - Service Reductions ($12,750) o Eliminating the microchipping of adopted pets (while offering it electively) o Eliminating school educational programs o Eliminating leash sales and the bathing and grooming of adopted pets - Savings from Division Integration and Resource Realignment ($14,779) o Transportation (employee mileage and field service mileage) o Photocopiers; office supplies; and telephone lines and services o In-house versus outsourced spay and neuter of adoptable animals - Line Item Reductions ($15,439) o Training and staff development o Uniforms and gear Child Support Enforcement (p. 54): Janet Sparks said that CSE provides service to over 2,800 families in Orange County. The department establishes paternity, locates non-custodial parents that are not in the homes with their children, establishes child support orders, and enforces child support orders. The population that is served is generally the public assistance population and the working poor. Last year, the department collected $5.97 million for Orange County children. The cuts for this department are mainly in legal services, travel, training, filing fees, and paternity testing fees. This is doable, but it is painful. She has talked with the Manager about possibly having a reserve for some extreme legal issues. There has been an increase in the caseload. Commissioner Pelissier asked clarifying questions about the information in the matrix. Commissioner Yuhasz asked about the $14,000 cut and said that it does not really represent a $14,000 savings to the County. Janet Sparks verified this. Donna Coffey said that 100% of the child support budget represents $57,000 of County money. Janet Sparks said that there have been years where the department has returned more to the general fund than what was expended. She does not anticipate returning money this year. Emergency Services (p. 55) Emergency Services Director Frank Montes de Oca went over the performance highlights for 2008-2009. Regarding reductions, training will be greatly reduced. The fire/rescue study will be broken into phases to save money. Film will no longer be used for investigative services, but digital photography will now be used. There will no longer be interns and overtime will be reduced. Equipment repair and rental will be reduced. The Emergency Telephone Funds will be reduced, and this will affect three staff members. Travel/training in communications will also be cut. Frank Montes de Oca made reference to the bottom of page 55 and the points of how these cuts would affect EMS: 2009-2010 Budget Impacts - Will not be able to meet increased demand for services. - Response times will increase from 17 minutes to 20 minutes or above. - Personnel fatigue will increase and Worker's Comp claims may increase. - Needed upgrades to EMS stations will not take place. - Upgrades to field radio system cannot be achieved. - Staff support personnel will not be filled. - Cannot place ambulances in Eno and Cedar Grove communities. - Cannot provide sufficient levels of uniforms. - Communications service levels will be pushed to unacceptable levels. - Medical supplies and patient treatment equipment will be in short supply. - Patient safety equipment will not be purchased. - Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE) will not be provided. - EMS and Communications training will be reduced. - Vehicle maintenance, gas and oil may be in short supply. - Disaster planning capabilities will be limited. - Aging ambulance fleet will not be replaced. - EMT, Paramedic and Telecommunicator slots cannot be filled. - OCRS monthly payment will have to be used for rent elsewhere. - Fire/Rescue Study: funds must be encumbered to a vendor this FY. - Public education and outreach programs will be cut. - Hazardous materials spills will be charged to companies or not recouped. Chair Foushee said that to not be able to provide personal protective equipment is a danger. Frank Montes de Oca said that many employees buy their own uniforms and protective gear because the County cannot afford it. Health Department (p. 30): Health Director Rosemary Summers reviewed the performance highlights. The following are the 2009-2010 Budget Impacts: - Eliminate student stipend for Community Health Assessment ($9,000) - Eliminate development of new "Tim Study" ($5,000) - Reduce information on community health needs and policymaking to community ($1,000) - Suspend hiring for the Dental Hygienist/Community Dental Care Coordinator position for the 09-10 year ($10,170) - Discontinue recruitment of participants for the mouthguard project ($2,195) - Reduce dental services operating expenses ($3,805) - Eliminate student stipends for administrative projects in dental health services ($2,325) - Reduction in certification and licensure allocations for clinical dental staff ($1,489) - Eliminate access to dental clinical services at Carr Mill Mall ($67,641) - Reduction in staff training, continuing education, and professional development for health promotion and education services ($3,437) - Eliminate community outreach education and reduce technical support, training, and service to community ($2,520) - Eliminate elements in the Quality Assurance-Program Improvement program in Environmental Health Services ($1,300) - Eliminate response to community concerns about environmental issues, environmental complaints with no formal program mandate, and radon testing services for water and air ($5,750) - Eliminate mailing of permits, educational material, forms, and information ($2,300) - Reduce professional development for Environmental health services staff ($1,000) - Reduced permitting activity due to economic downturn and reduced building and development activity ($177,001 revenue reduction; $22,150 operating expense reduction) - Suspend hiring for the Office Assistant position for the 09-10 year ($37,723) - Suspend hiring for one EH Specialist position for the 09-10 year ($52,624) - Suspend hiring for the EH Program Specialist position in Food and Lodging program for latter half of 09-10 ($36,483) - Discontinue Chronic Disease Care Coordination program ($5,010) - Discontinue Refugee Health Assessment program ($11,000) - Discontinue HIV Community Testing Program ($5,652) - Suspend hiring of Medical Office Assistant for 09-10 fiscal year ($37,704) and switch funding sources for Family Nurse Practitioner training ($1,230) - Discontinue operating costs associated with Public Health Nurse II in preparedness ($2,110) Rosemary Summers said that the Board of Health reviewed the draft budget submission last week and asked her to highlight those cuts that would be difficult for the community. The first one was eliminating access to dental clinical services at Carr Mill Mall. This would be a hardship to this part of the County. Another one was eliminate response to community concerns about environmental issues, etc. This includes the phone calls that come into the department when citizens do not know who else to call. Staff fields about 2,500 calls a year. The Board of Health also wanted to highlight suspending hiring for the EH Program Specialist position in Food and Lodging program. The Board of Health was concerned that this is one of the primary responses for food borne outbreaks. The other two items that concerned the Board of Health were discontinuing the Refugee Health Assessment Program and suspending hiring the Medical Office Assistant. Housing (p. 51): Housing and Community Development Director Tara Fikes said that most of the programs in Housing are non-mandated with discretionary funding. She explained the Housing programs. The following are the budget impacts: 2009-2010 Budget Impacts - Reductions in the Urgent Repair Program will prevent one less elderly/disabled homeowner from receiving urgent repairs - Federal funding for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program and the HOME Investment Partnership Program is expected to remain constant in the next fiscal year. No new funds will be available for these programs from the recently passed Federal Stimulus Bill. - The Stimulus Bill does provide the State of NC approximately $15 million in additional Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding for small cities and counties in the state. There is no news regarding how the State plans to allocate those funds. Traditionally, CDBG funds have been the revenue source for the County's housing rehabilitation programs. Library (p. 80): Library Services Director Lucinda Munger reviewed budget impacts as follows: 2009-2010 Budget Impacts - Open a new library facility for main with three access points on two floors. - Implement new user fee for Inter-library loans from outside of the region ($1 per loan) - Replacement of 6-year old server for Hyconeechee Automation System. The server cost is shared one-third by the regional counties. Orange's cost is $5,604. - Recommendation to provide quality versus quantity by reducing services and reallocating staff and resources in order to maintain quality services in two locations. - As an applicant for Library State Aid, the main facility must remain open to the public at least 40 hours per week. - When reducing the main library from 64 to 54 hours, management took into account the usage statistics of patrons. Hours of operation would be Mon —Wed 10-8 p.m.; Th-Sat 10-6 p.m. These hours similarly reflect public service hours of Chapel Hill Public Library. These cuts will be a challenge when taking into account that a new facility will be opening. There were seven scenarios on page 81 about how to balance the twin objectives of cutting the budget and opening a new facility. Scenario#1 is the only one that does not take into account any reduction. Commissioner Nelson said that if a library has to be closed, then it should be the McDougle library, since the Cybrary is used constantly in a different way. He said that he would go to the mat to keep the Cybrary open. Commissioner Gordon wanted to make sure that the North Carolina Room materials were included in the new Hillsborough Library, especially since a free-standing Heritage Center is not viable financially right now. She asked about the status of transferring the N.C. Room materials to the new library. Lucinda Munger said that they are looking at some of the resources in the North Carolina room that can easily be integrated into the general collection. Some of the electronic databases will also be brought over— Heritage Quest and Ancestry.com. Laura Blackmon said that the feasibility of a standalone building for the Heritage Center is not really an option right now. Commissioner Gordon said that she is pleased to hear that the best of the materials will be accommodated in the main library. Commissioner Jacobs said that he agreed with Commissioner Nelson about the Cybrary. He said that it might be useful to survey library patrons as to usage and whether people would be willing to go to another library, etc. Regarding the Heritage Center, he appreciates the idea of bringing the items to the main library. Laura Blackmon said that they are looking at using the fund ($30,000) for matching grants for digitizing the materials. OPT (p. 74): Jerry Passmore said that transportation is being requested by the public and is on the increase. The budget impacts are as follows: 2009-2010 Budget Impacts - Discontinue the Wheels for Work Program which will affect 32 current recipients. DSS will administer NCDOT funds for future vehicle repairs. Financial Impact: Save $21,909 in permanent payroll - Discontinue Saturday dialysis transportation which will affect 15 residents. These clients may be able to access dialysis if family, neighbors, and/or friends are available to transport. Financial impact: Save $6,956 ($4,520 temp payroll; $2,436 vehicle costs) - Discontinue Department on Aging, Senior Center day trips or provide at a rate that would capture all OPT expenses. Financial impact: Collect$1,458 through fees from day trip participants. Social Services (p. 1): Social Services Director Nancy Coston said that the problem is having enough staff to handle the increases without asking for additional staff. The department is trying to move some staff away from the non-mandated areas at least for this year. The following are budget impacts: 2009-2010 Budget Impacts - Reduced costs for planned automation projects, eliminated purchase of cars for social workers, and reduced administrative costs for all programs. - Reduced contract for job services with Orange Enterprises by $10,000 - Reduced contract for job services with Center for Employment Training by $5,000 - Eliminated financial counseling contracts with a private contractor and the Women's Center - Eliminated funding to the Department on Aging for management of the Wheels to Work program. This program will likely be suspended. - Reduced contract for Fatherhood Program with a private contractor by $10,000, eliminating the one-on-one client sessions - Reduced cost of OPC contract to assist with locating mental health services for DSS clients - Reduced in-home aide services by $46,000, resulting in fewer hours of service to each client and fewer clients receiving in-home aide services - Funds for administrative costs at Skills Development Center will be reduced requiring partners who use the facility to pay their own expenses - Justice Partnership funds were reduced resulting in the coordinator being assigned additional duties. This will reduce time spent on monitoring functions with contractors. - Additional revenue is budgeted in economic services for Justice Partnership Coordinator and Veterans' Services Officer. This will require each of these staff members to assume additional responsibilities resulting in them having less time committed solely to Justice and Veterans activities. - County funds in the amount of$50,000 for childcare subsidy, previously committed by the Commissioners, have been eliminated resulting in 33 fewer children having the ability to utilize this funding to receive childcare. Laura Blackmon said that there are programs that are not safety net programs that may need to be cut so that other activities that are safety net issues can receive more funding. Commissioner Nelson asked about the Veterans Service position and would like more information on this position. This position is not mandated and this person will be working in Veterans service 50% of the time and in the public assistance program for 50% of the time. Commissioner Pelissier asked about page 2 and the positions with funding risk. Nancy Coston said that these are staffs that are aware of this and are 100% funded outside of the County budget. These include school social workers, hospital staff, Justice Partnership, and Work First. Commissioner Jacobs asked for information on how many are served and where they would have to go if not Orange County. 2) Report on FY 2009-19 Capital Investment Plan (CIP) Follow Up Items Commissioner Gordon asked for information to come back on divesting of buildings. Laura Blackmon said that some of the buildings still have people in them, but this is coming back soon. Commissioner Jacobs asked for more information on the farmstead stabilization projects. Commissioner Gordon asked when the CIP would be on the agenda and it was decided that it would be put on the March 17th agenda. 3) Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 10:08 pm. Valerie Foushee, Chair Donna S. Baker, CMC Clerk to the Board